A Blog For All: Photos of Ground Zero, July 2010

The following are a series of photos taken from around Ground Zero. This first photo shows 4WTC, which will end up being occupied by the Port Authority and other New York State offices.

This photo shows 1WTC/Freedom Tower rising along the Northwest corner of Ground Zero with the Goldman Sachs building directly behind it and Larry Silverstein's 7WTC to its right. Since this photo was taken on July 7, steelworkers have added more than 30 feet in height to the tower. The workers are raising steel in what appears to be 30-40 foot increments now that they've gotten past the intricate base geometries.

This photo looks back at Ground Zero from just beyond where the new Fiterman Hall will rise. Foundation work is proceeding on Fiterman Hall after it was finally demolished. In the far background you can see that the former Deutsche Bank building is still there, but is still slowly being demolished. 7WTC and 90 Church Street flank the Fiterman Hall site just before reaching Ground Zero.

This photo begins to give you an idea of what it will look like to stand next to the tallest building in North America once it is completed. You can also get a sense of just how massive an undertaking this project is when you realize that there are more than a dozen massive cranes working on the project, whether they're tower cranes or super-heavy lift cranes working to assembly the transit hub, museum, and other components of the rebuilding at Ground Zero.

Here's a closeup of the base of the Freedom Tower and the concrete core that will house essential equipment, elevators and emergency stairwells.

This is a view taken from the World Financial Center looking across Ground Zero towards the Millennium Hilton, Century 21, and the East side of Lower Manhattan. In the far left behind the Freedom Tower, you can see Frank Gehry's residential skyscraper taking on its sweeping steel cladding. The foreground construction is in an effort to build an underground connector between the transit hub and the World Financial Center. Previously, the World Financial Center was linked with a pedestrian bridge at this location.