14 weird facts that you probably didn't know about the Empire State Building

Courtney Verrill

85 years ago today, on May 1, 1931, the iconic Empire State Building officially opened for business.

Located in New York City on Fifth Avenue between 33rd and 34th Streets, it is a National Historic Landmark that gets over four million visitors every year.

There are things about the building that you probably already know about, like the popular tourist observatory deck on the 86th floor. 

Many facts, though, are not so commonly known. We've rounded up 14 of them here.

During the grand opening of the building on May 1, 1931, the traditional ribbon-cutting took place, and the skyscraper's lights were switched on. The lights were supposedly turned on by President Herbert Hoover in Washington, DC. While Hoover did press a button, the act was purely symbolic — the real switches that turned on the lights were inside the building.

 Source: History

When it was first completed, the building was the tallest in the world, at 102 stories and 1,250 feet high (1,454 feet counting the lightning rod). That title was taken away in 1972 when the World Trade Center was built.

A total of 3,000 workers took part in the construction, averaging 4.5 floors a week.