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Empire State Building
Floodlights
In 1964, floodlights were added to illuminate the top of the Empire
State Building at night, in colours chosen to match seasonal and other events,
such as St.
Patrick's Day, Christmas, Independence
Day or Bastille
Day. After the eightieth birthday and subsequent death of Frank
Sinatra; the building was bathed in blue light to represent the singer's
nickname "Ol' Blue Eyes". After the death of actress Fay
Wray (King
Kong) in late 2004, the building stood in complete darkness for
15 minutes. We had no idea all this was possible, of course we knew the
building was lit but the fact the colours change and for all sorts of reasons
was quite a surprise.
The floodlights bathed the building in red, white and blue for
several months after the destruction of the World
Trade Center, then reverted to the standard schedule. On the 4th of
June 2002, the Empire State Building donned purple and gold (the royal
colours of Queen
Elizabeth II), in thanks for the UK playing the Star
Spangled Banner during the Changing
of the Guard at Buckingham
Palace on the 12th of September 2001 (a show of support after the
September
11th Attacks). This would also be shown after the Westminster
Dog Show.
Traditionally, in addition to the standard schedule, the building
will be lit in the colours of New York's sports teams on the nights they have
home games (orange, blue and white for the New
York Knicks, red, white and blue for the New
York Rangers and so on). The first weekend in June finds the building bathed in
green light for the Belmont
Stakes held in nearby Belmont Park. The building is illuminated in
tennis-ball yellow during the US
Open tennis tournament in late August and early September. It was twice
lit in scarlet to support nearby Rutgers
University: once for a football game against the University
of Louisville on the 9th of November 2006, and again on April 3, 2007 when
the women's basketball team played in the national championship game. On
foggy nights during spring and fall migration seasons, the lights that
illuminate the top thirty stories are occasionally turned off so that birds do
not become disorientated by the bright lights and fly into the
building.
In 1995, the building was lit up in blue, red, green and yellow for
the release of Microsoft's Windows
95 operating system, which was launched with a $300 million
campaign. The building has also been known to be illuminated in purple and white
in honor of graduating students from New
York University and blue and white in honor of those graduating from Columbia
University.
The building has been lit in lavender for gay rights events,
particularly during Gay Pride Week in June. Every year in September, the
building is lit in black,
red, and yellow, with the top lights off (for black) to celebrate the German-American
Steuben Parade on Fifth
Avenue. The building was lit green for three days in honour of the Islamic
holiday of Eid
ul-Fitr in October 2007. The lighting, the first for a Muslim holiday, is
intended to be an annual event and was repeated in 2008, 2009 and 2010.
In December 2007, the building was lit yellow to signify the home
video release of The
Simpsons Movie. From the 25th - 27th of April 2008 the building was lit in
lavender, pink and white in celebration of international pop diva Mariah
Carey's accomplishments in the world of music and the release of her
eleventh studio album E=MC2. In late October 2008, the building was lit green in
honor of the fifth anniversary of the acclaimed Broadway Musical Wicked by Kerry
Ellis and Stephen
Schwartz.
Starting in 2008, the building along with New York City and many
other cities around the world, participated in Earth
Hour. The skyscraper's floodlights were turned off for exactly an hour to
conserve energy. In September 2009, the building was lit for one night in orange
colours, in celebration of the exploration of Manhattan
Island by Henry
Hudson 400 years earlier. The Dutch Prince
Willem-Alexander and his wife Princess
Máxima were present and turned on the lights from the lobby.
In 2009, the building was lit for one night in red and yellow, the
colours of the People's
Republic of China, to celebrate the 60 years since its founding. On the 25th of
May 2010, the building was lit with blue and white to commemorate the
bicentenary of Argentina's May
Revolution. On the 12th of July 2010, the floodlights were red,
yellow and red, to celebrate Spain´s victory at the 2010
FIFA World Cup. On the 20th of July 2010, the building was lit with
Colombia's colours, yellow, blue and red, to mark the bicentenary of
Colombian independence. It was arranged by the Consulate of Colombia in New
York. As is traditional every year, on the 15th of September 2010 the
building was lit with the Mexican colours (green, white and red) to mark the anniversary of Mexico's
independence.
On the 29th of April 2011, the building was lit in red, white
and blue, the colours of the Union Flag at sunset in celebration of the Royal
Wedding
of Prince William, Duke of Cambridge and Kate Middleton.
Colours are listed from bottom to top as they
appear from the street. Today the colours are white, white, white and
tomorrow. The 30th red, white, red for Canada. The 1st of July purple, lavender,
blue for a private event. the 2nd to the 4th red, white, blue in honour of
Independence Day. the 5th to the 14th white, white, white. The 15th to the 17th
white, red, white for Japan (below).
ALL IN ALL QUITE
SOMETHING
SPECTACULAR AND
BEAUTIFUL
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