The Empire State Building's Makeover

The Empire State Building has gotten a makeover.

"Welcome to the world's most famous office building," joked Anthony Malkin, the third generation of his family to be involved with the Empire State Building, to the assembled journalists at 350 Fifth Avenue on a recent morning. We were there for the unveiling of the Empire State's newly renovated lobby, part of a $550 million dollar building-wide renovation project. While tourists flock to the Empire State Building for its commanding views, in recent years the lobby wasn't known as much of a destination in itself. All that has changed: The new lobby was nothing short of impressive.

The Empire State building was built during the Depression in record time (just one year and 45 days!). As Anthony pointed out, this building was a tribute to the Machine Age, both the structure itself and many elements of the Art Deco design. Over the years, the original design was marred by modernization and the building's common spaces lost their grandeur. So, a few years back, the owners of the building called in Beyer Blinder Belle Architects & Planners (BBB) to tackle the restoration. (Apparently, BBB caught the owners' eye after their very impressive renovation and restoration of Grand Central Terminal a decade ago.)


BBB and their team spent more than two years researching the project before beginning work. An urban legend about a mural on the ceiling of the lobby lead them to dig beneath the 1960s drop ceiling, where they discovered evidence of an Art Deco masterpiece. The original mural had been painted over and then covered with the ceiling and then-modern lighting since 1963! While the team could not restore the original mural, they were able to discover the design, in part, because dirt had clung to the ceiling in the places where gold and aluminum leaf were below the paint. EverGreene Architectural Arts, a group of renowned preservation artists, has re-created the mural with the help of 50 artists, over 100 gallons of glaze and over 1300 square feet of 24-carat gold leaf. The stunning results depicts a 1920s spin on a celestial sky with sunbursts and stars that resemble the industrial gears, cogs and wheels of the Machine Age. (The original mural remains beneath the new ceiling in case it can be restored with some future technology.) Shame on whomever was responsible for hiding this treasure beneath an ugly drop ceiling!

In addition to preserving the Empire State Building's past, the team have gone several steps further. In one instance, they discovered drawings for two chandeliers in the lobby that had never been made. BBB went ahead and commissioned lighting based on the original drawings -- and guess what? Rambusch, the fourth-generation firm that created the original mural for the Empire State Building, was hired to create the new chandeliers. Pretty neat, right? In other instances, the design team used existing fixtures and materials to re-create the look and feel of the Empire State Building at the beginning of the last century. Plus, they've update the building to bring it into the 21st century with contemporary technologies and many "green" innovations.

In describing the process, Frank Prial, Senior Preservation Architect at Beyer Blinder Belle said, "We asked ourselves, 'What would they [the original architects] do today if they had the opportunity to revisit their design?'" We'd be willing to bet BBB's careful choices for the renovation are more than a pretty good guess. If you're planning a visit to the Empire State Building, enjoy the view, but also be sure to stop and admire the newly renovated lobby.