Biography of an Architectural Icon

I started read­ing this book, Divided We Stand, a biog­ra­phy of the build­ing of the World Trade Center.

Writ­ten before the col­lapse on Sep­tem­ber 11, though informed by the ear­lier bomb­ing in 1993, the author offers con­text and cul­tural com­ment on what was arguably the world’s most famous build­ing (were they one or two build­ings?). What is espe­cially shock­ing is that not only was it one of the last cat­a­clysmic ‘urban-renewal’ mega-​schemes held over from the 60s, (it was com­pleted in 1972), that elim­i­nated 16 blocks of low-​income (though thriv­ing) com­mer­cial space, but also it was the largest government-​sponsored real estate spec­u­la­tion in the his­tory of the world.

Man­aged by the Port Author­ity of NY & NJ, a dubi­ous orga­ni­za­tion, it was pitched as a ‘vertical-port’, to replace the decay­ing ship­yards below, (which were traded quid pro quo to NJ for their ‘ok’ to build the WTC). What it became, was a state-​sponsored play­thing for the Rock­e­feller broth­ers, (both Gov­er­nor Nelson, and Chase Man­hat­tan CEO David). With mas­sive tax breaks for ten­ants, the city of New York lost mil­lions of dol­lars in tax rev­enue, and by the mid-1970s was bankrupt.

Pres­i­dent Ford, at first, decided to let NY wallow, but polit­i­cal pres­sure forced him to orga­nize a bailout. Funny. How could you con­sider let­ting America’s first city implode, and expect to get elected as America’s first citizen?