William Aiken Starrett, Jr. (June 14, 1877 – March 25, 1932) was an American builder and architect of skyscrapers. He was best known as the builder of the Empire State Building in New York City (1930–31). He was a principal officer of several companies associated with building approximately 200 notable buildings and skyscrapers in cities throughout the United States. He sent steel construction technology to Japan to help design buildings to resist earthquakes. During World War I he was a Colonel and assigned to overseeing the architectural engineering of army construction for military housing for over a million soldiers.