33 Thomas Street, Brutalist skyscraper in Tribeca, Manhattan, United States.
33 Thomas Street is a windowless skyscraper in Tribeca in southern Manhattan that rises 170 meters (558 feet) and spans 29 floors. The facade consists of reddish granite panels that give the tower a monolithic appearance and set it clearly apart from typical office buildings in the area.
AT&T began construction in 1969 to create a telecommunications center that was completed five years later, replacing older cast-iron structures in Lower Manhattan. Architect John Carl Warnecke designed the tower to withstand extreme conditions and serve long-term critical network operations.
The structure carries the nickname Long Lines Building and displays the technical aesthetic of the seventies with raw concrete and industrial forms. Passersby recognize it immediately by its massive reddish granite walls, which give it a closed appearance and set it apart from surrounding buildings.
The tower stands at the corner of Thomas Street and Church Street in Tribeca, a few walking minutes from City Hall and the World Trade Center. The interior is not open to the public, but the exterior can be viewed easily from surrounding streets, especially during clear daytime weather.
The building was designed to operate for three weeks without external supply, including its own fuel and water reserves inside. Documents from 2013 suggest that the facility serves as a surveillance site under the code name TITANPOINTE for international data streams.
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