World Trade Center buildings - $$7.50
The World Trade Center (WTC) was a complex in Lower Manhattan in New York City whose seven buildings were destroyed in 2001 in the September 11 terrorist attacks. The site is currently being rebuilt with six new skyscrapers and a memorial to the casualties of the attacks.
World Trade Center
The World Trade Center (WTC) was a complex in Lower Manhattan in New York City whose seven buildings were destroyed in 2001 in the September 11 terrorist attacks. The site is currently being rebuilt with six new skyscrapers and a memorial to the casualties of the attacks.
The original World Trade Center was designed by Minoru Yamasaki in the early 1960s using a tube-frame structural design for the twin 110-story towers. In gaining approval for the project, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey agreed to take over the Hudson & Manhattan Railroad which became the Port Authority Trans-Hudson (PATH). Groundbreaking for the World Trade Center took place on August 5, 1966. The North Tower (1) was completed in December 1970 and the South Tower (2) was finished in July 1971. Construction of the World Trade Center involved excavating a large amount of material which was used in making Battery Park City on the west side of Lower Manhattan.
Despite the loss of our civil liberties as a reaction to the collapse of the towers, The World Trade Center was a unique place in that you could be born, go to school (including college) get a job, and never touch the sidewalk outside. It housed a full hospital, apartments and offices, as well as day care facilities and schools.
World Trade Center Card Model
World Trade Center Card Model
The original World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan, New York City, was a groundbreaking architectural complex designed by Minoru Yamasaki and engineered by Leslie E. Robertson, featuring seven buildings centered around the iconic Twin Towers (1 WTC and 2 WTC), each soaring 110 stories to 1,368 feet (417 meters) including antennas, making them the tallest in the world upon completion in 1973. Conceived in the 1960s by the Port Authority to revitalize downtown, construction began in 1968 at a cost exceeding $1 billion, employing innovative framed tube structures with steel exteriors, high-speed elevators (up to 23 mph), and 10 million square feet of office space housing over 50,000 workers daily. The 16-acre site included a five-acre plaza, underground mall, and PATH train hub, symbolizing global commerce; notable features were the Windows on the World restaurant atop 1 WTC and an observation deck on 2 WTC attracting 80,000 visitors yearly. Despite initial criticism for its modernist Gothic arches and vast scale, it survived a 1993 bombing and became a cultural icon until its tragic destruction on September 11, 2001, when the towers collapsed after terrorist attacks, leading to 2,977 fatalities and inspiring the rebuilt One World Trade Center at 1,776 feet. Its legacy endures in memorials and as a testament to resilient urban design.
National Geographic Video - When the Towers Fell
This film has some graphic images. Viewer discretion advised.