World Trade Center and the Twin Towers - The History of a Symbol:: Visible from afar and unique in the world in the elegance of their simple duplicity, for nearly thirty years from their dedication the Twin Towers were a portal, a cornie, a dual beacon over the fabulous city that is New York. From their observation decks, tourists enjoyed a magnificient view of the entire city and its port-and the Statue of Liberty. Despite never having earned favor with the experts, their inmistakable silhouette immediately became a worldwide symbol of Big Apple. The towers were also a popular stop on the tourist circuit: like the Empire State Building, they were never mere office building or skyscrapers striving upward toward a place in the record books; like the Empire State, the Towers-that-were expressed the spirit of an important era in New York's history. But they also instroduced technical innovations in construction science engineering. The WTC design team was headed by the architect Minoru Yamasaki, who consulted with Emery Roth & Sons, a renowned architectural firm with extensive experience with buildings of this type in New York City. Actual construction took seven years, and by the time the Twin Towers were inaugurated in 1973 they were already a dominant feature of the skyline. Speaking to the broader historical context, the World Trade Center was conceived in the post-WWII period as a symbol of the prosperity and success achieved by the United States at the global level. And as a symbol of late 20th century American spirit, the Towers became the target of terrorist attacks, which culminated in their tragic destruction on September 11, 2001.