ESB lobby to shine once again

From Urbanite:

There was a time when the Empire State Building offered a view of the heavens from its grand lobby.

A celestial panorama was painted in gold leaf on the ceiling of the original entryway. In the 1960s, during renovations, the mural was covered by a drop ceiling, obscuring for decades the abstract scene of once-lustrous stars and planets.

Soon a re-creation of the stars will shine again, as will the entire lobby, which is being restored to how it looked when the World’s Tallest Building — at the time — opened May 1, 1931, on 34th Street and Fifth Avenue.

Empire State Building rediscovers its Deco roots