Brave Men Building the Empire State Building (1930)

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Uploaded by on Sep 21, 2011

Brave Men Building the Empire State Building (1930). It took 410 days to build, 3400 workers to help construct, 5 lost their lives and for 40 years it stood as the world's tallest building. It opened in May 1931 during the Great Depression. However, due to its poor location at the time, many of the offices stood empty and for 20years it was dubbed the Empty State Building.

In this Pathe News clip, men can be seen without safety ropes, precariously balancing on girders nearly 1000ft off the ground. Not a job for someone who suffers from vertigo!

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  • Jezus... Now that is one bad ass employee. My balls shrank just by looking at it.

  • yeah. only because of the daleks, though.

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  • It took 410 days (just over a year) to build THAT, with no machines!! ? Wow. It takes about 4 years now for skyscrapers to be built, even with machines!

  • OMG this almost turned my stomach upside down, I can still feel the pressure in my chest and bloodrush in my brains, I´m now 41 and gettin more and more afraid of heights. This is my only real fear. It starts after getting more than 20 meter up and then I could vomit when I look down. Those guys have no wires, no ropes, nothing, just bare hands and no aware to working in high.

  • @12Fucitolz still can experience those days. move to middle east, afghanistan. you belong in a backward country like that.

  • @Fenyx125Sparks That*, recognition* You'd*, There's*. There is nothing spectacular about the building. People do dangerous things all the time. Its not bravery.

  • If the fall didn't kill them the smog did.

  • HAD THEY NOT INVENTED ROPES?

  • Those men have amazing courage, I would be pissing my pants in the first floor.

  • just watching this video gives me goose bumps, scary shit

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