LOCATION Thomas Street, New York City, USA
NEAREST POPULATION HUB New York City, New York
SECRECY OVERVIEW High-security location: a communications hub that is among the most secure buildings in all New York.
Tourists walking the streets of New York frequently spend much of the time craning their necks to stare up at the jungle of skyscrapers that soar into the heavens above. However, 33 Thomas Street is a tower unlike any of the others—with 29 floors rising 170 meters (550 ft) toward the clouds, it certainly has stature. But a second glance reveals its most remarkable feature—a complete lack of windows.
Nestled in the Tribeca district of Manhattan and owned by the AT&T telecommunications company, the building was designed by John Carl Warnecke & Associates and was completed in 1974. Its purpose was to house telephone switching equipment and it plays a crucial role in the smooth running of the American telephone system, as well as air traffic control for a large part of the country. While it retains these functions, it now also operates as a secure data-storage center.
In Warnecke, the building was blessed to have one of the more notable architects of 20th-century America. By the time he turned his attention to Thomas Street, he was already well known as a favorite of the Kennedy clan. Having initially made his name in Chicago, he was responsible for such high-profile designs as the grave site of John F. Kennedy at Arlington, consecrated in 1967.
Perhaps his greatest gift, and one conspicuously evident in the AT&T Long Lines Building, was to marry beauty with the most functional requirements. To contain all the necessary technical equipment, each floor of the Thomas Street building measures around 6 meters (20 ft) high, about twice the height of floors in a standard skyscraper. The building is considered a fine example of Brutalist architecture, with its exterior consisting of huge precast concrete panels adorned with pink Swedish granite facades. In a city dominated by glass, you might think that it would stand out as some sort of monstrosity, but in fact it blends discreetly into its environment.
More importantly, it is an incredibly resilient structure. It was designed so that it could be self-sufficient for up to a fortnight in the event of a nuclear attack, and its floors are reinforced to withstand up to 1.5 tons of pressure per square meter (300 lb per sq ft). It is a construction of rare strength, as you might expect for one so crucial to the nation’s communications systems. And of course, no one is going to break in through an open window.