World Trade Center (1973-2001)

[RW DDonny]

The original World Trade Center was a large complex of seven buildings in Lower Manhattan, New York City, United States. It featured landmark twin towers, which opened on April 4, 1973, and were destroyed in the September 11 attacks of 2001, along with 7 World Trade Center. The other buildings in the complex were severely damaged by the collapse of the twin towers, and their ruins were eventually demolished.

At the time of their completion, the "Twin Towers" — the original 1 World Trade Center, at 1,368 feet (417 m); and 2 World Trade Center, at 1,362 feet (415 m) — were the tallest buildings in the world. The other buildings in the complex included the Marriott World Trade Center (3 WTC), 4 WTC, 5 WTC, 6 WTC, and 7 WTC. All these buildings were built between 1975 and 1985, with a construction cost of $400 million ($2,300,000,000 in 2014 dollars). The complex was located in New York City's Financial District and contained 13,400,000 square feet (1,240,000 m2) of office space.

The World Trade Center experienced a fire on February 13, 1975, a bombing on February 26, 1993, and a robbery on January 14, 1998. In 1998, the Port Authority decided to privatize the World Trade Center, leasing the buildings to a private company to manage, and awarded the lease to Silverstein Properties in July 2001.

On the morning of September 11, 2001, Al-Qaeda-affiliated hijackers flew two Boeing 767 jets into the complex, beginning with the North Tower at 8:46 am then the South Tower at 9:03 am, in a coordinated act of terrorism. After burning for 56 minutes, the South Tower collapsed at 9:59 am. 29 minutes later, the North Tower collapsed. The attacks on the World Trade Center killed 2,753 people. Falling debris from the towers, combined with fires that the debris initiated in several surrounding buildings, led to the partial or complete collapse of all the other buildings in the complex and caused catastrophic damage to ten other large structures in the surrounding area (including the World Financial Center); three buildings in the World Trade Center complex collapsed due to fire-induced structural failure, and when the North Tower collapsed, debris fell on the nearby 7 WTC, damaging it and starting fires so that it eventually collapsed. The process of cleaning up and recovery at the World Trade Center site took eight months.

The World Trade Center was rebuilt over a span of several years. The site is being rebuilt with six new skyscrapers, a memorial to those killed in the attacks, and a transportation hub. One World Trade Center, the tallest building in the United States, is the lead building for the new complex, reaching more than 100 stories upon its completion in November 2014.

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