This collection is available for use by appointment in the Department of Drawings & Archives, Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library, Columbia University. For further information, please email avery-drawings@library.columbia.edu.
The collection documents Mosher Steel Company of Houston's participation in the construction of New York's Twin Towers. Including are 10 drawings of core columns, erector's derricks and box girders; over 40 letters and memos between Mosher and the New York Port Authority ; 2 photographs of completed steel columns ; maps and other ephemera.
1966-70
This collection is available for use by appointment in the Department of Drawings & Archives, Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library, Columbia University. For further information, please email avery-drawings@library.columbia.edu.
Source of acquisition--Harper's Books. Method of acquisition--Purchased;; Date of acquisition--2017. Accession number--2017.013.
Columbia University Libraries, Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library
The Port Authority announced the design of the World Trade Center in 1962, groundbreaking began in 1966, and tower construction started in 1968 with both of the Twin Towers completed by 1973. In 1967 the Mosher Steel Company of Houston was awarded a four million dollar contract to supply the core columns and box beams for 14 floors of each tower. Mosher shipped 13,000 tons of steel, with the largest piece weighing 55 tons. These core columns were part of the World Trade Center's innovative structural design that included a perimeter of multiple tube columns tied back to columns in the core.