.png "English"){kind=small}
Photo: Al Bello/Getty Images
Aug 24, 1997
Man With a Plan: Minoru Yamasaki
American architect Minoru Yamasaki designed the towers, whose narrow vertical windows — heavily influenced by Gothic architecture — helped humanize (barely) the towers’ sleek, minimalist look and feel. Interestingly, the man who envisioned New York’s tallest buildings had a fear of heights.
Photo: Stan Wayman/Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
Jan 01, 1965
Before the Towers
This neighborhood, known as Radio Row for its heavy concentration of radio and electronics stores, was razed in 1966 to make way for the development of the World Trade Center.
Photo: Hulton Archive/Getty Images
Jan 01, 1930
Cleared and Ready for Building
With buildings torn down and cleared, the site was now ready to build on. For anyone who has seen the site in the last few years, this photograph is eerily similar to what the area looks like today.
Photo: Fox Photos/Getty Images
Sep 25, 1967
And So it Begins
Cranes in position at the excavation site for the World Trade Center.
Photo: Fox Photos/Getty Images
Dec 13, 1968
From Humble Beginnings, 1971
Photo: Hulton Archive/Getty Images
Jan 01, 1970
Construction
The idea for a World Trade Center in New York dates back to 1946, but for various reasons, political and otherwise, active planning didn’t begin until the 1960s. By 1967, the Port Authority (responsible for building the towers) had awarded $74 million in steel contracts, and construction was soon underway.
Photo: Archive Photos/Getty Images
Jan 01, 1970
The Air Up There
A worker at the top of one of the towers during construction, circa 1970.
Photo: David Cairns/Getty Images
Jan 01, 1970
Towers Rise, 1972
Photo: Frederic Lewis/Getty Images
Jan 01, 1972
Climbing Higher
A rooftop view of the World Trade Center in 1971.
Photo: A. Vine/Getty Images
Jan 01, 1971
Under Construction
Another view of the towers on their way up.
Photo: Keystone/Getty Images
Mar 16, 1971
Standing Together
Construction nears completion.
Photo: Carsten/Getty Images
Jan 01, 1971
Manhattan, Seen From the South
The nearly completed towers already look at home.
Photo: Henry Groskinsky/Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
Jan 01, 1971
It’s Their Island
Storm clouds over the New York skyline, where the World Trade Center is under construction.
Photo: A. Vine/Getty Images
Jan 01, 1971
The New Skyline
The World Trade Center officially opened on April 4, 1973.
Photo: Peter Keegan/Getty Images
Jan 01, 1974
Criticism
The towers, predictably, received a good deal of criticism when they were first built, with detractors citing what they called the bland, and even brutal, design and the project’s sky-high cost.
Photo: Arthur Swoger/Getty Images
Aug 01, 1977
Windows on the World
The North Tower of the World Trade Center featured a restaurant called Windows on the World on the 106th and 107th floors. Opened in 1976, its views would have been very similar to the one seen in this photograph. In 2000 it was one of the most profitable restaurants in America, with revenues of $37 million.
Photo: Spencer Platt/Getty Images
Feb 14, 2001
Tribute in Light
The Tribute in Light near the World Trade Center site as seen from the Empire State Building on September 11, 2006. Each year since the attacks, the city has commemorated the towers and those who perished in and around them by shining two powerful, twin columns of light into the night sky.
Photo: Chris Hondros/Getty Images
Sep 11, 2003
