Annie Walton Doyle
A man who worked in New York’s mysterious 33 Thomas Street building has revealed what goes on behind closed doors.
In the bustling landscape of New York City’s skyline, home to some of the world’s most iconic buildings, 33 Thomas Street stands out, not for its beauty but for its mystery.
This 550-foot-tall, windowless tower located in Lower Manhattan is unlike any other building in the city.
Known colloquially as the ‘Long Lines Building’ or ‘AT&T Building,’ 33 Thomas Street is shrouded in secrecy, its purpose veiled in intrigue and speculation.
And now, a worker from behind its closed doors has opened up about what’s inside.
Designed by architect John Carl Warnecke, the building was completed in 1974 and is a stark example of the Brutalist architectural style.
Its massive concrete facade, devoid of windows or ornamental details, gives the building a cold, imposing presence.
Constructed to be self-sustaining and able to withstand nuclear blasts, its exterior has an eerie, fortress-like quality that has earned it a place in many discussions about urban architecture.
Unlike the glass-and-steel towers that surround it, 33 Thomas Street appears almost alien, as though it belongs to another time or place.
The building was originally constructed as a hub for AT&T’s long-distance telephone switching operations, hence its nickname, the ‘Long Lines Building.’
During the height of the Cold War, this type of facility was critical for ensuring the security and functionality of long-distance phone lines, both for private and governmental communications.
Inside, the building houses an array of switches, cables, and other equipment essential to telecommunications infrastructure.
The structure’s windowless design was intended to protect sensitive equipment from potential outside threats, including natural disasters and, more notably, nuclear attacks.
With its thick concrete walls and redundant power sources, 33 Thomas Street was designed to remain operational in the event of an emergency, including a catastrophe that might cripple other parts of the city.
In recent years, the mystery surrounding 33 Thomas Street has only deepened.
In 2016, The Intercept published an investigative report based on leaked documents from Edward Snowden, the former NSA contractor who exposed the extent of the U.S. government’s surveillance programs.
The report suggested that 33 Thomas Street might be much more than a telecommunications hub – it could be a major site for the National Security Agency’s (NSA) spying operations.
According to the report, the building, codenamed ‘Titanpointe’ by the NSA, plays a central role in the agency’s global surveillance network, particularly its efforts to intercept international communications.
The facility is thought to be one of the NSA’s primary data collection centers, where vast amounts of information, including phone calls, faxes, and internet traffic, are gathered and processed.
These revelations have only fueled the intrigue surrounding the building, raising questions about how much of the NSA’s surveillance infrastructure is hidden in plain sight.
Unlike most skyscrapers in New York, 33 Thomas Street is not accessible to the public, and very little information is available about its inner workings.
Security around the building is tight, and tours are out of the question.
The absence of windows adds to the overall sense of impenetrability, making it a subject of fascination for urban explorers, conspiracy theorists, and architecture enthusiasts alike.
33 Thomas Street has captured the imagination of artists, filmmakers, and writers, often appearing as a backdrop for dystopian narratives.
Its austere, monolithic design has made it the perfect setting for science fiction and conspiracy-themed projects.
The building appeared in the 2017 documentary Citizenfour, which explores Snowden’s revelations about the NSA, and its foreboding design has been the subject of various art installations and photography exhibitions.
But now, one individual who managed to enter the building spoke to the Daily Mail under the condition of anonymity.
He recounted his experience from the early 2000s when he was hired to install something in the structure.
The man, along with his son, mentioned that they weren’t permitted access to certain parts of the building, which was completed in 1974. Several areas were strictly off-limits to all visitors.
There are numerous buildings where wandering freely isn’t allowed, so this limitation doesn’t seem overly unusual.
Just because you’re hired to do some work doesn’t mean you get to explore the entire place – though it’s hard not to wonder what they might be keeping secret.
More suspicious, however, was the fact that the man and his son ‘couldn’t ask what’s inside or why we couldn’t go in’ to the restricted areas of the building.
It’s not just what they saw, but what they were deliberately kept from seeing.
Naturally, this fuels speculation: aliens, or perhaps something else they’d rather not reveal to outsiders.
What they did come across, however, were documents detailing procedures for operating specific machines in case of a nuclear fallout.
Apparently, 33 Thomas Street is equipped to function independently for up to two weeks in the event of such a disaster, with enough supplies to sustain 1,500 people – a fact that could be significant depending on what is officially housed there…
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