Windows on the World

File:World Financial Center from the Windows on the World restaurant.jpg from the Windows on the World dining room]]

The main dining room faced north and east, allowing guests to look out onto the skyline of Manhattan. The dress code required jackets for men and was strictly enforced; a man who arrived with a reservation but without a jacket was seated at the bar. The restaurant offered jackets that were loaned to the patrons so they could eat in the main dining room.{{cite book|last=Chong|first=Ping|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5GjOFp9aE2gC&q=%22windows+on+the+world%22+dress+code&pg=RA3-PA143|title=The East/West Quartet|year=2004|page=143|publisher=Theatre Communications Grou |isbn=9781559362290}} The dinnerware, rugs, lighting fixtures, menus and the communication equipment were designed by Milton Glaser.{{cite web |title=CASE STUDY # 12 Windows on the World |url=https://www.miltonglaser.com/case-studies/227/windows-on-the-world |website=miltonglaser.com |access-date=July 18, 2022 |location=New York City |language=en-US}}{{cite web |title=The Work – Windows on the World |url=https://www.miltonglaser.com/the-work/621/windows-on-the-world-wall/ |website=miltonglaser.com |access-date=July 18, 2022 |location=New York City |language=en-US}}{{cite web |title=Milton Glaser's menus for the World Trade Center |url=https://archives.sva.edu/blog/post/milton-glasers-menus-for-the-world-trade-center |publisher=SVA Archives |access-date=July 18, 2022 |location=New York City |language=en-US |date=January 25, 2014}}

A more intimate dining room, Wild Blue, was located on the south side of the restaurant. The bar extended along the south side of 1 World Trade Center as well as the corner over part of the east side. Looking out from the bar through the full length windows, one could see views of the southern tip of Manhattan, where the Hudson and East River meet. In addition, one could see the Liberty State Park with Ellis Island and Staten Island with the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge. The kitchens, utility spaces, and conference center in the restaurant were located on the 106th floor.

Windows on the World closed after the 1993 bombing, in which employee Wilfredo Mercado was killed while checking in deliveries in the building's underground garage. The explosion also damaged receiving areas, storage and parking spots used by the restaurant complex.{{cite news |last=Fabricant |first=Florence |title=A New Era for Windows on the World |newspaper=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1993/09/22/garden/a-new-era-for-windows-on-the-world.html |access-date=February 26, 2022 |date=September 22, 1993 |location=New York City |page=10 |language=en-US}} On May 12, 1994, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey announced that the Joseph Baum & Michael Whiteman Company had won the contract to run the restaurants after Windows's former operator, Inhilco, gave up its lease.{{cite news |last=Miller |first=Bryan |title=Familiar Face Behind New 'Windows' |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/05/13/nyregion/familiar-face-behind-new-windows.html |access-date=February 26, 2022 |work=The New York Times |date=May 13, 1994 |page=3 |language=en-US}} It underwent a US$25 million renovation and reopened on June 26, 1996.{{cite web |last=Roca |first=John |title=Opening of Windows of the World restaurant in the World Trade Center |url=https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/opening-of-windows-of-the-world-restaurant-in-the-world-news-photo/97334948?language=en-US |website=Getty Images |access-date=January 1, 2022 |location=New York City |language=en-US |date=June 26, 1996}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/06/19/garden/new-windows-on-a-new-world-can-the-food-ever-match-the-view.html|title=New Windows on a New World;Can the Food Ever Match the View?|last=Fabricant|first=Florence|date=June 19, 1996|access-date=May 18, 2018|newspaper=The New York Times}} Cellar in the Sky, a 60-seat space within the restaurant, reopened after Labor Day.{{cite news |last=Siano |first=Joseph |title=TRAVEL ADVISORY;World Trade Center Restaurant to Reopen |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/06/23/travel/travel-advisory-world-trade-center-restaurant-to-reopen.html |access-date=January 1, 2022 |work=The New York Times |date=June 23, 1996 |location=New York City |page=3 |language=en-US}} In 1999, Cellar in the Sky was changed into an American steakhouse and renamed "Wild Blue".{{cite news |last=Grimes |first=William |title=RESTAURANTS; In a Cozy Cabin Amid the Shooting Stars |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/06/09/dining/restaurants-in-a-cozy-cabin-amid-the-shooting-stars.html |access-date=January 1, 2022 |work=The New York Times |date=June 9, 1999 |location=New York City |page=8 |language=en-US}} In 2000, its final full year of operation, it reported revenues of US$37 million, making it the highest-grossing restaurant in the United States.{{cite web |last=Goldberg |first=Howard G. |url=http://www.thewinenews.com/octnov01/comment.html |title=Windows on the World – The wine community's true north |website=The Wine News Magazine |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120220040555/http://www.thewinenews.com/octnov01/comment.html |archive-date=February 20, 2012}}

The executive chefs of Windows on the World included Philippe Feret of Brasserie Julien while the last chef was Michael Lomonaco.

{{Main|September 11 attacks}}

File:The World Trade Center Memorial (N-70) - Flickr id 15720238041.jpg at North Pool, National September 11 Memorial and Museum]]

Windows on the World was destroyed when the North Tower collapsed during the September 11 attacks. While the restaurant was hosting regular breakfast patrons and the Risk Waters Financial Technology Congress, American Airlines Flight 11 crashed into the North Tower between floors 93 and 99 at 8:46{{nbsp}}a.m.{{cite web|title=Risk Waters Group World Trade Center Appeal|date=October 8, 2025 |url=http://www.riskwaters.com/wtc}} Everyone present in the restaurant died that day, as all means of escape (including the stairwells and elevators) were instantly destroyed or blocked by the impact. Victims trapped in the restaurant either died from smoke inhalation from the ensuing fire, jumping or falling, or the North Tower's eventual collapse. At least five Windows occupants were witnessed falling to their deaths from the restaurant.{{cite web|url=https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fe/Appendix-M_NIST-NCSTAR_1-5A_Sept2005_PDF-pp227-232.pdf|last=National Institute of Standards and Technology|title=OBSERVATIONS OF FALLING HUMAN BEINGS FOR WTC 1|year=2005}}

There were 72 restaurant staff present in the restaurant, including assistant general manager Christine Olender, whose desperate calls to Port Authority police represented the restaurant's final communications.{{cite web|url=http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/nation/2003-08-28-wtc-windows_x.htm |title='We need to find a safe haven,' WTC restaurant manager pleads |work=USA Today |agency=Associated Press |date=August 28, 2003 |access-date=June 26, 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121023034223/http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/nation/2003-08-28-wtc-windows_x.htm |archive-date=October 23, 2012 }} Sixteen Incisive Media-Risk Waters Group employees, as well as 76 other guests/contractors, were also present.{{cite web|title=Risk Waters Group archived home page|url=http://www.riskwaters.com/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020802152503/http://www.riskwaters.com/|archive-date=August 2, 2002}} Among those also present was the executive director of the Port Authority, Neil Levin, who was having breakfast. After about 9:40{{nbsp}}a.m., no further distress calls from the restaurant were made. The last people to leave the restaurant before Flight 11 crashed into the building were Michael Nestor, Liz Thompson, Geoffrey Wharton, and Richard Tierney, who all shared an elevator together. They departed at 8:44{{nbsp}}a.m. and survived the attack.{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/aug/18/september11.usa3|title=9/11: Distant voices, still lives (part one)|date=August 18, 2002|location=London|access-date=September 17, 2015|newspaper=The Guardian}}

World Trade Center lessor Larry Silverstein regularly held breakfast meetings in Windows on the World with tenants, as part of his recent acquisition of the Twin Towers from the Port Authority, and was scheduled to be in the restaurant on the morning of the attacks. However, his wife insisted that he had to go to a dermatologist's appointment that morning,{{cite web|url=http://observer.com/25th-anniversary/larry-silverstein-silverstein-properties/|title=Larry Silverstein: Silverstein Properties|work=New York Observer|access-date=April 2, 2013|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131002031454/http://observer.com/25th-anniversary/larry-silverstein-silverstein-properties/|archive-date=October 2, 2013}} whereby he avoided death.

In its last iteration, Windows on the World received mixed reviews. Ruth Reichl, a New York Times food critic, said in December 1996 that "nobody will ever go to Windows on the World just to eat, but even the fussiest food person can now be content dining at one of New York's favorite tourist destinations." She gave the restaurant two out of four stars, signifying a "very good" quality rather than "excellent" (three stars) or "extraordinary" (four stars).{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/12/31/dining/restaurants-food-that-s-nearly-worthy-of-the-view.html|title=Restaurants; Food That's Nearly Worthy of the View|last=Reichl|first=Ruth|date=December 31, 1997|work=The New York Times|access-date=February 22, 2018|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}} In his 2009 book Appetite, William Grimes wrote that "At Windows, New York was the main course."{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=w9pLESNSYb8C&pg=PA281|title=Appetite City: A Culinary History of New York|last=Grimes|first=William|date=October 13, 2009|publisher=Farrar, Straus and Giroux|isbn=978-1-42999-027-1|pages=281|language=en}} In 2014, Ryan Sutton of Eater.com compared the now-destroyed restaurant's cuisine to that of its replacement, One World Observatory. He stated, "Windows helped usher in a new era of captive audience dining in that the restaurant was a destination in itself, rather than a lazy byproduct of the vital institution it resided in."{{Cite news|url=https://ny.eater.com/2015/6/30/8862293/one-world-trade-dining|title=Everything You Need to Know About Dining at One World Trade|last=Sutton|first=Ryan|date=June 30, 2015|work=Eater NY|access-date=February 22, 2018}}

Windows of Hope Family Relief Fund was organized soon after the attacks to provide support and services to the families of those in the food, beverage, and hospitality industries who had been killed on September 11 in the World Trade Center. Windows on the World executive chef Michael Lomonaco and owner-operator David Emil were among the founders of that fund.

On January 4, 2006, a number of former Windows on the World staff opened Colors, a co-operative restaurant in Manhattan that serves as a tribute to their colleagues and whose menu reflects the diversity of the former Windows' staff.{{cite web |last=Cohen |first=Li Yakira |date=September 10, 2019 |title=COLORS restaurant to reopen on the Lower East Side |url=https://www.amny.com/lifestyle/eat-and-drink/colors-restaurant-nyc-1-36142747/ |access-date=September 9, 2024 |website=amNewYork}} The original location closed in 2017 and reopened in 2019.{{cite web |last=Tuder |first=Stefanie |date=September 12, 2019 |title=Restaurant Founded by Twin Towers Restaurant Staff Will Reopen on the LES |url=https://ny.eater.com/2019/9/12/20862547/colors-opening-lower-east-side-nyc |access-date=September 9, 2024 |website=Eater NY}} Windows on the World was planned to reopen on the top floors of the new One World Trade Center, but that project was canceled in 2011.{{cite web |last=Feiden |first=Douglas |date=March 7, 2011 |title=Plans to build new version of Windows on the World at top of Freedom Tower are scrapped |url=http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/plans-build-new-version-windows-world-top-freedom-tower-scrapped-article-1.122810 |access-date=July 14, 2020 |work=New York Daily News}} Instead, One World Observatory contains eateries named ONE Dine, ONE Mix and ONE Café.{{cite web |title=One Dine |url=https://oneworldobservatory.com/restaurant/ |access-date=July 14, 2020 |publisher=One World Observatory}}

It has been speculated that The Falling Man, a famous photograph of a man dressed in white falling headfirst on September 11, was an employee at Windows on the World. Although his identity has never been conclusively established, he was believed to be Jonathan Briley, an audio technician at the restaurant. Jonathan was the younger brother of Alex Briley, the original "G.I." from the band Village People.{{cite video

| people = Henry Singer (director)

|date = 2006

| title = 9/11: The Falling Man

| url = https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0810746/

| medium = Documentary

| publisher = Channel 4

}}

In March 2005, the novel Windows on the World, by French novelist Frédéric Beigbeder, was released; the novel focuses on two brothers who are in the restaurant on September 11 with their father.{{cite web |last=Lacey |first=Josh |date=September 11, 2004 |title=Review: Windows on the World by Frédéric Beigbeder |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2004/sep/11/featuresreviews.guardianreview17 |access-date=September 9, 2024 |website=the Guardian}} Kenneth Womack's 2012 novel The Restaurant at the End of the World is a fictive recreation of the lives of the staff and visitors at the Windows on the World complex on the morning of September 11.{{cite web |date=March 24, 2014 |title=Author Reviews The Restaurant at the End of the World Book at BSI |url=https://gantnews.com/2014/03/24/author-reviews-the-restaurant-at-the-end-of-the-world-book-at-bsi/ |access-date=September 9, 2024 |website=GantNews.com}}

In 2021 young adult novelist Alan Gratz published a book called Ground Zero about a boy named Brandon who is with his father in Windows on the World on the morning of September 11, 2001.

{{Portal|New York City|Food}}

• List of tenants in 1 World Trade Center (1971–2001)
• Top of the World Trade Center Observatories

{{Reflist}}

{{Commons category}}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.windowsontheworld.com Windows on the World] (Archive)
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20020802142450/http://www.windowsontheworld.com/ Archived snapshot of the former WotW website, August 2, 2002]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20010201152200/http://windowsontheworld.com/ Last pre-9/11 archived snapshot of the former WotW website, February 1, 2001]
• [https://public.fotki.com/kostic/world_trade_center/windows_on_the_world-4/ Photographs of WotW]

{{Restaurants in Manhattan}}

{{World Trade Center}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Windows On The World}}

Category:1976 establishments in New York City

Category:Buildings and structures destroyed in the September 11 attacks

Category:Defunct restaurants in Manhattan

Category:Defunct tourist attractions in the United States

Category:Restaurants disestablished in 2001

Category:Restaurants established in 1976

Category:World Trade Center