A Trio of Tribeca Telecommunications Towers

Today, I had some time to kill before an appointment in Tribeca and decided to walk around and snap some photos.  I love all the old industrial warehouses that have been converted into luxury apartments.  Today, however, I focused my camera on three of the area's taller buildings, all of which were built to house telecommunications companies. 


The first is at 60 Hudson Street.

60 Hudson Street was built as the headquarters for Western Union.  It was was designed by Voorhees, Gmelin and Walker and opened in 1930.  During the heyday of the telegraph, the building was the premier nexus of worldwide communications and originally contained 70 million feet of wire and 30 miles of conduit in addition to offices.

The massive 24-story building has nineteen shades of brick on the facade, from deep red brown at the bottom to bright salmon at the top.

I especially like the Art Deco elements, including the entranceway...

and the grills on the vents...

When Western Union moved its headquarters to New Jersey in 1973, the building was converted into a carrier hotel where over 100 telecommunications companies have offices. 

The second tower is at 32 Avenue of the Americas.

Another Art Deco brick behemoth, it's no surprise that the building was also designed by Voorhees, Gmelin and Walker.  Completed in 1932 as the AT&T Long Lines Building, it shares many similarities with the Western Union Building, including variegated brickwork and Art Deco styling.

The building originally housed the technical offices and equipment for AT&T's transatlantic communications. In 1992, when AT&T sold the former AT&T Building in Midtown to Sony, the company moved its head offices to Tribeca.  Today, it also houses many other telecommunications tenants.

Between 2001–02, the tower underwent an extensive renovation which included the placement of two 120-foot-tall communications masts on the roof.

And now for something completely different: The third tower at 33 Thomas Street.

Like 32 Avenue of the Americas, 33 Thomas Street is also known as the AT&T Long Lines Building and was built to house the company's telephone switching equipment.  But the similarities end there. 

Completed in 1974, the building is an extreme example of the Brutalist architectural style, with no windows and a flat concrete slab facade clad with pink-colored Swedish granite faces.

There is a series of large, protruding ventilation openings on the 10th and 29th floors.

A closeup of the vents...

It is often described as one of the strongest buildings in America. The average floor height is 18 feet, considerably taller than in an average high-rise. The floors are also unusually strong, designed to carry 200 to 300 pound per square foot live loads. It was designed to be self-sufficient and protected from nuclear fallout for up to two weeks after a nuclear blast.  As such, today it is also used as a highly secure datacenter space.

Some people don't like the look of the building, and many feel the large windowless facade looming over pedestrians is somewhat ominous. 

But, I've always loved it.  It's so otherworldly and of New York at the same time.  It just stands there begging passers-by to stop and look up. When I did today, I saw the first blooms of Spring looking up as well.