May 10, 2006
World Trade Center Site Stairs Are "Endangered"
The National Trust for Historical Preservation released its annual list of America's 11 Most Endangered Places, and one of them is the World Trade Center's Vesey Street Staircase.
Before the September 11 attacks, the Vesey Street Staircase was seen and used by the public on a daily basis. Located near the intersection of Vesey and Church streets, it consisted of two granite-clad outdoor flights of stairs and an escalator that led from the World Trade Center plaza to Vesey Street. When terrorists crashed two planes into the Twin Towers, the staircase provided a path of escape for hundreds of individuals. The staircase now leads nowhere and consists only of concrete slabs and blocks, a few remaining pieces of stone cladding, and steel supports – but it is nonetheless an authentic and invaluable reminder of the World Trade Center that once stood here.The NTHP suggests that people write letters to Larry Silverstein, architect Norman Foster (who is designing Tower 2) and other officials to have them incorporate the stairs into the design. The NY Times notes that Foster has said "[the staircase poses a design challenge] that has to be addressed."
The National Historic Trust called 2 Columbus Circle an endangered building two years ago but that didn't stop developers. And other things on the list this year: The Smithsonian, Doo Wop Motels in Wildwood, NJ, and areas affected by Hurricane Katrina - the historic areas of the Mississippi Coast and New Orleans.
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I think the best memorial is what is there now. It is poignant, shocking and makes you think. No half-assed memorial can garner the same emotions as the big empty space.
Historic Preservation: The New York Times owners deliberately made sure that their 229 West 43rd Street building was NOT landmarked. Am I the only New Yorker who finds that so interesting?
http://infamousnewyorkrealestate.blogspot.com
aw, it's kind of dorky to preserve the remnants of a staircase, but i used to use them every day, and now i walk by it every day and seeing it pleases me somehow. then again, i remember how more often than not, the escalator would be broken. how many escalators are built out in the open like that one was, anyway?
I'd like to see a pre-9/11/01 photo of the staircase.
They should definitely keep it!
This has been a frustrating process all along, but something about this sends me over the edge. Of course we need a proper memorial, but to preserve bits and pieces of the entire site just seems morbid to me. Who wants to walk past a crumbling "staircase of the survirors" every day on their way to lunch? We have to move on.
Enough! Build the thing already!
That was the stairway/escalator going up from Vessey to the Plaza with 6 WTC right behind it. Just off frame to the right was the foot bridge going to 7 WTC. If you were the Photographer, 7 WTC would have been behind you to the right. The Above shot would have had the post office right behind you.
Better photo here.
I used to take that everyday going to 101 Barclay. I'm surprised it managed to survive at all. I'm not sure weather of not it should be saved, but I guess it's something to consider.
I don't think peope should be around that spot anyway, at least until they fix it up.
'we gonna build 4 more new towers! motherfuckers!'
welcome to new york city.
enough with the micromanagement. an ugly cement staircase is expendable - bulldoze it and build the new stuff already. On the other hand the wildwood hotels should be landmarked. wildwood is the neon capitol of the world.
what the fuck is up with these 9/11 relatives? they fucking want to preserve every motherfucking thing! It's not like other people haven't had their relatives die in national tragedies. But NOOO! they have to throw themselves on the coffin and bawl and try to preserve the 9/11 Urinal Cakes and Antibacterial soap cause it happened on 9/11. I'm sick of these fucks.
I'd like to see the thriving neighborhood that was destroyed to build the WTC, restored.
Instead, we'll (again) have bland, pointless architecture, and neo-fascist "security".
mike, the point of the bland neo-facist architecture is to serve as a backdrop for a George Elmer Pakaki for President campaign ad.
I'm not so sure about the bland architecture. Sliverstein has lined up a pretty stellar cast of characters. I think the ugliest building by far will end up being the Freedom Tower. (this is where I subliminally plant the idea that maybe Silverstein can do the PA one better and build his own tallest-tower-in-the-world and overshadow the Freedom Tower.)
If you go through the path station to get to the passageway to the E,A,C, train the original floor is there. It is poignant somehow as are the stairs.
I doubt if anyone could finagle a billion dollars in order to preserve them, probably just one or two hundred million.
As long as it doesn't cost more than $50 million or so, I support enshrining the staircase in a museum. It's a no-brainer.