Do Buildings Not Have 13 Floors

More than 80 percent of high rises lack a 13th floor.

Do buildings not have 13 floors.

Italians omit the number 13 from their national lottery. With that said some of nyc s most famous buildings do have 13th floors. But as rational thought will dictate hotels and buildings higher than 12 floors of course have a 13th floor however they do away with it by simply renaming it something else. Omitting the 13th floor may take a variety of forms.

Both the plaza and the waldorf astoria have labeled 13th floors. A good example is that some have suggested the 13th floor in government buildings is not really missing but actually contains top secret governmental departments or more generally that it is proof of something sinister or clandestine going on. The empire state building has one. Starting in the 20th century when skyscrapers began cropping up in bigger cities buildings overwhelmingly forwent marking the 13th floor because of simple economics.

The most common include denoting what would otherwise be considered the thirteenth floor as level 14 giving the thirteenth floor an alternate designation such as 12a or m the. That tradition stuck until the need for taller buildings came about in the 20 th century. They didn t want to give anyone a reason not to want to rent space in their building. As one of the city s oldest hotels the luxurious palmer house hilton still has its 13th floor.

One world trade center includes it as do all hilton international hotels. Hospitals and hotels regularly have no room number 13. Image zoom getty. Eventually this time and culture spanning superstition made its way to the architecture of america.

On streets in florence italy the house between number 12 and 14 is addressed as 12 and a half. Many cities do not. While the 14 th floor is actually the 13 th floor for obvious structural reasons guests seem to take comfort. Airplanes have no 13th aisle.

Even then the first skyscraper the home insurance building was. Many airports skip the 13th gate. You won t find it on the panels and you won t find it in the stairwells. Pulling a number out of the floor plan serves to make a building seem taller.

The habit of leaving out the 13th floor in tall hotels is a relatively new one. The thirteenth floor is a designation of a level of a multi level building that is often omitted in countries where the number 13 is considered unlucky. So does the flatiron as did the twin towers. Skyscrapers did not come about until 1885.