The Windowless Skyscraper Conspiracy

[@DJTI99]

I've actually been in the 33 Thomas Street building in Manhattan in the summer of 2000. I used to work for Priceline and they had a data center there. Being in a building that big with no windows is creepy as hell.

[@pavelow235]

Tell me more....

[@raymondjack]

Much more…

[@DJTI99]

@@pavelow235 and @raymondjack I really did not see anything beyond the server racks. They took my driver's license when I came in, and handed it back when I left. The palm readers to get into restricted areas were pretty cool, though. The weirdest thing was not being able to tell how high up you were because there was no reference from a window. I think we were on the 20th floor, but that was also 23 years ago.

[@geeeee8268]

Me too. FE for Sun microsystems. Been in there countless times. ATT owned data center. They rented out cages to Y2K startups. There is another one like it, owned by ATT 47th street and 10th Ave. It's true though. They are built to withstand nuclear attack.

[@geeeee8268]

@@raymondjack Nothing really exciting. Bunch of cages with servers. Wires, AC units. Daylight lamps and noise. Pretty depressing really, especially at night when it's mostly empty.

[@thedudeabides3138]

You have to love the sheer audacity of a surveillance building being called “Fair View”.

[@svenjansen2134]

More like Unfair View amirite?

[@mikelopez1907]

Here we go, the Machiavellian Republicans in the white House, trying the hype sh_t up, by saying; " It's biden fault for calling donald Trump an authoritarian! No Donald Trumps actions and he wanting to be KIng speak for them self's! Not President Biden! Hello?

[@thedudeabides3138]

@hitemhard1991 (smh) Talk about LEANING into that sheer audacity.

[@thedudeabides3138]

@hitemhard1991 No, I’m acknowledging your post, laughing at the irony of the NSA calling their foot ball grounds the same name.

[@thedudeabides3138]

@hitemhard1991 the (smh) probably threw you 😉

[@skyblueo]

33 Thomas Street used to be called the Long Lines Building. I used to walk by it and see the staff hanging out in the sunlight during their lunch times. It was said that working in a building that had no windows made the staff go a little crazy. My friends and I used to call it the Ministry of Love, or the Ministry of Truth, from Orwell's novel, Nineteen Eighty-Four. Looks like we weren't far off regarding some of its purposes.

[@melissaharris3389]

It's the HQ of the Federal Bureau of Control

[@jasonpauda4204]

Casinos have no windows. People burn out when they don't like their job.

[@khunopie9159]

33 as is 33rd degree Freemason?

[@jfcjic3935]

​@@jasonpauda4204isn't the lack of windows to distort time for casino goers?

[@jfcjic3935]

wait don't answer that lemme just Google it 😳

[@jasonsmith3537]

I did a big job in Tacoma, WA for Chase around 2008 in one of their large buildings. I was taken way underground where their network racks were and in there was a fallout shelter with a Kennedy plaque above the huge vault door. Inside were diesel generators, little open cell like rooms with cut outs in the concrete for mattresses, and storage. There was this massive hole in the wall....a tunnel. The old guy that ran the building said that back in the day, all of your major bank HQ's were in Tacoma and that tunnel linked to the other banks. During the Cold War, our gov wanted to preserve the bank executives and upper-tier citizen in case something happened. I have tons of pictures as I was a surveyor. It was pretty wild to see an actual fallout shelter...and it was in excellent working condition. He said the old generators would still work after all those years.

[@ErvinandMFantasyFootball]

That’s insane.

[@ThePoxx]

cool

[@rayking100]

Probably human trafficking going on in reality

[@palodagreat1008]

Send me some pictures please

[@HazenMire]

Many years ago I did inspection of construction work in 33 Thomas, and 811 Tenth ave (another lesser known monolithic Telecom building with no windows on the west side of NYC), on a dozen or so floors. They're both floors and floors of server rooms and telecom equipment. A couple floors for multiple generator rooms, fuel tanks in the cellars, and other areas for various types of equipment, like batteries, HVAC systems, etc. The scariest thing about these buildings in my time within them was the just how few people are inside of them. I'd be walking around a floor for an hour or more, checking fire rated walls, piping, ducts, etc, and I'd be the only person on the floor. Rarely saw anyone coming through the lobbies aside from the security staff. Elevators were always empty. There were some times I'd be on a floor with 2 or 3 other people checking connections at servers or on computer terminals. But they're really like ghost buildings. Just the constant humming and hissing of equipment and air blowing through fans and ductwork.

[@qumefox]

Well it's a long lines building (originally), not some Men in Black type institution. The whole building is basically equivalent to any of the other metal frame tower long lines microwave relays built at the time. And those were just as nuclear hardened as 33 thomas is. They just don't look as fancy as they're basically just a hardened bunker with a big ass tower with microwave horns on the top of it. They didn't want something that looked like this in Manhattan, so it was built to look like a building instead. It boils down to the building basically being a telco relay, though hardened since long lines was used for nation defense communication. And those don't exactly require loads of staff to operate. Even after it was converted to a data center, data centers are still something that don't require loads of staff to run. Hence the building being mostly devoid of people.

[@jwalster9412]

Dang, Terrifying without any windows I bet.

[@Michael-zq4mo]

THE GOVERNMENT IS EVIL

[@hitmusicworldwide]

811 10th Ave is not on the upper east side of Manhattan. It's on the lower west side. There are no buildings like this on the upper east side. 5th Ave divides Manhattan East from West. All avenues West of 5th Ave are numbered greater than 6. Thus 10th avenue is on the West side.

[@HazenMire]

@@hitmusicworldwide Thanks for the correction. Despite working in the city 10+ years I have no clue about what's what name wise and I really screwed up my sense of direction there. I'm only good with addresses. I live in NJ so it's not something I grew up with.

[@jwschu8259]

I work in these AT&T data centers including 10 S Canal. The creepiest part is most of these buildings are completely empty of humans but full of running equipment like one big dark breathing machine. Even at Canal those office spaces are completely uninhabited and it looks like in the 90s all the employees just decided to get up and walk out one day.

[@stellarwind1946]

That’s right. Whenever I called these places as a technician working in the field (we called them Central Offices) there was only ever 1-2 people on site to assist. Oftentimes there was nobody.

[@njshore2239]

In 1975 I was an Architecture student at Brooklyn Tech HS and my pencil drawings of 33 Thomas were used as the foundation for my senior project on modern architecture. Wow you have brought me back. It is also interesting how the "times" shape perception. Back then we did not think of spying, we thought of surviving the big one and seeing these types of buildings gave us strength, not fear. Enjoy you content!

[@Megabean]

I'm not a fan of spying, but I still feel a great warmth to this building. Just one of a kind and the proportions are really cool. Imagine the sound of all those telephone switches back in the day? The inside must of sounded like a hive haha

[@BillWoodillustrator]

Sign of the times.

[@BillWoodillustrator]

Most Australian cities have such a tower in their CBD. They’re usually telecommunication centres etc. No big deal.

[@ballroomdru]

Brooklyn Tech class of 97. Those buildings are definitely built with nukes in mind.

[@godlugner5327]

Civil class of 14'! I loved going over the drawings of the foundry on the 8th floor and the rifle range in the basement!

[@utubesux1]

Men in black headquarters

[@maryjennings228]

😂😆😅💕🌎

[@svenjansen2134]

Or something like that yes.

[@Dexter68-eq6ei]

Close...

[@caseycameron5370]

Obviously 😆and mind controlling chipmunks who shoot thought lasers

[@rainsmoothvideos4096]

When I seen this that's the first thing I thought

[@LargelyNonsense_818]

33 Thomas St was also the inspiration for "The Oldest House" in the game Control (2019). Its in-game address is even a direct reference - 34 Thomas St.

[@jamesoloughlin]

yes

[@sonicgoo1121]

That would be an interesting game to do an architecture video about.

[@LargelyNonsense_818]

@@sonicgoo1121 Polygon's youtube channel actually made a couple of videos featuring Control and it's architectural influences (Brutalism, etc.)

[@100dead]

I was hoping somebody would mention Control. It's an amazing comparison; The Oldest House would be just as much the NSA's paradise as it is the FBC's. It's a building that now hopes to be noticed as little as possible, despite the unique brutalism used in the architecture. Anything could be inside, and we wouldn't know shit. Also worth noting the containment sector in Control-- the Panopticon, as they call it-- can easily be compared to the "Winter Kills" data storage center in design. The anomalous materials which the FBC seeks to obtain, study and detain are held in small cells in a large and layered circular structure facing inward. The immense amount of data stored in the movie's rendition of the building is contained in much the same way, just with some classy 70s futurism.

[@Cocc0nuttt0]

Orange peel

[@davidbalcon8726]

You can find these structures in the city centre of most major cities as this is how the early telephone system was structured as wires ran in/out to link telephones in businesses and homes. There’s a particularly curious tower in central Tokyo near Shinjuku that resembles a windowless, shrunk Empire State Building. They were generally wireless and self-sufficient as the early telephone system was a huge capital investment by these companies and the lifeline in times of disaster particularly when services like electricity and water are cut off for whatever reason. This was not a conspiracy by governments but sound corporate investments in critical telecommunications infrastructure before microwave and wireless technologies. The same logic and hard structures reside in dozens of server farms that comprise “the cloud” though often located outside major cities for their security. Consider them as the telecom version of railway shuttling yards that were built to manage vast networks of freight or passenger trains.

[@jeffm6651]

I really liked Control's rendition of 33 Thomas. Exploring inside of "The Oldest House" felt endless. Each level was like entering a door from Monsters inc.

[@choobs8511]

Very underrated representation of it, Instead of what most people think of it as being full of Machines, its more Eldritch, like the building is kinda "alive".

[@brittany9414]

I bet it was lol

[@unregisteredhypercam2142]

Love Control. They House of Leaves-ified 33 Thomas.

[@Bleep_Bloop_Destroy]

What is Control?

[@adz951]

​@@Bleep_Bloop_DestroyA video game

[@isdeirinnme]

I appreciate that Zach Mortice, architecture critic, is wearing a shirt with 33 Thomas St. tower on it. Nice touch 👌

[@johnhaller5851]

These buildings built in the 1970 coincided with the introduction of the 4ESS, originally called the Number 4 Electronic Switching System. This was the first digital switch system the Bell System made. There are reasons for the windowless exterior. One of the big reasons is that a storm is not going to break a window and let water into sensitive electric equipment. Additionally, the magnetic tape machines used to record billing details used to use a reflective surface at the beginning and end of the tape, and sunlight coming into a switching building had caused problems with false detector reports. If there was anything the Bell System didn't want, it was losing billing data from the days that a long distance call could be $3 per minute. The large batteries were lead-acid batteries, and each cell was 1.5 volts. They could store lots of energy, and were interconnected with thick copper cables which fed a large copper bus bar. An installer where I worked dropped a screwdriver, and the power in those batteries vaporized the tip off the screwdriver. But, relevant to the building, those batteries were very heavy, and needed a lot of structure to support them. Not only were the batteries (filled with lead and acid) heavy, but so were the copper wires connecting the batteries to each other and to the equipment they supplied. Fun fact on one of the Chicago buildings is that it was built with no provisions for heating the floors with equipment. The equipment itself made enough heat to keep the building warm. It did have air conditioning though. As equipment for smaller and more efficient, it produced less heat, to the point that there were concerns about whether the equipment would work on cold days. Interior equipment was only tested to 0C/32F, non-condensing. Windowless buildings have been a hallmark of telephone equipment for many years, and you will find a building like that in almost every town in the US. Tall ceilings were a reflection of the high equipment from older times that had many relays to direct calls. In particular, step-by-step switches were very tall, and maintained with ladders attached to a rail attached to the ceiling which could be moved. I may or may not have been discovered playing with those ladders while doing some unrelated work in an old central office. I doubt there is much spy equipment in Chicago. I have no first-hand knowledge (or I wouldn't be allowed to say anything), but most of the spy equipment I've read about was on the coasts, as the NSA is only allowed to intercept foreign calls. Still, CALEA does require telephone carriers to provide for legal wiretapping capabilities when a search warrant permits it. Stories I heard about CALEA capabilities were that at least 5 different agencies should be able to tap a particular number without any agency knowing any other agency was interested in the same number. This would keep local police (more easily corrupted because there are more officers) from Knowing that the FBI or DEA was interested in a certain number. VOIP using applications has challenged these capabilities, especially foreign controlled apps like Telegram.

[@jfwfreo]

Signal is great because the whole thing is (as far as I can tell from looking at their repositories) fully open source and I doubt even the NSA has a supercomputer powerful enough to crack the Signal encryption. As for phone company buildings, Telecom (at the time the government-owned monopoly phone company) built big concrete skyscrapers (not necessarily completely windowless though) in the major capital cities in the late 70s (likely for the same reasons that AT&T did)

[@RobinTheBot]

It should be said we know for an absolute fact that are performing surveillance illegally beyond their limits, along with various other agencies. I wish we celebrated our whistleblowers...

[@adamjohnson286]

Thank you, RobintheBot. "They only intercept foreign calls." And Edward Snowden chokes on his Russian soup. We're all "foreigners" to the CIA. They have no national lines.

[@andrewmurschel2608]

​@jfwfreo they don't need to crack the algorithm if they can get straight to your microphone and speaker.

[@stevengill1736]

Yup, the only windowless building in our small town (besides the bank) is the phone company! A friend that worked at a Telco back when they started going digital back in the 70s gave me one of those beautiful oak ladders you mentioned, since the tall arrays of relays they serviced were gone....funny, my elementary school even toured one of those places when I was a kid back in the early 60s - they were still using punched cards for billing info!

[@G59METH]

The lack of Mr. Robot comments is honestly concerning

[@AngeNamnNamnsson]

Hello friend.

[@pauld2810]

The creepiest thing about 1122 3rd Ave, here in Seattle, is that it butts right up against the sidewalk. It's a giant, mostly windowless building, with a high security entrance, that you can lean against while you're waiting for your bus.

[@stephanpittman9001]

I live close by. It’s something I am now very interested in.

[@riggedreality420]

1122=33. On 3rd. Very Freemasonic

[@bigboicreme]

Not the same

[@Wub-is8dp]

There's a building just like this in my city, I've always wondered what it could be but now I know exactly what it is thanks to this video. It was constructed in the 70's and served as a communications hub for Bell

[@tinomccormick21o]

Nice content. I've always felt compelled to pursue the greatest interests of mankind, to wit. A way to be influential, powerful and protected. always felt the need to be recognized wherever i go, not because i am proud or clamorous but because of who i am and what i represent. The inner me is gasping to find out more knowledge about the human race and about the things that not everyone is destined to know. I wish to blossom into the enlightenment that our forebears wanted so desperately for us to gain.

[@bartholetbay412]

well i think your feeling is kinda understandable, it's really just you been human. If you really seek enlightenment you can achieve that and so much more by joining the Illuminatus. I know it sounds mythical, but there are ways you can actually get in

[@tinomccormick21o]

Oh yeah? is it even possible to join? i always thought it's meant for certain people in the upper class.

[@bartholetbay412]

yeah that's intentional, i mean that's what they want you to think. if you need to get more enlightened on the subject, look up Anthony Rogers Szymon. Will help you get more clarity and answers.

[@tinomccormick21o]

That's great. Thanks so much for the reference, I just looked him up and left him a message already.

[@MrMightyZ]

Well… after you catch James Bond trying to trying to thwart you and tie him up and suspend him over a tank of sharks, you can use this comment as the first part of the speech you give him before you lower him in to the tank!

[@Sacto1654]

They were built primarily to serve as easy-to-service centers for the massive banks of telephone switching equipment. Nowadays, with the switching equipment going mostly electronic, the space opened up are now being used for web server farms used by the likes of Google, Cloudflare, Microsoft and other companies that doe a lot of web hosting.

[@whackamolechamp]

Correct, and they were built to withstand a nuclear war which is why it was built windowless.

[@WinglessO9k]

​@whackamolechamp I believe that fact has already been beaten to death between the video itself and plenty of other comments here. I doubt they hadn't already been made aware lol

[@dakel20]

I will add, AT&T has existed since 1885, and they've been deep in the pocket of the government since then. These structures also have nothing on AT&Ts Project Offices. Large (10 story), copper clad buildings, buried in mountain tops to serve continuity of government purposes.

[@hedgehog3180]

One thing that's interesting is that the US built these skyscrapers while in Europe, both east and west built TV towers instead, with the Berlin one being the most famous. The thought behind them was the same, house telecom and TV equipment in a reinforced location that was hardened against attack, but the execution was different. The idea behind a tower is that the circular shape would let most of a nuclear blast pass the tower without putting a great force on it. Though their secrecy varied a lot, the Berlin one was always intended to be a tourist attraction while the one in London wasn't even on official maps until recently and was treated as a state secret.

[@ergwertgesrthehwehwejwe]

YWNBAW

[@WinglessO9k]

I would think a circular tower would probably hold up better deflecting a lot of the energy around it rather than just taking it all head-on assuming the blast is coming directly perpendicular to a square shaped building. I suppose if it's at a 45 degree angle then the wedged deflection would help somewhat as well, and possibly better than a circular shape? Cutting it like a knife whereas with a circular building a certain point is going to take a direct hit no matter what angle. It'd be interesting to see what experiments have been done in this regard.

[@donjones1124]

I worked in the one you mention on Folsom St in San Francisco. It’s simply the AT&T telephone exchange.

[@filanfyretracker]

these buildings are not overbuilt just because of attack in the cold war but also analog phone hardware of the era they were built in was physically heavy. Whole floors of mechanical phone switches doing what is today done in a few racks of digital switching.

[@JohnnyNiteTrain]

This is wild. Never knew anything about these buildings. Thanks!

[@justish9600]

EXCELLENT presentation!! Love the structural data keyed straight to the point and purpose. You really dug up some great specs and made it flow so perfectly into the story-line. Kudos to your ability to synthesize and illustrate. Wow. I worked in a multistory concrete cube for telecomm back in the 70s, the only building not required to evacuate during a hurricane and to work thru-out it) and always noted such security buildings in cities I drove thru, mainly for banks and telephone companies, but sometimes for other high-security organizations and functions. I also was raised in the military and taken thru shallow, cursory entrance into a deep underground bunker during construction as a kid, back in the day when there was much less control over operations and personnel (and when things were a little more straight-forward in purpose, too).

[@bigboicreme]

Dropped this video 3 months before the ATT NETWORK DEBACLE

[@gannonganzenhuber6173]

I live in Fresno, CA, and there is a similar building in our downtown. It's only about 150 feet tall, but it's a windowless concrete building owned by AT&T. Looks just like the ones in the video. Now I wonder what it's doing there!🧐

[@maureenm1462]

I noticed the windowless AT&T building too. In Fresno.

[@KatanaBladeKris]

Theres one in spring hill Florida on deltona blvd

[@Skywohka]

Where do you think servers and data centers are kept lol

[@khester7397]

I'm so happy our benevolent masters are watching. Makes me feel safe and loved.

[@sparkeyjones6261]

😅

[@starsixtyseven195]

Atleast theyre a modicum more intelligent and composed than the unruly emotional rabble of cattle they corral

[@melissaharris3389]

I initially recognized the building as the inspiration for The Oldest House from Control. Mentioning the other buildings made me think, "Well, there's the FBCs field offices." But the more he explained the more I thought of The Magnus Archives.

[@jackhathaway9081]

obviously it is the oldest house people walk past it never noticing but secretly they dont know their OOPs, altered items and documents on AWEs inside it

[@miahconnell23]

Portland Maine has a windowless, concrete-sheathed, big building downtown on the peninsula. It sticks out because the location really interrupts one of the town’s walkable districts.

[@AdonisCaelumFinnian]

I live in Maine nearby Portland I want to check it out. Where exactly is it

[@miahconnell23]

@@AdonisCaelumFinnian Forest Ave. Cross-street might be Cumberland Ave I think ? If somehow you get to inside, please let everybody on KZbin know.

[@AdonisCaelumFinnian]

@@miahconnell23 the building is posted as private property, the entrances hidden and not accessible to the. I figured out that the building is owned by consolidated communications. A large telecommunications company which is or at least has been a close parter of AT&T. I waited outside and talked to a couple of people. Who were entering the building in casually asked what the building was. One person said it was just a storage building the other said it was an office space. I was able to snoop (trespass) around and found the electric meter for the property it’s using about 25 times more electricity than comparable sized office buildings in the area. The most suspicious thing was that in the parking garage next to the building there was a black van with a Maryland government plate. honestly quite disappointed because I thought I would be able to figure out more. Not sure what’s in Maryland or why they would be here.

[@Megabean]

Maybe I'm weird, 33 Thomas is my favorite piece of architecture. I love how such a functional building can have such nice proportions. I think the vents are just out of worldly and incredibly unique. It really does communicate exactly what it is, at least in a archetypical sense. There are some rare examples of modern industrial architecture being beautiful like the NYC Water Treatment but it's rarer today.

[@jedimindtrix2142]

I definitely am no architect but I certainly can appreciate a nicely constructed building. I do find it to be interesting looking with the vents like that. It's kind of oppressive and imposing too.

[@StephenPickells-bi2ii]

Yes, I think the vents are the best part, and I don’t think they will ever look out dated

[@Thomasisthekey]

Being weird or a misfit can be an accomplishment for someone. Architecture is designed by the number 9, even time and space. If you can think of a particular book that contains the 33,18,144, triple 6's,all designed by 9. 22.5,45,90,180,360, just 9. The golden ratio is all in architecture. Before it became Pollux and castor it was Pollux and Ishtar,pi. When angles and dimensions became angels and demons. It's almost sad reading the comments, thanks to the original comment,sad no more.

[@StephenPickells-bi2ii]

Walter Gilman saw Brown Jenkin in the witch house

[@charliekauffmansgirl4165]

But the socialist housing architecture is "sad, ugly and distressful". Figures

[@davidrains3918]

Many “Conspiracies” aren’t theories, they’re just unproven facts!

[@micklyons8858]

They aren't unproven. They are simply not mainstream knowledge.

[@ikvangalen6101]

Yeah, the mushroom principal

[@micklyons8858]

@@ikvangalen6101 Being on too much weed, cocaine and meth makes you a dumb leftist.

[@carwashadamcooper1538]

Most

[@chrys3073]

Yup. Just like TARGETED INDIVIDUALS And Gang stalking. It is very real and might be coming to a neighborhood near you. I am a Targeted Individual, that's how I know. Myself and many other Targets are doing all we can to create awareness. Because we need help and justice.

[@aes53]

Great video Stewart, an unusual take on architecture. I was half waiting for you to tell us the Chinese now owned them and used them for weather forecasts 😊

[@stewarthicks]

Nothing to see here...

[@dextermorgan1]

Weather forecast? Probably not. Chinese? Welllll.....

[@garymericano]

Governments don't forecast the weather so much as they orchestrate it. Those facilities are located North of Fairbanks, Alaska, Tromsø, Norway, Vasilsursk, Russia and im sure many more - most of them are inside of the Arctic Circle, but not always

[@MicheleB4506]

@@garymericano - 😂👍🏻 We’re still harping on HAARP?

[@MicheleB4506]

@@stewarthicks …..keep walking, mind your own business and keep your mouth shut? 😆🤣🗽♥️

[@bren42069]

I had a dream about one of these buildings, it was empty but a very evil creature was inside. I've wondered if the building existed in real life, now I know

[@Astrid-cc3mg]

I think you meant to say "NSA" (National Security Agency) headquarters at Ft Meade 🙂NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) headquarters is in DC. Great video as always, super interesting!

[@TakeMeToYourLida]

If you want to look at conspiracies, look into your sponsor and the “Rock” companies. The lead investor names all his companies with that word in it.

[@shanehall6081]

Sorry to be so nasic but can you elaborate on that abit?

[@Masamune-JGb215]

Blackrock is owned by the finks and then you have Austin Wealth Private that is owned by the Soro’s. those big corporations and many others are owned by the Zionists. Aka the elite among the Jews headquartered in their fortress known as Israel. They’re the reason why the housing crisis is happening

[@Iplayticuw]

She’s talking about Blackrock

[@wakenow1]

Blackrock

[@SuperBluebirdie]

The videos are always just plain fun and interesting to watch I sure as heck don't need to turn something into a conspiracy theory to enjoy it. I hope you get your house soon Stuart.

[@nco_gets_it]

I used to build telecom systems in buildings like these around the world and what is inside is usually far more mundane than people imagine. For example, 32 Avenue of the Americas in NYC had floors of telephone switches and an army of technicians (I'm sure that has changed now that the landline phone really is "obsolete") designed to service your home or business calls that route overseas. It is likely 98% everyday internet and telecom support and 2% or less "security state". That is changing rapidly as so much internet traffic anywhere in the world lands in the US for routing or switching. But the big thing these days are the data centers run by google, IBM, Amazon, etc. Giant facilities where all of your data and information is routed, switched, analyzed, stored, and yes, sold.

[@matthewsallman1700]

33 Thomas Street looks like something out of the movie Metropolis.

[@SensPiotr]

Same to me

[@aaronmcneal1698]

My father is a retired BellSouth / AT&T employee that specialized in substation fiber optics. I've been inside both buildings as well as the buildings here in Florida and other states. They're nothing more than a giant switch and backup networks for the telecommunication network. As we move farther and farther away from landlines, and more families are cellular only, they are becoming a relic in that sense. But when you think of government and big business, they still have to have landlines and therefore these buildings are still operational. Yes after the Patriot act was past the NSA did move in but that was not in the initial design of these buildings.

[@FreeminderXIII]

I live in northern african country and we have similar building at city center (not as nice as the ones in the video though), and it's also used to house all kinds of telecom equipments /servers. Anyway regardless of the surveillance and what not , most telecom companies have high security protocols bc it contains sensitive infrastructure so regular ppl shouldn't be there for all kinds of reasons.

[@BearConditioned]

169 pearl street in Hartford CT has a building like this. It's called the Frontier building and I always look at it when I walk by.

[@alexmoran1404]

There’s one in Bridgeport thst says frontier same exact shit and it looks abandoned except people walk in

[@CrankyHermit]

Nearly every city in the country has buildings like this. Of course most are smaller than the examples given, and many don't house actual NSA installations. But every bit of communications and web data passing through them is collected, stored and analyzed somewhere by their surveillance systems. Ask William Binney.

[@Sacto1654]

Companies that do web hosting with a need for very fast connections are now located in these buildings. Don't be surprised a lot of Cloudflare, Google and Microsoft server equipment are now located in these buildings.

[@herzogsbuick]

or Mark Klein

[@davidmarquardt9034]

At 9:00 those are large wet lead acid cells I believe. They are 2 volts per cell, like all lead acids, but because of there huge size they are rated for a 1,000 amp hours capacity. By connecting them in series ( + to -) you can get any voltage you need. I remember seeing a ad for them in Home Power magazine like 30 years ago.

[@warrenlemay8134]

I have noticed in my experience seeing a lot of them that many smaller telephone exchanges built in the early 20th Century, which originally contained manual switchboards controlled by operators, often have had their windows infilled. I would guess that sunlight intrusion has something to do with it, but I would also say that there is probably a security component to the decision for the telecommunication companies to do this as well, as I have noticed that this is more common in areas with higher levels of poverty.

[@xxportalxx.]

The point about heat probably plays a big role, waste heat is their largest operating expense after all. Easier to manage it in a well insulated environment.

[@edwardbrown3721]

It's all kinds of things, privacy, heat, radiation slowly damaging very delicate equipment and then there's the not super emphasised structural reasons, if there's something you as a government wouldn't want to ever go out is communications

[@Auzziebobz]

I worked in a building like this in Melbourne, Australia. It was a telephone exchange, one of the largest in the city. Every floor was switching equipment. Now that a lot of equipment has changed to IP, there is a lot of room and a lot of defunct equipment has to be scrapped. No windows, very dark if there is a power failure.

[@alpenschatz]

Great stuff. I've passed by that building several times before, and never knew what was going on inside.

[@JosephHuether]

LOL…Totally random trivia. Around the same time Warnecke was designing 33 Thomas, the Grateful Dead were living at the Warnecke family vacation camp in Northern California. Bill Kreutzman was a close childhood friend of Warnecke’s son.

[@stewarthicks]

What?!?

[@MicrosoftClubxD]

People when they doomsday prep: Omg the elite are out to get me People when the elite doomsday prep: I am offended and my day is ruined

[@Dantalliumsolarium]

This was an amazing piece, you just will my brain with both like the politics of today and how cool architecture is. If Matt didn’t overwhelm me I would’ve stayed architecture because I just love buildings and the spaces we live in. So now I just do fantasy stuff ~ hehe. But i am really grateful for all the work you out into this!!

[@GramCanyonSam]

Thousands of smaller ones , there is a abandoned at&t building in Foxboro Massachusetts it fits all the criteria

[@donwick8449]

The monolithic communication towers in cities have counterparts in rural areas. The old ATT shortwave switch center in LaSalle county juts from a field in the same style.

[@brookeking8559]

The video says AT&T owns all these buildings now. That’s AT&T as reconstituted by Southwestern Bell, one of the original regional Bell operating companies. The RBOC’s the video mentions as the builders were wholly owned by the original AT&T, too.

[@Ncyphen]

I was a little annoyed when he mentioned the building needed all the support to carry the weight of the servers. The correct wording was the building needed all the support to house the massive mechanical telephony switching equipment that predated the servers for which the building was constructed. The KZbin channel "Look Mum No Computer" hosts a museum of pre-computer hardware, including racks of restored and fully functioning mechanical telephony switching racks.

[@r.b.l.5841]

I worked in a building like this, on smaller scale in a smaller City, changed out cooling system equipment - modern electronic controls etc. only the top few floors had windows, and averaged about four people per floor! Automation has replaced what used to be done by more staff I expect.

[@RobespierreThePoof]

I think it's amusing that people are so fascinated with this kind of thing. Obviously, infrastructure needs a place to live. It's only noticeable because it's in skyscraper form. Anywhere else it would be in a warehouse-shaped building, bland suburban office block or underground complex. And it shouldn't surprise anyone that our government has infrastructure involved in digital and telecommunications security, not to mention surveillance. Security surveillance isn't nefarious just because it's secret (or an open secret.). It only because nefarious when and if used in a negative manner.

[@sparkeyjones6261]

It's nefarious because it's illegal, and invades the privacy of everyone in the country regardless of how it's used. Do a little reaearch on NSA warrantless surveillance.

[@Theonly_Onyx]

AI generated

[@Yzeezinger250]

It makes the connection of all of the AT&T customers “losing service”recently make a whole lot more sense..

[@serebii666]

4:54 I think there might be a small error here, unless the NSA took control of NASA lol

[@stewarthicks]

I know, I misspoke!! Agh!

[@mgscheue]

Ah, you already caught it! Just posted, too.

[@mgscheue]

@smk99 Lol!

[@nitrorange]

Yeah I was going to say I don’t think NSA is pronounced NahSa (or NASA) 😂

[@bobnob3496]

​@@stewarthicksBlink twice if NASA is holding you hostage

[@quixadhal]

Conspiracy theories aside... I would LOVE a windowless building. Most skyscrapers already have non-functional windows that barely let any air in, even if you can open tiny slit windows... and act more like a greenhouse, turning the sun into a way to bake everyone inside unless the air conditioning is cranked up. In the winter, it just lets glare in and radiates cold if you're near the window... Getting rid of the windows would make it easier to control the temperature and I wouldn't need to set up blackout curtains to see my screen during daylight hours. :)

[@joestrike8537]

There's another windowless building in Manhattan, way on the west side on 10th Avenue around W55 St. I had a friend who worked in there; according to him it was filled with ATT long lines switching equipment. (Of course that was back in 1980, so who knows what's going on in there now.)

[@lbgstzockt8493]

Probably fiber optic switches, networking equipment and datacenter gear from all the fortune 500 companies.

[@whackamolechamp]

Yep 811 10th ave. Long lines building just like 33 Thomas.

[@skibugy]

Spokane Washington has one on 3rd Ave and it's haunted it was built on a old funeral home from the turn of the 20th century

[@thomassepe6423]

There's a building in Little Rock that looks a lot like the one in Chicago just down the street from the state capitol and federal building. It was owned by ATT for a long time but I believe it either sold or ATT is trying to rent it out. Very dense pillars and the same windowless design on the first several floors, down to the fake ridged panels.

[@501lilspoon]

I am going to investigate this after work now lol

[@totallytalia]

There’s multiple. Look up the AT&T building in NYC and it’s also identical. They’re just reusing a design that is intentionally crafted and effective for their purposes, no grand conspiracy lol

[@alexandercarder2281]

We have a telephone communication building in Norwich called Howard House which is similar to I had to plaster inside it back in 2005 and we had to plaster inside this huge room with 30 feet high ceilings and the heat was oppressive because of all the computers and generators. It felt like a very secret place to me.

[@mrg0th1er83]

The new-York one looks great. Every time I see it I feel like it’s not real but part of a movie set.

[@thevikingbear2343]

Like Blade Runner. Right?

[@mrg0th1er83]

@@thevikingbear2343 yes. Fits right in that set.

[@cliffcampbell8827]

"When a population fears its government, there is tyranny. When a government fears its population, there are buildings like the ones featured in this video and we get more 3 letter agencies like the NSA and the ATF so the government can crush our liberties with greater efficiency."...and the government uses our tax dollars to do it.

[@darthtraya5992]

AT&T provides all taxation and tyranny they’ve been doing it for years

[@bnalive5077]

And Americans are too weak to do anything about it even though they are the largest armed population in the world.

[@Rasputinshome]

And when people post things like this I know their local grocery stores are low on aluminum foil.

[@nyquil762]

Nailed it 💯

[@MichaelZuzolo]

​@@Rasputinshome💩

[@tangoteamleader]

4:54 it’s definitely NSA, not NASA 😂

[@crispincrunch2453]

2 syllables > 3 syllables, whether for efficiency or laziness

[@mx338]

The office space in 10th South Canal really makes the building most interesting to me. It feels like an Urban bunker, made to oversee the world, even after collapse of it.

[@edwinmercado90]

I worked in that building for almost 6 years I've actually hung out inside the whole facility, and the rooftop what a view, it was designed without windows to keep sunlight out to protect fiber optic wires which is very sensitive to heat and light from the sun would crack the wires and cause damage so they keep the inside cold with industrial fans and air conditioning

[@YouTubeOGSinceO6-vv9jn]

Not buying it. You're trying to throw people off. Nice try slick

[@luciferien5604]

@@KZbinOGSinceO6-vv9jnbro your are so stupid

[@fodedordegatas1081]

Nto even a windown????

[@zanetrain1651]

2 weeks doesn't sound like a doomsday prepper's paradise. Sounds more like a doomsday prepper just starting off prepping for doomsday

[@fuzzylon]

Aren't these just big telehouses? And aren't phone calls carried over the internet these days? This just feels like these buildings are being made out to be more sinister than they really are. Our way of life today depends on the internet so you'd expect there to be resiilient buildings with resilient power to ensure that the network is maintained. Years ago, I used to manage a team who designed circuits passing through telehouses and used to talk to people in 33 Thomas Street almost daily.

[@NathanEverson-kj4oc]

You walked backwards and met your self underground... Epic. Blue prints

[@Chase-Conway]

That big building?i find it hard to believe 2 weeks worth of supplys is all it holds.

[@phoenix21studios]

2 week supply for how many people.

[@Chase-Conway]

@@phoenix21studios good point

[@tak_tak62]

I lived here my whole life for 38 years and I never ever seen or heard of this building till today wow.

[@elementneon]

Bruh, why go through and list nearly all the buildings and not just name the last 2? As a southern california native I was most interested in what that one might be.

[@brianflynn2791]

Thank you Stewart, I love your content, I always learn something.

[@alberton.1601]

Frankly, I've seen many buildings with this specs an infrastructure, mostly ocupied by phone companies. You make it sound more misterious than they are.

[@SpringoStar]

33 Thomas always creeped me out when I would pass it….. Has a weird vibe….

[@Trill.Clipz.Channel]

This is a AT&T data center. If anyone knows AT&T has a huge contract with the FBI & CIA. That should tell you all you need to know.

[@iancowan3527]

So... Sky-Net has been running for decades already! And I was worried the Terminators could be stopped!

[@nitrocell9287]

2 weeks, ya because that's how long nuclear fallout takes to clear up.

[@PrepYT]

It actually takes less than that

[@dreamingadream]

I have one of these in my town but it has windows! The front had like 10 cameras, metal detectors, and 2 security areas. One side is a loading bay and the opposite is diesel tank pump attachments running the length of the building. Inside are floors with beds that look like something you would find in prison. Floors with nothing but computer servers. And the outside is absolutely covered in cameras. There are probably 10 on each side of the building plus another 10 cameras that are along the top edge of the building. You never see anyone go in, no one knows or has known anyone who has worked there but it's still running because they get deliveries. It looks like there is more below the building than it seems.. very strange. Edit.. I forgot the building is also an att building. It even has a similar design and it looks to be the same material the only exception is the one in Cumberland has windows. I only watched up until you mentioned that the windowless skyscraper was an att building so hopefully the similarities continue lol.

[@nunyabizniz1983]

Number 33 eh?

[@sithofchaos2194]

Aliens probably live there paying rent😂

[@ianchesney9639]

33 is a important number in free masonry . That fact that this building is on 33 Thomas Street raises concerns.

[@remc0s]

This reminds me of the graphic novel Wanted. In this book, there were once super heroes and villains fighting a battle over control. The villains won, killed all the heroes and built this antenna hidden in a building exactly like this, which brainwashes people into forgetting super heroes ever even existed while the villains rule the world in secret.

[@mikewizow]

I wonder why the address is 33? Why not 34?

[@elishaforrester1150]

🤔😉

[@lilaccilla]

elite number

[@marshmaz]

Free Mason 33 rd degree

[@pinballpsycho]

Yeah, well. This seems FoS. I worked at 10 S Canal for 20 years. It was supposedly built to withstand a nuclear blast as you stated but that doesn’t mean it would. All AT&T buildings from the Cold War era were built that way in order to preserve communications in the event of a nuclear war and the power grid was wiped out. The generators and the battery chains provided back up power for any loss, but they would have been destroyed in a nuclear blast since they were on the roof (turbines back then). The building was provided power from multiple power grids. And buildings of this type weren’t just in the cities you cited, they are everywhere AT&T has a technical presence to house switching equipment, and some may be smaller but built to the same spec. And that means most cities above 100,000 with a Bell presence. There were no secret agencies when I was there, just switching systems, terminal equipment, protocol converters, power systems, etc. The top floors held district office, network operations centers and technical control centers. We were much more careful about divulging information than companies like Google, Facebook and others seem to be. We required a court order just to trace a phone call or to install a call trap and we never provided call information to 3 letter agencies so far as I know. And you could get fired for listening in to a phone call other than just checking to see if a line was busy, which you could do in a second without knowing the context of the discussion. I am absolutely aghast at the breaches in privacy I see from social media companies these days both in the way they introspection user content, as well as revelations about sharing information with government agencies. Which is why I object so strongly to some of your suggestions. But it’s many years since I worked there and I don’t know for certain what goes on there now. So there is always that.

[@mind-of-neo]

Who else is so disgusted they might throw up? 😃

[@tomflanders117]

Here here sir.

[@MeBackHurts.]

I’m more disgusted about the gun laws lol

[@starsixtyseven195]

No one will stand because all the warriors are dead gone or on the side of the enemy

[@Dumb-Comment]

Your country isn't free if it isn't a managed democracy

[@MrZaricnak]

"Architecture of the unseen" 👌🏻

[@CitiesForTheFuture2030]

In many cities faux buildings / fascades are used to hide unsightly infrastructure like urban railway lines, awa used as noise buffers. But whole skyscrapers! Interesting. I'm almost certain cities are meant for people, but somehow we're now contructing buildings for infrastructure & cars. I think we have out priorities mixed up somewhere along the way... Tx for a very interesting topic! I'm going to be suspicious of every city building I see now 🤔

[@foxale08]

You can fairly argue against cars in cities but the people in cities need infrastructure to survive. At the very least they are efficient in terms of land use.

[@ernststravoblofeld]

There's several tall buildings in LA that are hollow shells around oil derricks. There's many disguised buildings all over the country that house electrical substations or communication hubs. Some of them are fake suburban houses.

[@cameron00148]

Something that disturbs me with 33 Thomas Street is the fact that, since the building has no exterior lighting, the whole building disappears into the darkness of night, with the only visible cues being the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Aircraft warning lights (the red lights on the roof of the building)

[@torashuPanda781]

We all know it's just another Men In Black headquarter.

[@thevikingbear2343]

There is a Verizon concrete monolith in Manhattan that can be seen from Brooklyn Bridge Park. Around 8 years ago they covered it up with glass, pretending to be an all glass skyscraper. Any millenial or older newyorker knows it is solid concrete behind that glass wall.

[@cwill2127]

I mean not to be that guy but you don’t have to be a millennial to remember something from 2016 lol. Coming from a millennial

[@jonathanlandau-litewski7405]

Sorry but that building always had windows on it. The only part that did not was the tower with the Verizon Bell logo on it.

[@isekaiexpress9450]

There's similar buildings in Russia, too, just smaller and more evenly distributed through the cityscape. Same, they consist from rooms for relay racks, but as the analog systems grew obsolete, most of the rooms were filled with dust, empty racks and there were just a single server rack servicing the district.

[@OriginalGeez]

Everything's in plain sight. Open your eyes.

[@SunshineLovely5]

Ikr but uk sum ppl is stupid 🤜🏻 🤡💩😹😹😹😹😹🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🙏🏼💪🏽💚💚💚💚💚😎😎😎😎😎💪🏼🙏🙋🏼‍♀️🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🫶🏻🙏🏻💪🏻💪🏽💪🏼💪🏾💪🏿🙏🏾🙏🏻🙏🏽

[@frankmccracken1160]

They’re listening, always listening!!!

[@monos70]

33 = Freemasonic Number

[@NathanPurvis-hm8nc]

I think every large town and city has one of these, they are mysterious but that doesn't make them sinister

[@kenheise162]

Love how the conspiracy theorists are loosing their collective minds over a telecom gateway.

[@saulgoodman2018]

Is it a conspiracy? Edward Snowden proved what our government was doing, spying on it's own citizen, that they said they weren't doing.

[@jannoyes6248]

Would make a good action movie of who the privilege thinks gets to be in their and who really ends up in theren😂

[@Zan_Jayna]

Like that time a guy drove up to one in Nashville, blew it up and was identified by his cell scrapings, and then the press acted like he was a clingy ex-girlfriend? lol okay bud

[@mesapysch]

There is another AT&T building in Wayne PA. Google street view has blurred the front entrance. I call it the death tower. Huge and mostly windowless.

[@truesimplicity]

So much for secrecy... It would have been much more covert to install a window facade thus no one would have questioned it focussed on it 🤤

[@reubennelson4086]

what window facade will withstand a nuclear blast

[@truesimplicity]

@@reubennelson4086 Do you know what the meaning of the word facade is?! "a superficial appearance or illusion of something". This fake front could have been deployed to reduce public scrutiny and conspiracy theories, that are now directed at the facilities. By melding in with the environment of their surrounding sky scrapers... Nothing to do with the effects of a nuclear blast on any structures or their contents. 🚫🔥📚

[@kimdavies11]

In toronto there are skyscrapers that have a window fecade with a building built inside it. Its a jail

[@bk6678]

Look at Steely Dan’s Royal Scam album Cover.

[@thevikingbear2343]

​@reubennelson4086 i think means a fake window facade in front of the concrete. Like they do nowadays in many mechanical floors of normal buildings. Remember skyscraper windows are one way mirros. You only see the reflection from the outaide. No way to tell there is a wall on the inside.