World Trade Center (1973–2001)

Lore & Background

David Rockefeller suggested the construction to stimulate urban renewal in Lower Manhattan, and his brother Nelson, then New York's governor, signed the legislation to build it. The site was created by landfill extending the shoreline, and Radio Row, a warehouse district of electronics stores, existed there before demolition began in March 1966. Falling debris and fires led to the collapse of all WTC complex buildings and catastrophic damage to 10 other large structures.

Reader's Guide

The World Trade Center was a major economic center and a symbol of New York City and the United States. A memorial and museum, a rapid transit hub, and an elevated park have opened on the site. The memorial features two square reflecting pools marking where the Twin Towers stood. The attacks and the complex's legacy have been extensively referenced in popular culture, with mentions altered or deleted after 9/11 and several dozen 'memorial films' created.

Did You Know?

• The site was created by landfill extending the shoreline, and Radio Row existed there before demolition.

Architectural Ambition and the Race to the Sky

The square footprint measured roughly two hundred and eight feet per side. At one thousand three hundred and sixty-eight feet, the building held the title of world's tallest structure until Chicago's Sears Tower surpassed it the following year. A three-hundred-and-sixty-foot telecommunications antenna brought the total height to one thousand seven hundred and twenty-eight feet. The North Tower stood six feet taller than its South Tower twin because floors forty-three and sixty-seven were built extra-tall for Port Authority use.

Life, Fire, and the Shadow of Violence

The North Tower was far more than an office block. Its uppermost levels housed Windows on the World, a sprawling complex of dining rooms, bars, meeting spaces, and entertainment venues. The one-hundred-and-sixth floor was tailored for private events, corporate gatherings, and weddings, while the one-hundred-and-seventh floor held the principal dining rooms and bars. Yet the building's history was marred by violence. At the time, the World Trade Center had no sprinkler systems. The conspirators had aimed to topple the North Tower into the South. Six people were killed and over a thousand injured.

One Hundred and Two Minutes

At 8:46 a.m. The South Tower gave way at 9:59 a.m. after burning for roughly fifty-six minutes. The North Tower endured one hundred and two minutes of fire before structural failure brought it down at 10:28 a.m. The falling debris struck the nearby 7 World Trade Center, igniting fires that burned for hours and ultimately caused that building to collapse at 5:21 p.m. The attacks, which also struck the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, and ended in a passenger revolt that brought a plane down in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, killed a total of two thousand nine hundred and ninety-six people. Of those, approximately one thousand seven hundred were in the North Tower or on the ground below it. The victims included two thousand five hundred and seven civilians, three hundred and forty-three firefighters, seventy-two law enforcement officers, fifty-five military personnel, and the nineteen hijackers.

Echoes in Steel and Water

At the National September 11 Memorial & Museum, the northern reflecting pool marks the exact spot where the North Tower once rose above Lower Manhattan. The North Tower had been distinguishable from its twin by the prominent telecommunications antenna on its roof, a canopy attached to its west facade at street level, and two pedestrian walkways linking the promenades of Three and Six World Trade Center to the North Tower's north and south facades at plaza level—features the South Tower never had. These architectural signatures, along with the memory of Windows on the World's dining rooms and the quiet hum of ten million square feet of office space, remain woven into the story of a building that defined a skyline for nearly three decades before its destruction.

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