(World Trade Center) | Rare promotional packet announcing plans for the World Trade Center, 1964

(World Trade Center)

Promotional materials from the public announcement of the plans for the World Trade Center. [New York: The Port of New York Authority, January 1964]

A group of materials, including documents, photographic prints, reproductions of renderings and blueprints, by various contributors, including Minoru Yamasaki and Associates; Emery Roth & Sons; Lee K. Jaffe; Carlos Diniz; Balthazar Korab; and others. Housed in original printed silver folder; some creasing and wear to extremities, a short tear along the top edge of the front panel. With the original printed mailer; light creasing, staining, and wear to corners.

A fascinating archive of promotional and informational materials—the initial public announcement of the plans for the World Trade Center.

These documents represent Minoru Yamasaki's original plan for the World Trade Center complex as proposed on 18 January 1964. Certain changes were made to the project over next two years, but they would be relatively minor. Construction broke ground on 5 August 1966.

The group comprises:

• Press release from Lee K. Jaffe, director of Public Relations, the Port of New York Authority, for release on 20 January 1964. 24 leaves (280 x 215 mm), with printed text on one side only, stapled; a tiny rust stain adjacent the staple, minor creasing around corners, essentially pristine. Discusses the plans in detail, including the occupancy, the PATH terminal, the customs bureau, the architecture and planning of the World Trade Center buildings, Plaza, and Plaza buildings, the towers, the elevators, the foundations, as well as the function of the World Trade Center, its role in port development, the history of the project, and a 1-page press release from Robert L. McManus, Governor Rockefeller's press secretary.

• Remarks by the Honorable Richard J. Hughes, Governor of the State of New Jersey at the World Trade Center Press Conference at the New York Hilton Hotel, Saturday, 18 January 1964. 4 leaves, printed text on one side only, stapled (2 copies); one copy with a light area of toning along the top edge of the first page.

• Four documents, a statement by the lead architect describing the World Trade Center project, the 3 others with short biographies of the various parties involved in the project's planning and design, comprising: Statement by Minoru Yamasaki of Minoru Yamasaki and Associates. 2 leaves. (With:) Minoru Yamasaki... 2 leaves; faint toning along top edge. (With:) Emery Roth and Sons... 2 leaves. (And with:) Staff Members of the Division who Worked on Plans for the World Trade Center... 2 leaves.

• 18 photographic prints, comprising: 8 artistically lit shots of the World Trade Center's architectural scale model, all but one with a label affixed to verso giving descriptions of the images and crediting Balthazar Korab as photographer; 3 showing the site of the World Trade Center, captioned in the margins; 7 headshots of those involved in the planning and design, captioned in lower margin; a few photos with some minor stains to versos, one with pinholes in the upper corners. Housed in a plastic sleeve.

• Renderings of the World Trade Center by Carlos Diniz, comprising: a printed title and 15 printed reproductions of architectural renderings, showing views of the site from various far away parts of the city, as sell as views inside the buildings and plaza, a possible arrangement for the lobby, an image showing construction using prefabricated sections of flooring, and three renderings relating to the "revolutionary skylobby elevator system."

• 6 reproduction blueprints, printed on one side of a large folded sheet (580 x 1105 mm); some creases, one short tear. Includes elevations, including one showing the towers from the side and top, mechanical and engineering studies, a roof plan, and an exterior wall detail.

• A related offprint: Contemporary Steel Design, Vol. 1, No. 4, The World Trade Center New York City. [New York: American Iron and Steel Institute, 1964]. Illustrated. Stapled in printed paper wrapper; hole-punched, light soiling and toing, with mailing label for "Mr. J. C. Rafter" on the rear cover, and a Marshall Barr & Associates stamp to front cover.