What is the mystery of the windowless building in New York?
In New York, you can't miss this striking 29-story building shaped like a chimney with not a single window! Here's what it is.
A building constructed in 1974
- Walk through the streets of TriBeCa or visit the observation deck at One World Trade Center, and you’ll eventually spot this unusual structure. Despite standing nearly 170 m (558 ft) tall across 29 floors, “33 Thomas Street” has no windows on any of its four sides.
- The building, nicknamed the Long Lines Building, opened in 1974 as a communications hub for AT&T, the American telecommunications operator, and later Verizon. Inside, it houses only telecommunications equipment.
An NSA facility?
- Today, the building is best known for housing a National Security Agency (NSA) antenna in New York. The powerful American intelligence agency is believed to operate advanced surveillance equipment in the tower for telephone interception and monitoring operations.
- From the observation deck of One World Trade Center, you can actually see satellite antennas on the building’s roof. But details remain hard to come by.
The Long Lines Building as seen from One World Trade Center. (Photo Didier Forray)