World Trade Center (1973–2001)

The original World Trade Center (WTC) was a group of seven buildings in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. Most of it was built between 1966 and 1975. It opened on April 4, 1973. It was destroyed on September 11, 2001, when two hijacked planes were flown into the towers in a planned terrorist attack. This article is about the original complex. For the new complex, see World Trade Center (2001–present).

The complex included the 110-story Twin Towers. When they were finished, they were among the tallest buildings in the world. The original 1 World Trade Center (the North Tower) was 1,368 feet (417 m) tall. 2 World Trade Center (the South Tower) was 1,362 feet (415.1 m) tall. They were the tallest twin skyscrapers in the world until the Petronas Towers opened in 1996. The other buildings were the Marriott World Trade Center (3 WTC), 4 WTC, 5 WTC, 6 WTC, and 7 WTC. The complex had a lot of office space, and it was planned for about 130,000 people.

David Rockefeller suggested building a large office complex to help urban renewal in Lower Manhattan. His brother Nelson, who was New York's governor at the time, signed the law to build it. The main complex cost about $400 million. Minoru Yamasaki designed the buildings. In 1998, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey decided to sell the complex to private owners. In July 2001, it gave the lease to Silverstein Properties. While it stood, the World Trade Center was a symbol of globalization and of the economic strength of the United States. The design was first criticized, but the Twin Towers became an icon of New York City and appeared often in popular culture. On August 7, 1974, Philippe Petit walked on a tightrope between them.

The World Trade Center was the site of several crimes and emergencies, including a fire on February 12, 1975, a bombing on February 26, 1993, and a bank robbery on January 14, 1998. On September 11, 2001, hijackers linked to al-Qaeda flew two Boeing 767 jets into the Twin Towers, about seventeen minutes apart. The fires caused by the crashes, which burned jet fuel, and the damage to the buildings' frames led to both towers collapsing. The attacks killed many people in and around the towers, as well as the people on board the two planes. Falling debris caused all of the complex's buildings to partly or fully collapse, including 7 World Trade Center.

The cleanup and recovery process at the World Trade Center site took eight months. On May 30, 2002, the last piece of WTC steel was removed in a ceremony. A new World Trade Center complex is being built. A memorial and museum honors those who died in the attacks. A new rapid transit hub and an elevated park have also opened. The memorial's two square reflecting pools mark where the Twin Towers stood. One World Trade Center, the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere, opened in November 2014.

Before the World Trade Center

The western part of the World Trade Center site was once under the Hudson River. The shoreline was near Greenwich Street. In November 1613, Dutch explorer Adriaen Block's ship, Tyger, burned down to the waterline close to Greenwich and the former Dey Street. Block and his crew were stuck on the island for the winter. While they waited, they built the first European settlement in Manhattan. The ship's remains were buried under landfill when the shoreline was extended starting in 1797. They were found again in 1916. In 2010, workers found the remains of a second ship from the 1700s during digging. It is believed to be a Hudson River sloop. It was buried about 20 feet (6 meters) below the surface, just south of where the Twin Towers stood.

Later, the area became Radio Row, which existed from 1921 to 1966. It was a warehouse district in what is now Tribeca and the Financial District. Harry Schneck opened City Radio on Cortlandt Street in 1921. Over time, the area had several blocks of electronics stores. Used radios, leftover military electronics (such as AN/ARC-5 radios), junk, and parts were often piled so high they spilled onto the street. This attracted collectors and people looking for useful finds.

The idea of a World Trade Center in New York City was first suggested in 1943. The New York State Legislature passed a law that let Governor Thomas E. Dewey start making plans. However, the plans were put on hold in 1949. In the late 1940s and 1950s, business and growth in New York City were mostly in Midtown Manhattan. To help urban renewal in Lower Manhattan, David Rockefeller suggested that the Port Authority build a World Trade Center there.

In 1961, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey planned to build the world's first world trade center. To do this, it needed to clear the shops on Radio Row. That area was bordered by Vesey, Church, Liberty, and West Streets. The Port Authority used eminent domain, which allowed it to take the land. The agency looked at sites on the east side of Lower Manhattan, near the South Street Seaport. It also looked at sites on the west side, near the Hudson and Manhattan Railroad (H&M) station, Hudson Terminal. Early plans included a site along the East River, but talks with New Jersey Governor Robert B. Meyner got stuck.

In December 1961, Port Authority director Austin J. Tobin met with newly elected New Jersey Governor Richard J. Hughes. The Port Authority offered to take over the H&M Railroad and moved the project to the Hudson Terminal site. This location was easier for New Jersey commuters who used PATH. New Jersey then agreed to support the project. The H&M was renamed "Port Authority Trans-Hudson," or PATH for short. Each business on Radio Row received $3,000. Demolition began in March 1966, and the area was fully cleared by the end of that year.

The project also needed approval from New York City Mayor John Lindsay and the New York City Council. After some disagreements over taxes, the New York City Planning Commission and the Port Authority reached an agreement in August 1966. It was about payments in lieu of taxes (PILOT), which would rise along with the real estate tax rate in later years.

Development

Main article: Construction of the World Trade Center

On September 20, 1962, the Port Authority chose Minoru Yamasaki as the lead architect. Emery Roth & Sons were the associate architects. Yamasaki planned two towers, each 110 stories tall, to give the Port Authority the office space it needed. The plans also included a central plaza, which later became the Austin J. Tobin Plaza. Yamasaki's narrow windows were linked to his fear of heights. His design was also inspired by ideas from Le Corbusier and Islamic architecture. To make the towers work, engineers used sky lobbies, where people could change elevators. They also used a framed-tube structural system, which gave the buildings strong outer walls. Tishman Realty & Construction Company was the general contractor. Guy F. Tozzoli managed the project for the Port Authority.

Construction began in 1965, when the Port Authority started buying land at the site. Demolition started on March 21, 1966, and groundbreaking took place on August 5, 1966. The site was built on filled land, so workers dug a bathtub, a deep pit protected by a slurry wall along West Street. This kept river water out. The dirt that was dug out helped expand the shoreline to form Battery Park City. The North Tower's topping out ceremony took place on December 23, 1970. The South Tower's took place on July 19, 1971. When the complex was finished, it cost $900 million. Its ribbon-cutting ceremony took place on April 4, 1973.

Complex

The World Trade Center complex was home to more than 430 companies. It had a lot of office space, about 1,240,000 m² (13,400,000 square feet). A 1970 account said the offices were meant for 130,000 people. On a normal weekday, about 50,000 people worked there, and 140,000 more came to visit. The complex was so big that it had its own exclusive ZIP Code. The Twin Towers became famous around the world. They appeared in movies, TV shows, and on postcards. They became a symbol of New York, along with the Empire State Building, the Chrysler Building, and the Statue of Liberty.

The two main buildings were 1 World Trade Center (the North Tower) and 2 World Trade Center (the South Tower). The architect Minoru Yamasaki designed them. When 1 World Trade Center was finished in 1972, it was the tallest building in the world for two years. The South Tower had a public viewing area called Top of the World. The North Tower had the Windows on the World restaurant. The complex also had a plaza with sculptures, including The Sphere by Fritz Koenig, and five smaller buildings. Under the plaza was an underground shopping mall. It connected to subway and train lines. The complex was destroyed in the September 11 attacks in 2001.

Main articles: 1 World Trade Center (1970–2001) and 2 World Trade Center (1971–2001)

Main article: Austin J. Tobin Plaza

Main article: Windows on the World

Major events

Main article: 1975 World Trade Center fire

Main article: 1993 World Trade Center bombing

Main article: 1998 Bank of America robbery

On February 12, 1975, a three-alarm fire started on the North Tower's 11th floor and spread to the 9th and 14th floors. Most of the damage was on the 11th floor. The fireproofing protected the steel, so the tower was not structurally damaged. At that time, the World Trade Center did not have fire sprinkler systems. In 1981, the Port Authority announced a plan to install them throughout the complex. A worker who was unhappy at his job was found to have started the fire on purpose, and he was charged with a crime.

On February 26, 1993, a Ryder truck full of explosives was set off in the North Tower's underground garage. The truck had been placed there by Ramzi Yousef. Some people were killed and many others were hurt. Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman and four others were later found guilty for their part in the bombing. Yousef and Eyad Ismoil were found guilty for carrying out the attack.

In January 1998, a member of the DeCavalcante crime family, Ralph Guarino, got maintenance access to the World Trade Center. He arranged a robbery that took over $2 million from a Brinks delivery.

On August 7, 1974, Philippe Petit walked on a high wire between the North and South Towers, 1,312 feet (400 m) above the ground. He was charged with criminal trespass and disorderly conduct, but he was later freed in exchange for performing for children in Central Park. The event was the subject of books, a film, and a documentary. In 1981, Aerolíneas Argentinas Flight 342, operated by a Boeing 707-387B, nearly hit the North Tower's antenna while approaching John F. Kennedy International Airport. An air traffic controller's action prevented the impact. The 1995 PCA world chess championship was played on the 107th floor of the South Tower.

The complex was slow to rent out space, and it reached 95% occupancy only in mid-2001. In the late 1990s, the Port Authority planned to sell the World Trade Center to a private owner. Bids came from Vornado Realty Trust, a joint bid by Brookfield Properties and Boston Properties, and a joint bid by Silverstein Properties and the Westfield Group.

On February 15, 2001, the Port Authority announced that Vornado had won the lease for $3.25 billion. Vornado later withdrew after asking for last-minute changes. Silverstein's bid was accepted on April 26, 2001, and the deal was finished on July 24, 2001.

Destruction

Main article: Collapse of the World Trade Center

See also: September 11 attacks, American Airlines Flight 11, and United Airlines Flight 175

On September 11, 2001, terrorists took control of two airplanes and flew them into the Twin Towers. A group led by Mohamed Atta flew American Airlines Flight 11 into the North Tower. A second group led by Marwan al-Shehhi flew United Airlines Flight 175 into the South Tower. The terrorist group al-Qaeda, led by Osama bin Laden, was responsible for the attacks. After the towers were hit and burned, the South Tower collapsed, and then the North Tower collapsed too. 7 World Trade Center also fell that day. The Marriott hotel was destroyed, and the other buildings in the plaza were badly damaged. They were later taken down. The cleanup and recovery process at the World Trade Center site took eight months. The St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church was destroyed, but it was rebuilt and reopened in December 2022. The Deutsche Bank Building was later taken down. Borough of Manhattan Community College's Fiterman Hall, at 30 West Broadway, was also demolished and rebuilt.

Many people lost their lives in the attacks. Experts at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) estimated that many thousands of people were in the towers that morning. Among those who died were civilians, including workers from Cantor Fitzgerald L.P., Marsh & McLennan Companies, and Aon Corporation. Firefighters from the New York City Fire Department (FDNY) also died, including firefighters, FDNY paramedics, and an FDNY chaplain. Law enforcement officers from the Port Authority Police Department (PAPD) and the New York City Police Department (NYPD) were lost too. EMS workers from private agencies also died. In the years that followed, the remains of many victims were identified. The site became known as "Ground Zero."

New World Trade Center

Main article: World Trade Center (2001–present)

After the attacks, people made plans to rebuild the World Trade Center. The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation (LMDC) was set up in November 2001 to guide the rebuilding. It held contests to choose a site plan and a memorial design. Memory Foundations, designed by Daniel Libeskind, was picked as the master plan, but the design was changed a lot. The first new building was 7 WTC, which opened in May 2006. The memorial part of the National September 11 Memorial & Museum opened on September 11, 2011. The museum opened in May 2014. More buildings followed, including 1 WTC, 4 WTC, and 3 WTC.

In November 2013, an agreement with Silverstein Properties Inc. said the new 2 WTC would not be built to its full height until enough space was rented out to make the building worth paying for. Work on 5 WTC above ground was also paused. It did not have renters yet, and there were disagreements between the Port Authority and the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation. In 2015, Silverstein Properties shared plans for a new design of 2 WTC. Bjarke Ingels would design it, and it was expected to be finished by 2020. News Corp would be its main tenant. In February 2026, plans to restart construction on 2 World Trade Center were announced. American Express agreed to become the building's main tenant. At that time, the building was expected to be finished in 2031.

Aftermath and legacy

Main article: Aftermath of the September 11 attacks

Plans to build the World Trade Center were controversial. The site had been home to Radio Row, where many businesses, property owners, and about 100 residents lived and worked. Many of them strongly did not want to move. A group of small businesses asked for an injunction against the Port Authority's power of eminent domain, and the case went to the United States Supreme Court, which refused to hear it. Some private developers and members of the Real Estate Board of New York worried that the government-supported office space would compete with private buildings. The group was led by Lawrence A. Wien, the owner of the Empire State Building. The design's aesthetics also drew criticism from the American Institute of Architects and others. Lewis Mumford, who wrote The City in History and other works on urban planning, called the towers "just glass-and-metal filing cabinets." Paul Fussell called them "charmless, merely tall, and huge blunt buildings," and James Howard Kunstler wrote about skyscrapers like them in Home from Nowhere. Jane Jacobs argued that the waterfront should be kept open for New Yorkers to enjoy. Later, the American Institute of Architects ranked the complex 19th among 150 buildings in its List of America's Favorite Architecture, published in 2007. The original complex also created a large block that cut through the area's streets and separated it from the rest of the community. The Port Authority had removed several streets to make room for it. Later, the public supported rebuilding a street grid through the site, and the Port Authority decided to rebuild Cortlandt Street, Fulton, and Greenwich Streets.

Before it was destroyed, the World Trade Center was a famous New York City landmark. The Twin Towers were often shown in films and TV as "establishing shots" to show the whole city. The complex appeared in films such as Sidney Lumet's The Wiz (1978), where it represented Emerald City, and King Kong (1976). In 1974, French high wire performer Philippe Petit walked between the two towers on a tightrope. This was shown in Man on Wire (2008) and The Walk (2015). Other visitors climbed the towers, including George Willig, who climbed the South Tower in 1977, and Dan Goodwin, who climbed the North Tower in 1983. After the September 11 attacks, some movies and TV shows deleted scenes or episodes that included the towers, such as the The Simpsons episode "The City of New York vs. Homer Simpson." Oliver Stone's World Trade Center (2006) was the first movie to closely look at what the attacks did to the complex. The National September 11 Museum has kept many works that show the original World Trade Center.

Main article: World Trade Center in popular culture

See also: List of entertainment affected by the September 11 attacks and List of cultural references to the September 11 attacks

Logo

The World Trade Center used two different logos over its lifetime. The first logo, used from 1973 to 1993, was made of two open rectangles. One of them was upside down.

After the complex was damaged in a bombing in 1993, it reopened and a new logo was unveiled. It showed the towers inside a globe. This logo appeared all over the complex and was printed on commemorative mugs given to tenants. The mugs said "Welcome back to the World Trade Center".