Constructed in 1930-31, the Empire State Building was the tallest building in the world for forty years, until the construction of New York's World Trade Center in 1971 and, despite being overtaken in terms of its height, both in the United States and abroad, has remained America's most internationally famous architectural icon. It is both a shining example of the aesthetic and functional possibilities of the skyscraper form, and a potent symbol of the Manhattan metropolis it inhabits. The Empire State has played a prominent role in several Hollywood movies and has been the subject of countless essays and artworks, while an infinite number of products have been marketed, capitalizing on its familiar image.

The Empire State Building, New York City.

The building demonstrated the extent to which corporate capitalism came to represent America to the rest of the world. It was the fruit of...