It looms over Hell's Kitchen like a mythical watchtower.
No windows. No indication of floors.
Just one big slab of a building that architects classify as "brutalist."
For over 15 years I've lived under the shadow of this building and created hundreds of conspiracy theories around it.
And while I'd love to think it's one giant room with hundreds of robotic minions on steel platforms pushing glowing lights like in The Black Hole, here's the real scoop behind
AT&T's "Switching Center"
- The AT&T Switching Center was built to western Midtown as a New York Telephone Company's tele equipment building.
- Like all the other telecom fortresses, this was designed to withstand considerable nuclear blast and fall-out and be self-sufficient for long periods of time(!!!!)
- The building was completed with large openings at the top for the various antenna equipment, giving it a belfry-like appearance. Later, new openings have been added, as well as the antenna mast to the top.
- The building's main bulk is clad into striped walls and the tower's western elevation has twin black stripes rising from the bottom to the top.
- The 21-storey building (equivalent of 40 "normal" storeys due to the increased height of each floor) is predominantly white, in concrete and white enamel tiling, with black granite.
- Construction ended in 1964.
- The building was originally built for the New York Telephone Company.
- Everybody that works in the building is a cylon.
