Growing Up in New York

It is not only people that are upwardly mobile in New York City. So, it would seem, are buildings. For years, the 102-story Empire State Building dominated the skyline, tallest of the tall in a city of proud skyscrapers. Then, last year, the twin towers of the World Trade Center rose eight stories higher. Feeling dwarfed by these brash new comers, Robert W. Jones, vice president of Shreve, Lamb & Harmon, the original Empire architects, reflected: "Here's a building that's been the tallest building for 40 years, and now it's no longer the tallest." As Jones tells it:"Almost with tongue in cheek, I thought that maybe we could add a few floors."

The architects found the Empire had been built so solidly that another eleven floors could be safely added at a cost of $20 million. Omitted from the calculations is how the Trade Center will react to being displaced as No. 1.

Will it in turn feel compelled to add a few more floors to recapture the cov eted position? If so, where will it all end?

Out of sight.

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