The Empire State Building rose out of the gloomy depths of the Great Depression and was opened on 1 May 1931 11.30 am Manhattan, NY. At the time of construction with 102 storeys, it was the world’s tallest and was built largely by immigrant labour from Europe plus hundreds of Canadian Mohawk iron workers.
The opening chart reflects the bleakness of the time as well as its resourceful inventiveness with a super-confident Jupiter Pluto in Cancer opposition Saturn in Capricorn square Uranus conjunct MC in Aries; with a stalwart, enduring Taurus Sun Mercury opposition a Scorpio Moon square Mars and Ascendant in flamboyant Leo. The Empire State Jupiter is conjunct the USA Cancer Sun; with the Mars Asc conjunct the USA leadership North Node in Leo – so a prized national symbol.
There have been two major incidents involving the Empire State Building (ESB). One a plane crash in thick fog on 28 July 1945 which hit the 80th floor and killed 14; the other a shooting on 23 Feb 1997 on the 86th floor observation deck when a Palestinian killed one, injured six others and then suicided.
In 1945 at the plane crash, tr Saturn in Cancer was minutes (of a degree) past the Jupiter/Pluto midpoint and past the ESB Uranus; with Solar Arc Pluto exactly on the Ascendant; and tr Pluto in Leo approaching within a degree of being conjunct the ES Mars and square Sun – so quite a dampening dent for its image though it was reopened the following week and quickly renovated.
At the 1997 shooting, tr Saturn in Aries was trine tr Pluto and both were hitting on the ESB Venus in Aries; with the Solar Arc Sun square Mars impacting on the ESB Jupiter, and thus shaking the ESB’s Cardinal T Square.