Do they have enough communications equipment attached?
This was taken from Madison Square. I have been told that during the race for height with The Chrysler building, the Empire State was not expected to have a needle. Can you imagine it without the needle? (I am actually told there is such an imitator in Houston, Texas.) It would be truly awful; basically a towering, art deco warehouse. As it is, the top looks like the bridge of a ship.
EDIT: As the comment below says, the Houston building is the former Transco Tower, now known as the Williams Tower. It bears some resemblance to the Empire State Building, but definitely has an other-wordly aspect due to its futuristic glass facade. I quite like it, actually.
March 2, 2009
The imitator in Houston is the Transco Tower: it rises some 60 or 70 stories without a setback straight up from the sidewalk. It is a very dramatic building to look up at from up close, and to my opinion a very handsome building from afar. It was designed by Philip Johnson, who was perhaps the greatest American architect in the 20th century. The New Yorker ran an outstanding profile about him in the 1980s.