World Trade Center (1973–2001)

This page is about the World Trade Center buildings that were destroyed during September 11 attacks. For the current buildings, see World Trade Center (2001–present).

Design and constructionOwnerPort Authority of New York and New Jersey

World Trade Center
The original complex in March 2001. The tower on the left, with antenna spire, was 1 WTC. The tower on the right was 2 WTC. All seven buildings of the WTC complex are partially visible. The red granite-clad building left of the Twin Towers was the original 7 World Trade Center. In the background is the East River.
Record height
Tallest in the world from 1971 to 1973
Preceded by	Empire State Building
Surpassed by	Willis Tower
General information
Status	Destroyed
Location	Lower Manhattan, New York City
Coordinates	40°42′42″N 74°00′45″W
Groundbreaking	August 5, 1966 (August 5, 1966)
Construction started	1 WTC: August 6, 1968 2 WTC: January 1969 3 WTC: March 1979 4, 5, and 6 WTC: 1970 7 WTC: October 2, 1984
Completed	1 WTC: December 23, 1970 2 WTC: July 19, 1971 3 WTC: April 1, 1981 4, 5, and 6 WTC: April 4, 1973 7 WTC: May 1987
Height
Antenna spire	1 WTC: 1,728 feet (526.7 m)
Roof	1 WTC: 1,368 feet (417.0 m) 2 WTC: 1,362 feet (415.1 m) 3 WTC: 250 feet (76.2 m) 4 and 5 WTC: 120 feet (36.6 m) 6 WTC: 110 feet (33.5 m) 7 WTC: 610 feet (185.9 m)
Top floor	1 WTC: 1,355 feet (413 m) 2 WTC: 1,348 ft (411 m)
Technical details
Floor count	1 and 2 WTC: 110 floors 3 WTC: 22 floors 4 and 5 WTC: 9 floors 6 WTC: 8 floors 7 WTC: 47 floors
Floor area	1 and 2 WTC: 4,300,000 sq ft (400,000 m2) each 4, 5, and 6 WTC: 500,000 sq ft (50,000 m2) each 7 WTC: 1,868,000 sq ft (170,000 m2)
Elevators	1 and 2 WTC: 99 each

Map

The original World Trade Center (WTC) was a complex of buildings in Lower Manhattan, New York, New York, United States which was destroyed in the September 11, 2001 attacks; a new complex is mostly complete and is built on the site of the old one.

The biggest buildings in the original World Trade Center were the Twin Towers. The North Tower was the tallest building in the world when it was built. Taller ones were built later. The Twin Towers had 110 stories, and, at the time of its destruction, were the two tallest in New York. They and 7 World Trade Center were destroyed in the September 11, 2001 attacks and other buildings were damaged beyond repair.

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, officially World Trade Center 1 was completed in December 1970 and the South Tower, officially World Trade Center 2 was finished in July 1971. Construction of the World Trade Center involved excavating a large amount of material that was then used in making Battery Park City on the west side of Lower Manhattan.

WTC buildings

• 1 World Trade Center (North Tower)
• 2 World Trade Center (South Tower)
• 3 World Trade Center (Marriott Vista Hotel)
• 4 World Trade Center
• 5 World Trade Center
• 6 World Trade Center (US Customs House)
• 7 World Trade Center

1975 arson attack

On February 12, 1975, an arsonist named Oswald Adorno set fire to the 11th floor of the North Tower. The fire spread via the flammable insulation on a telephone cable to all floors between the 9th and 14th floors. Firefighters put the fire out within three hours. Nobody was killed directly by the fire, but one person suffered a heart attack. 64 people were injured by smoke inhalation. The fire destroyed the 11th floor and severely damaged several other floors, but did not cause any structural damage to the tower.

February 26, 1993, bombing

Underground bombing aftermath

The first terrorist attack on the World Trade Center occurred on February 26, 1993, at 12:17 PM. A truck filled with 680 kg of explosives, planted by Ramzi Yousef, exploded in the underground garage of the 1 WTC. The bombing created a 30 m (100 ft) hole through five sublevels. Six people were killed and 1,042 others were injured during escape attempts. Many people inside the tower were forced to walk down darkened stairwells with no emergency lighting, some taking two hours or more to reach safety. As a memorial to the victims of the bombing of the tower, a reflecting pool was installed with the names of those who were killed. The memorial was destroyed in the September 11, 2001 Attacks, with only a small piece surviving, which is now on display in the 9/11 Museum.

September 11 attacks

United Airlines Flight 175 crashes into the south tower, with the north tower already burning.

On September 11, 2001, Al-Qaeda terrorists hijacked American Airlines Flight 11 and crashed it into the 1 WTC, striking between the 93rd and 99th floors, killing 1,344 people. Seventeen minutes later, a second group crashed the hijacked United Airlines Flight 175 into the WTC, striking between the 77th and 85th floors, fewer than 700 were killed. At 5:20 p.m., 7 World Trade Center started to collapse with the crumble of the east penthouse. The Marriott Hotel was destroyed during the collapse of the twin towers. The three remaining buildings in the WTC plaza were damaged by debris and later were demolished. Many conspiracy theories have appeared which say that certain people in the United States government knew about the attacks beforehand, or even made them happen.

Memorials

Main page: National September 11 Memorial & Museum

The National September 11 Memorial & Museum. The reflecting pools are on the site of the Twin Towers.

The National September 11 Memorial & Museum (also known as the 9/11 Memorial & Museum) is a memorial and museum in World Trade Center site, as the memorial of the 9/11 attacks, which killed 2,977 people, and the 1993 bombing, which killed six. It is operated by a non-profit institution whose mission is to raise funds for, program, and operate the memorial and museum at the World Trade Center site. The National September 11 Memorial opened on September 11, 2011, and the museum opened in May 2014.

World Trade Center (1973–2001) Media

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  • Code: III.B.1.* * Men window shop in store selling radios, elevated railroad station, Ninth Avenue line, right center, subway entrance visible. * Citation/Reference: CNY# 101
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  Lower Manhattan in 1980 with the twin towers visible in the background

• Video of the World Trade Center in the 1960s and early 70s, including scenes of its construction

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  Twin Tower framed tube structure

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  Visitors on the viewing platform on the South Tower's roof, looking north toward Midtown Manhattan in 1984

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  (Counterclockwise) A view of 4, 5 and 6 World Trade Center (the black buildings) surrounding the central plaza and Twin Towers, in 1976

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  The World Trade Center as seen from Austin J. Tobin Plaza in 1995

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  The World Trade Center seen from the Hudson River, five months prior to the September 11 attacks in April 2001

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  A fireball rises in the immediate aftermath of United Airlines Flight 175 hitting the South Tower during the September 11 attacks.

Other websites

• "The Lost Days" - videotribute
• Apocalypse in the USA – animation, WTC and Pentagon, Ground Zero Archived 2007-08-20 at the Wayback Machine
• Nicol Prism - The new version of the twin towers, WTC members of the architectural complex, is inaugurated on 1 May 2012 without much fanfare. Archived 24 September 2015 at the Wayback Machine