How was the Empire State Building transported?

The Empire State Building was designed to "break-apart" into 3 sections. The sections simply "sat on each other" and did not require and additional securing. The bi-planes also just pulled out from holes drilled into the structure and the rest of the characters and decorations were secured onto their sections with royal icing and were transported attached.

Transportation was a first concern for me when constructing the building and I decided to put some though into enhancing the flat wooden base to help aid moving the structure once it was assembled.

The wooden 24" x 24" base was constructed from two sheets of plywood with 1x2 pine spacers sandwiched between the sheets creating long hollow gaps under the entire base. I used two 3' long copper pipes and slid them into the two outer most gaps to make handles so two people could lift, move, load and re-position the piece when fully assembled. (See photos 12 and 13 above, the gaps can be seen on the left hand side of the base in those photos, the copper pipes are not seen in any of the photos and were only installed when moving the house.)

Additionally, during the construction I found places where I could "segment" the tower. Ultimately I ended up with 3 sections.

The primary gingerbread section consisted of the wider base of the building plus the longest section of the tower which extended up all the way up to where the main tower begins to "stair step" near the top quarter of the building. The top of the first section is at the bottom of the first and second photos above. This section was about 4' tall in total. The top of this section was unfinished and the rice crispy interior structure could be seen when the section section was removed.

The base of the second section was also the "cap" of the primary tower. The base of the second section was cut so it snugly dropped into the top of the first section and rested on top of the rice crispy treat interior approximately 1/4" below the top of the primary towers walls. You can see how this worked in photo 1 above. This allowed the walls to hold the second section in place as it rested on the interior structure. This design worked so well, it was not necessary to secure the sections together which allowed them to remain "loose" so they could be easily detached for transport later on. The interior of the second section was hollow but had a ledge of gingerbread 1/4" down from the interior walls for the "top section" to rest on.

The "top section" was the cap of the second section and included the antenna spire and the Donkey Kong Santa. Again this section simply rested down onto interior ledge of the second section. Again it was not necessary to "secure" the third section allowing it to be removed and re-installed at will. How these sections "married" is also best seen in photo 1 above.

To transport the tower to the auction, we called on our friend Sean Williams. I divided the Tower into it's three sections and slid the copper pipes into the wooden base. Moving the tower was quite easy at that point. Sean owns a Mini-Van and fortunately the base section was just short enough to clear the top of the sliding side door of his van by 1/2". This was not by design but by luck... The second and third sections were simply carried out and sat next to the primary section. If the house had not fit into Sean's van, we would have had to find someone with an open bed pickup truck.

Hope this helps illuminate how the piece was designed and ultimately transported to/from the auction here in Lawrence, KS.

That is simply amazing! I dread transporting my creations each year. Never thought about making anything too high from pure fear of transporting. Thank you for the break down.

Hi great work my name is Tom question I want to show for marketing/promoting a restaraunt I have a contract for this task will be to make thier building this yr for christmas gingerbread 2 ft x 3 ft tall just wondering about assembly any tricks up er sleave iam a pastry chef but well I don't know everything anyway great job on the state building it has alot of windows too, did you enter a competition? or just experimenting

Tom

I really enjoyed the presentation of all 3 pieces but my favorite I have to say would be the gingerbread house...there is so much detailing put into the piece and it looks well put together:) my next pick would be the rocket gingerbread then the empire gingerbread...simply because it lacks color. Overall, all 3 of these are superb! Keep up the creative good work! Congrats to you all! :D

This is amazing! I make a gingerbread centerpiece for a family Christmas Eve party each year... we wanted to make the Empire State Building this year, and I stumbled on yours while google searching for plans. So many good ideas! (Ours will be MUCH smaller...) Do you use a standard gingerbread rolled cookie recipe? How did you fit the longest sections into the oven? Are they in pieces and I just can't see the seams?

Hi Janet,

I bought the widest baking sheet I could find that fit into our oven. The cookie sheet is made by Farberware Model# 52152. You can find them online and at Kohl's.

There is one horizontal seam in the main tower about 1/2 up. You can see it best on the 3rd photo from the top. The tower sides are stuck to a rice crispy frame so they are not weight bearing.

In the 20th photo you can see the right side of the tower, it's the best photo for seeing the 2 approximately 18" pieces of gingerbread that make up the longest sections of the building.

Walking around the building, the seams on each side are offset about 1.5" from each other to make them harder to see and break up the seam visually.

During the planning phases where I was building my templates, I actually scaled the piece to be as large as I could possibly make it with my oven limitations. I also put a lot of thought into the base, and how it would be moved. I did not however measure the vehicle I was going to use to transport it. Luckily there was 1/2" clearance when we loaded it... very tight but it made it.

Good luck with your project!