11-S (wikipedia source)

Destruction

Main articles: September 11 attacks, American Airlines Flight 11, United Airlines Flight 175, and Collapse of the World Trade Center

The World Trade Center on fire with the Statue of Liberty in the foreground

On September 11, 2001, terrorists hijacked American Airlines Flight 11 and crashed it into the northern facade of the north tower at 08:46, impacting between the 93rd and 99th floors. Seventeen minutes later, a second team of terrorists crashed the similarly hijacked United Airlines Flight 175 into the south tower, impacting between the 77th and 85th floors.^[113] The damage caused to the north tower by Flight 11 destroyed any means of escape from above the impact zone, trapping 1,344 people.^[114] Flight 175 had a much more off-centered impact compared to Flight 11, and a single stairwell was left intact; however, only a few people managed to successfully pass through it before the tower collapsed. Although the south tower's floors of impact were lower, a smaller number, less than 700, were killed instantly or trapped.^[115] At 9:59 a.m., the south tower collapsed due to fire, which caused steel structural elements, already weakened from the plane impact, to fail. The north tower collapsed at 10:28 a.m., after burning for approximately 102 minutes.^[116]
At 5:20 p.m.^[117] on September 11, 2001, 7WTC started to collapse with the crumble of the east penthouse, and it collapsed completely at 5:21 p.m.^[117] due to uncontrolled fires causing structural failure.^[118] 3WTC, a Marriott hotel, was destroyed during the collapse of the two towers. The three remaining buildings in the WTC plaza sustained heavy damage from debris and were ultimately demolished.^[119] The Deutsche Bank Building across Liberty Street from the World Trade Center complex was later condemned due to the uninhabitable toxic conditions inside; it is undergoing deconstruction.^[120][121] The Borough of Manhattan Community College's Fiterman Hall at 30 West Broadway was also condemned due to extensive damage in the attacks and is slated for deconstruction.^[122]

WTC site, April 2010

In the aftermath of the attacks, media reports suggested that tens of thousands might have been killed in the attacks, as on any given day upwards of 50,000 people could be inside the towers. Ultimately, 2,752 death certificates were filed relating to the 9/11 attacks, including one filed for Felicia Dunn-Jones, who was added to the official death toll in May 2007; Dunn-Jones died five months later from a lung condition linked to exposure to dust during the collapse of the World Trade Center.^[123] Two other victims were then added to the official death toll by the city medical examiner's office: Dr. Sneha Anne Philip, who was last seen the day before the attacks, and Leon Heyward, a man who developed lymphoma and subsequently died in 2008 as a result of dust ingestion during the events following the attacks to the Twin Towers.^[124][125] Cantor Fitzgerald L.P., an investment bank on the 101st–105th floors of One World Trade Center, lost 658 employees, considerably more than any other employer,^[126] while Marsh & McLennan Companies, located immediately below Cantor Fitzgerald on floors 93–101 (the location of Flight 11's impact), lost 295 employees, and 175 employees of Aon Corporation were killed.^[127] As well, 343 deaths were New York City firefighters, 84 were Port Authority employees, of whom 37 were members of the Port Authority Police Department, and another 23 were New York City Police Department officers.^{[128][129][130]} Of all the people who were still in the towers when they collapsed, only 20 were pulled out alive.^[131]

Rebuilding

Main articles: One World Trade Center, World Trade Center site, and World Trade Center Site Memorial Competition

A rendering of the future World Trade Center.

Planned rebuilding of the World Trade Center

Towers

One World Trade Center (Freedom Tower)

200 Greenwich Street (Tower 2)

175 Greenwich Street (Tower 3)

150 Greenwich Street (Tower 4)

130 Liberty Street (Tower 5)

7 World Trade Center

Memorial and museum

National September 11 Memorial & Museum

Transit

Transportation Hub

The process of cleanup and recovery continued 24 hours a day over a period of eight months. Debris was transported from the World Trade Center site to Fresh Kills on Staten Island, where it was further sifted. On May 30, 2002, a ceremony was held to officially mark the end of the cleanup efforts.^[132] In 2002, ground was broken on construction of a new 7WTC building located just to the north of the main World Trade Center site. Since it was not part of the site master plan, Larry Silverstein was able to proceed without delay on the rebuilding of 7 World Trade Center, which was completed and officially opened in May 2006; this had been considered a priority since restoring the Consolidated Edison Cos. electrical substation in the building's lower floors was necessary to meet power demands of Lower Manhattan.^{[133][134][135]} A temporary PATH station at the World Trade Center opened in November 2003; it will be replaced by a permanent station designed by Santiago Calatrava.^[136]
With the main World Trade Center site, numerous stakeholders were involved including Silverstein and the Port Authority, which in turn meant the Governor of New York State, George Pataki, had some authority. As well, the victims' families, people in the surrounding neighborhoods, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, and others wanted input. Governor Pataki established the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation (LMDC) in November 2001 as an official commission to oversee the rebuilding process.^[137] The LMDC held a competition to solicit possible designs for the site. The Memory Foundations design by Daniel Libeskind was chosen as the master plan for the World Trade Center site.^[138] The plan included the 1,776 feet (541 m) Freedom Tower (now known as One World Trade Center) as well as a memorial and a number of other office towers. Out of the World Trade Center Site Memorial Competition, a design by Michael Arad and Peter Walker entitled Reflecting Absence was selected in January 2004.^[139]
On March 13, 2006, workers arrived at the World Trade Center site to remove remaining debris and start surveying work. This marked the official start of construction of the National September 11 Memorial & Museum, though not without controversy and concerns from some family members.^[140] In April 2006, the Port Authority and Larry Silverstein reached an agreement in which Silverstein ceded rights to develop the Freedom Tower and Tower Five in exchange for financing with Liberty Bonds for Towers Two, Three, and Four.^[141][142] On April 27, 2006, a ground-breaking ceremony was held for the Freedom Tower.^[143]
In May 2006, architects Richard Rogers and Fumihiko Maki were announced as the architects for Towers Three and Four, respectively.^[144] The final designs for Towers Two, Three and Four were unveiled on September 7, 2006. Tower Two, or 200 Greenwich Street, will have a roof height of 1,254 feet (382 m) and a 96 feet (29 m) tripod spire for a total of 1,350 feet (410 m). Tower Three, or 175 Greenwich Street will have a roof height of 1,155 feet (352 m) and an antenna height reaching 1,255 feet (383 m). Tower Four, or 150 Greenwich Street, will have an overall height of 946 feet (288 m).^[145] On June 22, 2007, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey announced that JP Morgan Chase will build Tower 5, a 42-story building on Site 5 currently occupied by the Deutsche Bank Building,^[146] and Kohn Pedersen Fox was selected as the architect for the building.^[147]

Controversy

Main article: World Trade Center rebuilding controversy

The construction of 1 World Trade Center has been met with criticism, ranging from the design itself to the name change.^[148][149] New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg stated in 2003 that, "The Freedom Tower isn't going to be One World Trade Center, it's going to be the Freedom Tower."^[150] In 2005, Donald Trump lashed out at the design of the then Freedom Tower, calling it "a terrible design".^[151]

WTC American flag

Following the collapse of the towers after the 9/11 attacks, at 5:30 a.m. on the morning of September 12, 2001, New York City Police Sergeant Gerald Kane and Detective Peter Friscia were assisting rescue teams at "Ground Zero". They noticed that the large American flag that once flew in front of the World Trade Center at Church Street had been blown off the flagpole during the collapse of the buildings and was tangled upside down on a streetlight several feet away. The two men recruited a number of soldiers and firefighters in the area who hoisted a ladder to the top of the streetlight. Detective Friscia climbed the rungs of the ladder to the top, untangled and retrieved the flag and brought it down to the ground. Kerik later released the flag to NASA officials and it was transported aboard the space shuttle Endeavour (STS-108) as part of its December 5–17, 2001, mission to the International Space Station. On Flag Day, June 14, 2002, the American flag was returned to the people of New York City by Sean O'Keefe of NASA and Commander Dom Gorie and the crew members of the Endeavour, in a ceremony at the Rose Center at the American Museum of Natural History. The flag is secured and maintained by New York City's Commissioner of Records and is part of the annual 9/11 ceremony at Ground Zero.^[152]

In popular culture

Main article: World Trade Center in popular culture

The World Trade Center was an iconic structure and has been featured in numerous films as well as appearing in many television shows, cartoons, comic books, video games and music videos. Portions of Godspell were filmed at the top of the World Trade Center as the building was nearing completion.^[153] A sequence in the Robert Redford movie The Hot Rock filmed in summer 1971 featured shots of a helicopter flying around the partially uncompleted towers (where one can actually see inside the construction at one point), The final scene of the 1976 film King Kong took place at the World Trade Center instead of the Empire State Building where the scene had taken place in the original film.^[154] The 1983 film Trading Places was filmed outside the WTC, as well as on the New York Board of Trade floor at 4 WTC. Both towers were seen in Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, when Kevin McCallister was visiting Lower Manhattan.
In the 1981 film Escape from New York (set in a 1997 where Manhattan is now a prison), a glider is landed upon the roof of 1 WTC. In the final scene of the 1998 film Antz, the towers are seen in the skyline. The towers are also shown in the 2001 movie A.I. Artificial Intelligence, both in scenes set in the near future and 2000 years from now; the film was released three months before the 9/11 attack and director Steven Spielberg chose to let them remain in the subsequent DVD release.
The events surrounding the September 11 attacks were portrayed in several documentaries and movies, including two major motion pictures made in 2006: Oliver Stone's World Trade Center and Paul Greengrass' United 93.^[155][156] Several movies released shortly after 9/11 digitally erased the Twin Towers from skyline shots; one such was Spider-Man.^[157] As of 2008, most networks airing reruns of popular television shows have chosen to leave the Twin Towers alone, such as in establishing shots in Friends and in episodes of The Simpsons.
Shots of the World Trade Center were removed from both of the opening sequences of HBO's Sex and The City and The Sopranos in episodes produced after the destruction of the buildings as a mark of respect for the victims of 9/11.^[158]
In the season one finale of the Fox series Fringe, the World Trade Center is seen intact in a parallel universe of New York City.^[159]