wondertone

40.71° N · 74.01° W · 2 tours · 27 min

New York

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Two things everyone photographs in New York, and the parts most people miss: a torch that’s been off-limits since 1916, and a lobby that leads into the story of a tower built in 410 days.

The Empire State Building's spire rises above Midtown rooftops at sunset, with One World Trade Center glowing in the distance.
Hear a moment · 0:12

Landmark · 4 stops · 11 min · 50 m · Narrated in 3 languages

Empire State Building: Icon in Steel and Limestone

Walk through the lobby and up into the story of a skyscraper built in 410 days.

Stop 1 · Standing at the Foot of a Giant

Tilt your head back. Keep going... a little further. Let the pale stone lines carry your eyes up, and up, until the building seems to run out of sky.

The stops

  1. 1Standing at the Foot of a Giant
  2. 2Above It All: The 86th Floor
  3. 3Dare to Dream
  4. 4Gilded Geometry: The Art Deco Lobby

At the first stop, look for The vertical lines of the facade that sweep upward, and the entrance details at street level. Confirm on site which entrance the group uses before recording.

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The Statue of Liberty and its stone pedestal at sunset, with calm water in the foreground and a skyscraper rising in the hazy distance.
Hear a moment · 0:16

Walk · 6 stops · 16 min · 340 m · Narrated in English

Statue of Liberty: Copper Skin, Iron Bones

Peel back the green to find Eiffel's skeleton, a star-shaped fort and a torch that retired early.

Stop 1 · The Torch That Retired Early

Then came nineteen sixteen. Gutzon Borglum, the sculptor of Mount Rushmore, redesigned the flame. He swapped much of the copper for amber glass. Look for those patches of glass. It was a bold idea… but the panes leaked every time it rained.

The stops

  1. 1The Torch That Retired Early
  2. 2A Meadow on the Roof
  3. 3Eiffel's Iron Bones
  4. 4Copper Skin Two Pennies Thick
  5. 5A Fort Built for War, Now a Plinth for Welcome
  6. 6South Promenade: Which Way Does She Face?

At the first stop, look for The portholes cut into the copper flame and the patches of amber glass from later alterations. Note the scale too: about 16 feet tall and roughly 3,600 pounds, figures reported by the press. Then look through the gallery's glass walls at today's gilded torch on the statue.

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