NEW YORK | One World Trade Center | 1,776' Pinnacle / 1,373' Roof | 108 FLOORS

[NYguy]

Originally Posted by CoolCzech

Hate to break it to the CTBUH - and lightning rod fans, for that matter- but their opinions about the 1,776 foot height of the Freedom Tower are absolutely irrelevant. Guidebooks & TV shows & the public will forever know this tower is the 1,776 foot one.

Ridiculous. When this tower is completed, the designation will be made. "TV" does not influence height designation. There is a lot of work yet to be done on this tower. While it is possible
the CTBUH will rule this as a spire, you would best save your "joy" until that time, because if it does not, this tower won't even be the tallest in New York. In either case, it will still look a mess.



Robert Lejeune

[QUEENSNYMAN]

Hey everyone, just want to let you know I was at the 69th Street pier this morning and videoed the last sections of the Spire/Beacon. I will post later tonight after I get home from work. Also have some pictures I will post here.

[drumz0rz]

Spire or Antenna, the tip still reaches higher than the antenna on Willis Tower. The only structures in the Western Hemisphere taller are pure TV masts. So in that sense, considering the structure as a whole, it's the tallest building.

[Chicago103]

History of the tallest skyscrapers in the United States by pinnacle height since the original World Trade Center:

1978-June 5, 2000: North Tower World Trade Center, New York City 1,727 feet (antenna installation)
June 5, 2000-May 10, 2013: Sears Tower, Chicago 1,730 feet (antenna extention)
May 10, 2013-:One World Trade Center, New York City 1,776 feet (topping out of pinnacle of structure)

[koops65]

Building heights (in any category) are not official until the building has been completed...

[deepen915]

amazing day! Proud of NY and my country!

[rack776]

What the frig? I thought it was going to be today at 12:00 Noon EST!?!?!?!?
Damn Port Authorty PR department, I'm thrilled it's toped out but thanks for the heads up about when the final lift was going to happen.

Hooray!......I guess
Congrats NYC you finally have a new "thingingy" to look at.
How the hell could they cheap out on the most visible part of the building?

So....I guess we can move back to bicthing about the base glass now -
I'm sick of looking at and thinking about the whole spire antenna mast cluster F#$% anyway.

I just cant get excited about this project anymore.....
I still wont consider the complex finished untill the other buildings, museum and trans hub are finished.

Guess I'll head on over to the 432 Park and check out NYC's future tallest building.

Thanks for the updates & photos guys.

[deepen915]

Originally Posted by rack776

What the frig? I thought it was going to be today at 12:00 Noon EST!?!?!?!?
Damn Port Authorty PR department, I'm thrilled it's toped out but thanks for the heads up about when the final lift was going to happen.

we've all known it was 7am since yesterday.. it helps to read the forum posts..

[CoolCzech]

Originally Posted by koops65

Building heights (in any category) are not official until the building has been completed...

"Official" heights be damned. Our grandchildren will read in NYC guidebooks that the Freedom Tower is 1,776 ft tall. Bank on it.

[rack776]

Originally Posted by deepen915

we've all known it was 7am since yesterday.. it helps to read the forum posts..

Some of us have to work for a living and life gets in the way of fun sometimes, I can only check on here once and a while, I had been looking for
an update on the time over the last week and was only reading spire rants, got tied up last night could not check aagain.

I was not bitching about this forum holding back info on the time......I'm pissed the PA made such a big hoopla about finishing it but did not make
the information to the public untill the last minuite.....just say'n their PR sucks.
The only reason I even knew it was going to go up was because of this forum.

No big deal - I'm just mad at my self for missing the date & time.
I'm still glad to see it rise

[Traynor]

Originally Posted by drumz0rz

Spire or Antenna, the tip still reaches higher than the antenna on Willis Tower. The only structures in the Western Hemisphere taller are pure TV masts. So in that sense, considering the structure as a whole, it's the tallest building.

At 1815'5" (553.3m) Toronto's CN Tower is still the tallest free-standing structure in the Western Hemisphere and it is not a pure TV mast.

Wikipedia Article HERE

We Canadians are often forgotten by American forumers.


(Image found HERE )

[NYguy]

Originally Posted by drumz0rz

Spire or Antenna, the tip still reaches higher than the antenna on Willis Tower. The only structures in the Western Hemisphere taller are pure TV masts. So in that sense, considering the structure as a whole, it's the tallest building.

It is the tallest in that category, same as the original tower was.


Now for some press....

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/07/op...nted=all&_r=1&

The spire makes the building the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere, 47 feet taller than Chicago's Willis Tower, though it is substantially shorter than towers in the Middle East and Asia.

The tower's height is a reference to the year 1776, which marked the beginning of the American revolution against British rule and is considered the start of what became the modern United States.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/0...m_hp_ref=media

Matt Lauer stood about 1500 feet in the air on Friday as workers lifted the final part of the 408-foot tall spire on top of One World Trade Center.

The "Today" show led its 7:00 a.m. hour with Lauer speaking over spectacular images of the building and views of New York City. One Wold Trade Center stands just north of the original towers.

"A crowning achievement, we're live at the top of One World Trade Center. Six years in the making and workers are about to raise the final two sections of the spire, making it the tallest building in the western hemisphere. A historic moment today, Friday, May 10, 2013," Lauer said.

When Lauer arrived to the site early Friday morning, he took the express elevator up, but then climbed nine different ladders to reach the top. "It really is an incredible journey; it's harrowing at times. I'm not afraid of heights, but I found my knees knocking at certain times," Lauer said.

Half past the hour, Lauer gave the signal for workers to lift the final piece of the spire. The building grew to a height of 1,776 feet, a symbolic reference to the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/...icle-1.1340224

Workers prepare to raise the silver spire atop the 1 World Trade Center building in New York early Friday May 10, 2013. The 408-foot spire will serve as a world-class broadcast antenna. An LED-powered light emanating from it will be seen from miles away. When it is fully installed on the building's roof, it will bring the iconic structure to its full, symbolic height of 1,776 feet.

The addition of the spire, and its raising of the building’s height to 1,776 feet, would make One World Trade Center the tallest structure in the U.S. and third-tallest in the world, although building experts dispute whether the spire is actually an antenna — a crucial distinction in measuring the building’s height.

If it didn’t have the spire, One World Trade Center would actually be shorter than the Willis Tower in Chicago, which stands at 1,451 feet and currently has the title of tallest building in the U.S., not including its own antennas.

Tenants include the magazine publisher Conde Nast, the government’s General Services Administration and Vantone Holdings China Center, which will provide business space for international companies.

Nerida Willson, a U.S. Postal Service employee who works across from the street from the tower, said “It's a great thing going forward and not allowing terrorists to keep us from doing what we need to do. We need those towers. We are the greatest city on Earth."

http://news.sky.com/story/1089299/wo...h-silver-spire





http://www.northjersey.com/news/2068...nal_piece.html

And in the coming weeks, a beacon at the pinnacle of the spire, 1,776 feet high, will be switched on and the 288,000 lumens of light emitted from it will be visible from 50 miles away, serving as a new visual marker for millions looking east from New Jersey, officials say.

What won't be visible from those distances is the extensive security measures that make one of the world's tallest buildings one of the world's safest, according to officials, and at $3.9 billion, one of the most expensive.

So expensive that it could not have been built without public money, said David Samson, chairman of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the bi-state agency in charge of the project.

"A private developer would have never done this building this way because of the additional costs required for security aspects," he said on a tour of the skyscraper this week in advance of the anticipated topping out. "We were building this for reasons other than just a return on investment."

[Yankee fan for life]

Can't really blame people Traynor, CN Tower is only 39 feet taller structurally, and just 18 feet taller by pinnacle, its easy to get the two mix up.

[rack776]

That last photo above looks like a shot from a NASA base or scifi movie

[CoolCzech]

Originally Posted by rack776

That last photo above looks like a shot from a NASA base or scifi movie

HEH!

If they ever do a remake of Flash Gordon, they'll reveal the beacon housing is really Dr. Zarkov's space capsule

[jowens]

With not being accessible to NYC media this morning, The Today show was a very strong outlet for seeing topping out of the spire / mast / etc. Matt Lauer's vantage point was spectacular. They also didn't make the mistake of call it the "Freedom Tower" and the area below "ground zero".

[JDRCRASH]

THIS PUPPY IS T/O!!!

[Kevin Scott Koepke]

Manhattan Dawn; 5/10/2013 by kevin scott koepke photography, on Flickr


One World Trade Center; 5/10/2013 by kevin scott koepke photography, on Flickr


One World Trade Center; 5/10/2013 by kevin scott koepke photography, on Flickr


Eclipsed by kevin scott koepke photography, on Flickr


One World Trade Center; 5/10/2013 by kevin scott koepke photography, on Flickr


Topping Out by kevin scott koepke photography, on Flickr

[deepen915]

Originally Posted by rack776

Some of us have to work for a living and life gets in the way of fun sometimes, I can only check on here once and a while, I had been looking for
an update on the time over the last week and was only reading spire rants, got tied up last night could not check aagain.

I was not bitching about this forum holding back info on the time......I'm pissed the PA made such a big hoopla about finishing it but did not make
the information to the public untill the last minuite.....just say'n their PR sucks.
The only reason I even knew it was going to go up was because of this forum.

No big deal - I'm just mad at my self for missing the date & time.
I'm still glad to see it rise

yeah didn't mean to come off as condescending.. was just saying.. All good

[mrnyc]

Originally Posted by Traynor

At 1815'5" (553.3m) Toronto's CN Tower is still the tallest free-standing structure in the Western Hemisphere and it is not a pure TV mast.

Wikipedia Article HERE

We Canadians are often forgotten by American forumers.

whoa - making a mistake about pure tv antenna masts does not make a free standing structure any more comparable to a building, friend.

however, i believe the part of the cn tower that can be occupied is well above the occupiable top floors of sears or the wtc. now that is definately something that is comparable and cnt is tops for that. so yay canada! see? we remember you!