World Trade Center - 9-11 Photos

The World Trade Center in New York City (sometimes informally referred to as the WTC or the Twin Towers) was a complex of seven buildings, mostly designed by American architect Minoru Yamasaki 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. Larry Silverstein held the most recent lease to the complex, the Port Authority having leased it to him in July of 2001. 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.

Best known for its iconic 110-story twin towers, the World Trade Center was beset by a fire on February 13, 1975 and a bombing on February 26, 1993. All of the original buildings in the complex were destroyed in the September 11, 2001, attacks, including 1 WTC, 2 WTC (North and South Towers) and 7 WTC which collapsed; 3 WTC (Marriott Hotel) was crushed by the collapses of 1 WTC and 2 WTC; and 4 WTC, 5 WTC, and 6 WTC were damaged beyond repair and later demolished. In addition, St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church (not part of the complex) was destroyed by the collapse of 2 WT

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