The World Trade Center – Twin Towers – were completed in 1973, standing 110 stories each.
The idea started floating around in 1939. The New York Worlds Fair had an exhibit named World Trade Center and the principle behind it was “world peace through trade.” When Winthrop Aldrich was head of a new state agency 7 years later, he proposed a trade exposition for the city. At that time, it was decided to focus more on modernizing the ports, however.
David Rockefeller created the Downtown-Lower Manhattan Association in 1959 and planned a 70 story, $250 million complex. Rockefeller managed to get the Port Authority to sign on to the project. The architect Minoru Yamasaki designed the 110 story towers – jumping from the 70 stories because the Port Authority figured this new project, new building, new structure should be taller than the Empire State Building.
History.com (http://www.history.com/topics/world-trade-center) talks about the fears of safety issues with the buildings new style construction and height, with it being two hollow tubes, supported by closely spaced steel columns encased in aluminum. Floor trusses connected this exterior steel lattice to the central steel core of the building. In this way, the “skin” of the building would be strong enough that internal columns wouldn’t be necessary to hold it together.”
When construction began in 1967, there was much criticism. “Wien even ran an ad in The New York Times in May 1968 predicting that a commercial airliner was likely to fly into the towers. Plans had already been made to guard against such an accident–which had happened in July 1945 with a smaller plane at the Empire State–and the towers were designed to be safe in a collision with a fully loaded 707 plane (the largest existing plane at the time). It was assumed such a plane would have to be lost in fog for such an event to occur; a terrorist attack was never envisioned.”
150 slurry trench segments were made enclosing an area 2 blocks wide and 4 blocks long. 1 million cubic yards of landfill were removed. This created $90 million worth of land that became Battery Park City. The Towers had 97 passenger elevators a piece. They could carry up to 10,000 pounds up to 1,600 feet per minute. 200,000 pieces of steal were used, 3,000 miles of electrical wiring, 425,000 cubic yards of concrete, 40,000 doors, 43,600 windows and 6 acres worth of marble.
April 1973 marked the end of construction. A 5 acre out door plaza with a 25 foot Fritz Koenig sculpture were the finishing touches. At 1,360 feet, they were the tallest buildings in the world for just under a year.
In 1974 – Phillipe Pettit walked a highwire between the towers.
In 1977, George Willig used homemade climbing devices to climb the south tower.
In 1976, the Windows on the World Restaurant opened on the 107th floor.
In 1993, a bomb went off in the parking garage of the 2nd floor basement. 6 people were lost, more than 1,000 injured and $600 million in damage was done.
In 2001, the towers left the great skyline of New York City.
In 2014, One World Trade Center was opened. Standing 1,776 feet high and 104 stories up, it is the Western Hemisphere’s new tallest building.
The idea started floating around in 1939. The New York Worlds Fair had an exhibit named World Trade Center and the principle behind it was “world peace through trade.” When Winthrop Aldrich was head of a new state agency 7 years later, he proposed a trade exposition for the city. At that time, it was decided to focus more on modernizing the ports, however.
David Rockefeller created the Downtown-Lower Manhattan Association in 1959 and planned a 70 story, $250 million complex. Rockefeller managed to get the Port Authority to sign on to the project. The architect Minoru Yamasaki designed the 110 story towers – jumping from the 70 stories because the Port Authority figured this new project, new building, new structure should be taller than the Empire State Building.
History.com (http://www.history.com/topics/world-trade-center) talks about the fears of safety issues with the buildings new style construction and height, with it being two hollow tubes, supported by closely spaced steel columns encased in aluminum. Floor trusses connected this exterior steel lattice to the central steel core of the building. In this way, the “skin” of the building would be strong enough that internal columns wouldn’t be necessary to hold it together.”
When construction began in 1967, there was much criticism. “Wien even ran an ad in The New York Times in May 1968 predicting that a commercial airliner was likely to fly into the towers. Plans had already been made to guard against such an accident–which had happened in July 1945 with a smaller plane at the Empire State–and the towers were designed to be safe in a collision with a fully loaded 707 plane (the largest existing plane at the time). It was assumed such a plane would have to be lost in fog for such an event to occur; a terrorist attack was never envisioned.”
150 slurry trench segments were made enclosing an area 2 blocks wide and 4 blocks long. 1 million cubic yards of landfill were removed. This created $90 million worth of land that became Battery Park City. The Towers had 97 passenger elevators a piece. They could carry up to 10,000 pounds up to 1,600 feet per minute. 200,000 pieces of steal were used, 3,000 miles of electrical wiring, 425,000 cubic yards of concrete, 40,000 doors, 43,600 windows and 6 acres worth of marble.
April 1973 marked the end of construction. A 5 acre out door plaza with a 25 foot Fritz Koenig sculpture were the finishing touches. At 1,360 feet, they were the tallest buildings in the world for just under a year.
In 1974 – Phillipe Pettit walked a highwire between the towers.
In 1977, George Willig used homemade climbing devices to climb the south tower.
In 1976, the Windows on the World Restaurant opened on the 107th floor.
In 1993, a bomb went off in the parking garage of the 2nd floor basement. 6 people were lost, more than 1,000 injured and $600 million in damage was done.
In 2001, the towers left the great skyline of New York City.
In 2014, One World Trade Center was opened. Standing 1,776 feet high and 104 stories up, it is the Western Hemisphere’s new tallest building.