story650.xml
Title
story650.xml
Source
born-digital
Media Type
story
Date Entered
2002-05-18
911DA Story: Story
My windows on the 18th Fl. face South with a direct view, over the SOHO and TRIBECA areas, of the downtown complex. I would go to sleep at night and on my side looking over my window sill the WTC towers loomed skyward. From these same windows I watched the towers being erected slowly to their completion. As an architect, I was the Project Manager for the installation of a new Manufacturer Trust Branch Bank on the 44th Fl. Sky Lobby of the North tower. These recollections in addition to many enjoyable evenings in the restaurant and lounge facilities in the 'sky' areas established for me a personal and familiar bond with the twins.
On the morning of 9/11, my Son, who was watching TV and aware of my view called me while I was faxing a document and asked me if I was seeing what was going on at the WTC. I merely turned my head to the left and saw the gaping hole in the North tower and loudly exclaimed something I will not mention now. At this point we only knew that a plane had hit the tower. Shortly afterwards, the South tower burst into flames being struck from the South side by another plane which I did not see. There was a constant flow of phone calls between my wife, at her office, and another Son who lives in Tarrytown NY. they reporting the TV coverage and I the actual event.
Because of the intense heat which was, obviously, being generated by the fire, I knew that the steel framing would be compromised, simply put, dissolve, and that the tower would collapse. Even if the steel had been protected with masonry or concrete fireproofing, instead of the inferior spray on materials, the impact would have caused the material to spall off exposing the steel to the
un-supportable high temperature and, while it may have taken longer, the building would have, nonetheless,
collapsed. I told my Son that this was going to happen; that the steel columns would lose their strength and cause the upper floors to fall and impact upon those below which would not be able to sustain the additional loading. After expressing a considerable bit of doubt, he, on a following phone call said, "you called it." Throughout all this time
I was frantically putting film in my camera and changing lenses hoping to capture some of this horrible event. By the time I was able to take some photos the South tower had collapsed and I did shoot the ensuing disaster of the North tower and later on the 7 WTC Building failure.
If someone in a position of authority had realized as I did that the buildings would fail and prevented life saving personnel from, futilely, entering the towers, perhaps their lives may have been spared.
On the morning of 9/11, my Son, who was watching TV and aware of my view called me while I was faxing a document and asked me if I was seeing what was going on at the WTC. I merely turned my head to the left and saw the gaping hole in the North tower and loudly exclaimed something I will not mention now. At this point we only knew that a plane had hit the tower. Shortly afterwards, the South tower burst into flames being struck from the South side by another plane which I did not see. There was a constant flow of phone calls between my wife, at her office, and another Son who lives in Tarrytown NY. they reporting the TV coverage and I the actual event.
Because of the intense heat which was, obviously, being generated by the fire, I knew that the steel framing would be compromised, simply put, dissolve, and that the tower would collapse. Even if the steel had been protected with masonry or concrete fireproofing, instead of the inferior spray on materials, the impact would have caused the material to spall off exposing the steel to the
un-supportable high temperature and, while it may have taken longer, the building would have, nonetheless,
collapsed. I told my Son that this was going to happen; that the steel columns would lose their strength and cause the upper floors to fall and impact upon those below which would not be able to sustain the additional loading. After expressing a considerable bit of doubt, he, on a following phone call said, "you called it." Throughout all this time
I was frantically putting film in my camera and changing lenses hoping to capture some of this horrible event. By the time I was able to take some photos the South tower had collapsed and I did shoot the ensuing disaster of the North tower and later on the 7 WTC Building failure.
If someone in a position of authority had realized as I did that the buildings would fail and prevented life saving personnel from, futilely, entering the towers, perhaps their lives may have been spared.
Collection
Citation
“story650.xml,” September 11 Digital Archive, accessed December 13, 2025, https://911digitalarchive.org/items/show/13019.