This gallery showcases the amazing work of photographer Lewis Wickes Hine 1874-1940, a pioneering social photographer. All of the images were taken in 1931 during the construction of the Empire State Building. Many of the images may give you chills as the workers traverse steal beams unsecured with no harnesses.
1
View of the building rising to about sixteen stories 2
Icarus, high up on Empire State 4
Worker pulling on a rope 5
Worker attaching a bolt onto a beam 6
Workers guiding hoisting cable 7
Two workers securing a rivet 8
Two workers inspecting steel 9
Worker holding a bucket 10
Worker bolting a steel support 12
Two workers repairing machinery 13
Bringing up steel with a crane 14
View of the building rising to about sixteen stories 15
View of the building from 34th Street and Fifth Avenue 16
View of the building from another building about thirteen stories up 17
View of the building with about forty stories framed out 18
View of the building from a distance at about 34 completion 19
A forest of girders. Empire State Building 20
Workers on Empire State building 21
Workers on Empire State building 22
Worker on Empire State building, signaling the hookman 23
Icarus, high up on Empire State 24
Workers on Empire State building 25
Cranes hoisting machinery 26
Construction worker maneuvering rope and pulley 27
Construction worker standing on an I-beam pulling a rope 28
Construction workers and crane seen from below 29
Two construction workers at the corner of two steel beams pointing to the left 30
Riveters attaching a beam 31
Two workers attaching a beam with a crane 32
A worker riding on a crane hook 33
Two workers riveting a corner beam 34
A worker hanging on to two steel beams 35
A worker at the edge of a platform, looking north 36
Three workers securing a rivet 37
Crane hook and skyline looking south 39
Unloading steel from a truck 43
Workers guiding hoisting cable 44
Atop Empire State- in construction Chrysler Bldg Daily News in middle foreground. 45
Worker posing for the camera 46
Worker torch-cutting steel