By Tom Liddy
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MIDTOWN - The Empire State Building has endured a plane crash and the Great Depression.
It is also forever earned a place in movie lore with "King Kong" and has come to serve as a symbol of strength for the city.
Today, the iconic Art Deco skyscraper, on Fifth Avenue, at 34th Street, turns 80 years old.
Construction began on the granite and steel masterpiece in March 1930 and was completed in a mere 410 days, a record to this day for a building of its height.
Some 10,000,000 bricks, 200,000 cubic feet of limestone and granite went into its construction.
It officially opened its doors on May 1, 1931, with President Herbert Hoover pressing a button from Washington, DC.
The site was declared a landmark in 1981 and underwent a $550 million renovation that was completed in 2009.
That year, the building was retrofitted to reduce its carbon emissions by 38 percent.
It is now the city's largest commercial purchaser of renewable energy.
