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
Japanese-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 mē) 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: 1 WTC, 2 WTC
(North and South Towers) and 7
WTC 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 WTC
2.
