Marriott World Trade Center

"3 World Trade Center redirects here" redirects here. For World Trade Center, second version, Tower 3, see Three World Trade Center.

Marriott World Trade Center
Location	Lower Manhattan, New York City
Address	3 World Trade Center New York, New York
Hotel chain	Marriott Hotels & Resorts
Coordinates	40°42′42″N 74°00′45″W / 40.71167°N 74.0125°W / 40.71167; -74.0125Coordinates: 40°42′42″N 74°00′45″W / 40.71167°N 74.0125°W / 40.71167; -74.0125
Opening date	August 1981
Closing date	September 11, 2001
Developer	Port Authority of New York and New Jersey
Architect	Skidmore, Owings & Merrill
Owner	Host Marriott Corporation
Rooms	817
Suites	26
Restaurants	3
Floors	22
Total height	242 ft (74 m)

The Marriott World Trade Center was a 242 foot 22-story^[1] steel-framed hotel building with 825 rooms. It opened in 1981 as the Vista International and was located at 3 World Trade Center in New York City. Vista International was the brand name under which Hilton International operated hotels in the United States during the period when they were a separate company from Hilton Hotels. Hilton International, under the name "Inhilco" operated the restaurant operations in the World Trade Center. On the top of 1 WTC was Windows on the World restaurant which occupied the entire top floor. Cellar in the Sky served the best meals matched to the best wines available at the time. Inhilco also operated the ballroom and banquet facilities on the 106th floor along with restaurants on the WTC Concourse.

The Vista International Hotel was the first hotel to open in Lower Manhattan since 1836.^[2] The building was designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill and originally owned by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and KUO Hotels of Korea with HIlton International acting as management agent.

The first general manager was Eddie Florijn. The first executive chef was Hilton International Corp. Exec Chef Walter Plendner. George Weiss was the first Food & Beverage Director. Roger Davis was made F&B Director when George Weiss was promoted to Rooms Division Manager. Margaret Spader was the food consultant for American Cuisine recipes and research. Joseph Sayegh was the first director of purchasing. Kenn Stransky was the first purchasing agent and later foods buyer. It was sold in 1995 to Host Marriott Corporation after then-Governors George Pataki of New York and Christine Todd Whitman of New Jersey pressured Port Authority officials to sell its less profitable assets.

The Vista International Hotel was connected to the North and South tower, and many went through the hotel to get to the Twin Towers. The hotel had a few establishments including The American Harvest Restaurant, The Greenhouse Cafe, Tall Ships Bar & Grill, a store called Times Square Gifts, The Russia House Restaurant and a Grayline New York Tours Bus ticket counter, a gym that was the largest of any hotel in New York at the time, and a hair salon named Olga's. The hotel also had 26,000 square feet (2,400 m²) of meeting space on the entire 3rd floor along with The New Amsterdam Ballroom on the main floor, and was considered a four-diamond hotel by AAA.^[3]

The structure was destroyed on September 11, 2001 in the collapse of the North and South Towers of the World Trade Center.

1993 World Trade Center bombing

On February 26, 1993, the hotel was seriously damaged as a result of the World Trade Center bombing. Terrorists took a Ryder truck loaded with 1,500 pounds (682 kilograms) of explosives and parked it in the One World Trade Center parking garage, below the hotel's ballroom. At 12:18pm (Eastern Time), an explosion destroyed or seriously damaged the lower and sub levels of the World Trade Center complex. After extensive repairs, the hotel reopened in November 1994.

September 11, 2001 attacks

3 World Trade Center after the attacks

Ground Zero debris with markup showing building locations.

On September 11, 2001, the hotel was at full capacity, and had over 1,000 registered guests. In addition, the National Association for Business Economics (NABE) was holding its yearly conference at the hotel.

When American Airlines Flight 11 crashed into the North Tower (1 WTC), the landing gear fell into the roof of the Marriott hotel. There were many eyewitness accounts from firefighters who went up the stairs in the Marriott Hotel to the second floor. Firefighters used the lobby as the staging area, and were also in the hotel to evacuate guests that may have still been in the hotel. Firefighters also reported bodies on the roof from the people that had jumped or fallen from the burning towers. The collapse of the South Tower (2 WTC) split the hotel in half (such damage can briefly be seen in the documentary film 9/11), and the collapse of its twin destroyed the rest of the hotel aside from a small section (as seen on the picture) that was furthest from the north tower. Fourteen people who had been trying to evacuate the partially destroyed hotel after the first collapse managed to survive the second collapse in this small section. The section of the hotel that had managed to survive the collapse of the Twin Towers had been upgraded after the 1993 bombing.

As a result of the collapse of the Twin Towers, the hotel was destroyed. Only four stories of the building were still standing, all of which were gutted. Approximately 40 people died in the hotel, including two hotel employees and many firefighters who were using the hotel as a staging ground.^[4]

The building and its survivors were featured in the television special documentary film Hotel Ground Zero, which premiered on September 11, 2009 on the History Channel.

References

1. ^ Lew, H. S., Richard W. Bukowski, and Nicholas J. Carino. "Design, Construction, and Maintenance of Structural and Life Safety Systems (pdf)" (PDF). National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). http://wtc.nist.gov/pubs/NISTNCSTAR1-1.pdf. 
2. ^ Eisner, Harvey (April 2002). "Terrorist Attack At New York World Trade Center". Firehouse Magazine. http://www.firehouse.com/terrorist/911/magazine/harvey.html. 
3. ^ "New York Marriott World Trade Center (archived website)". Archived from the original on 2001-03-02. http://web.archive.org/web/20010302170535/http://www.marriotthotels.com/NYCWT/meeting.asp. Retrieved 2001-03-02. 
4. ^ Dwyer, Jim; Fessenden, Ford (September 11, 2002). "One Hotel's Fight to the Finish; At the Marriott, a Portal to Safety as the Towers Fell". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/11/nyregion/one-hotel-s-fight-finish-marriott-portal-safety-towers-fell.html?pagewanted=print&src=pm. 

External links

• Marriott World Trade Center Survivors
• Stories by NABE members about the attack
• The 9/11 Hotel, a five-part documentary video on YouTube including interviews with surviving guests and workers at the Marriott World Trade Center
• Marriott World Trade Center Website - Archived on Internet Archive