World Trade Center

The World Trade Center in New York City, United States (sometimes informally referred to as the WTC or the Twin Towers) was a complex of seven buildings in Lower Manhattan, mostly designed by Detroit-based architect Minoru Yamasaki and engineer Leslie Robertson and developed by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. It was initiated in 1960 by a Lower Manhattan Association created and chaired by David Rockefeller, who had the original idea of building the center, with strong backing from the then-New York governor, his brother Nelson Rockefeller.^[2] The World Trade Center, New York, like most World Trade Centers located around the globe, belonged to the family of World Trade Centers Association. Prior to its destruction, Larry Silverstein held the most recent lease to the complex, the Port Authority having leased it to him in July 2001.^[3] The complex, located in the heart of New York City's downtown financial district, contained 13.4 million square feet (1.24 million m²) of office space, almost four percent of Manhattan's entire office inventory at that time.^[4]

Best known for its iconic 110-story twin towers (101 usable floors, eight engineering-only "service" floors on top of a lobby which was six stories high and 80') the World Trade Center was beset by a fire on February 13, 1975 and a bombing on February 26, 1993.

All seven original buildings in the complex were destroyed during the September 11, 2001 attacks. Three of the buildings collapsed: One World Trade Center (1 WTC, the North Tower), Two World Trade Center (2 WTC, the South Tower), and 7 World Trade Center (7 WTC). The Marriott World Trade Center (3 WTC) was crushed by the collapses of 1 WTC and 2 WTC. 4 World Trade Center (4 WTC), 5 World Trade Center (5 WTC), and 6 World Trade Center (6 WTC) were damaged beyond repair and later demolished. Three buildings not part of the complex were also destroyed: St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church was destroyed by the collapse of 2 WTC. The Deutsche Bank Building was damaged beyond repair by the explosions and collapse of 1 and 2 WTC; and Borough of Manhattan Community College's Fiterman Hall was damaged beyond repair by the collapse of 7 WTC; these are currently being deconstructed.