 The limestone, granite, and aluminium skyscraper was specially designed to be easily erected, with standardized paneling and structural fittings, and was completed in only 18 months, opening in 1931.Due to the recession, however, it was only 25 percent occupied throughout the 1930s and ran at a loss; critics dubbed it the "Empty State Building".Rockefeller Center had originally been intended by John D. Rockefeller, Jr. to be a new location for the Metropolitan Opera House, but the Wall Street Crash of 1929 brought an end to the scheme.