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John Skilling and Leslie Robertson of Seattle-based Worthington, Skilling, Helle and Jackson served as Structural Engineers for the World Trade Centers (WTC) Towers I (North) and II (South). New York architecture firm, Emery Roth and Sons, associated with the Michigan-based architect, Minoru Yamasaki, on the World Trade Center design and construction. Construction on the Twin Towers began on 08/05/1966 with the completion of the North Tower in 12/1970 and the South Tower in 07/1971. Some lower-floor tenants began to move into the North Tower in 1970 and early 1971. Interior work on the buildings occurred throughout 1971-1972, particularly on the upper floors, with an official ribbon-cutting occurring on 04/04/1973. To create foundations strong enough to support the 110-story towers' loads, soil was excavated 70 feet down to bedrock from the WTC site and dumped along the Manhattan's southwest side, creating enough land for a new high-rise community, Battery Park City. In 1998, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey decided to lease management rights of Buildings I, II, IV and V in the WTC complex to Larry Silverstein (born 05/30/1931, Brooklyn, NY) and his Silverstein Properties. He took control of 425,000 square feet of the WTC office space on 07/24/2001. Immediately after gaining control of the lease, Silverstein contracted with a consortium of 24 insurance companies to insure his four leased building for $3.55 billion per incident of damage. A global symbol of American commerce, the towers were the subject of two terrorist events: a bombing on 02/26/ 1993 and the catastrophic 09/11/2001 explosions and collapses. After the 09/11/2001 events, Silverstein and insurance companies clashed over whether the terrorist attacks consisted of one or two incidents of damage. He was awarded a maximum of $4.55 billion for the rebuilding of Buildings I, II, IV and V.

The World Trade Center Complex consisted of 7 buildings, the two main office structures were the 110-story North and South Towers.

A fire occurred in the North Tower on 02/13/1975. A maintenance worker set the fire on the 11th floor which burned portions of 6 other floors before the New York Fire Department could contain the blaze.

In one of the greatest tragedies in American history, played out on live television, two hijacked Boeing 767 airliners destroyed the World Trade Center Twin Towers on 09/11/2001.

PCAD id: 7981