The Windowless Skyscraper Conspiracy

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Join me, an architecture professor from Chicago, as we uncover the secrets behind windowless skyscrapers. These structures, often overlooked and misunderstood, play a mysterious role in our urban landscape. In this video we explore the hidden purposes and intriguing stories of these architectural anomalies.
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_What's Inside These Monoliths?_
We start our journey in Chicago, looking at a massive, windowless concrete structure that could withstand a nuclear blast. This building, along with others in major U.S. cities like Atlanta, Dallas, San Francisco, Seattle, and New York, is part of a network that's shrouded in mystery and speculation.
_Surveillance and Secrecy_
These structures, implicated by figures like Edward Snowden and investigations by 'The Intercept,' are believed to be hubs in a vast surveillance infrastructure, connected to the NSA's FAIRVIEW program. But what's the truth behind these claims?
_Architectural Deep Dive_
We'll examine buildings like 10 S Canal in Chicago and 33 Thomas St. in New York, both in their design and function. Discover why these buildings, with their dense structural grids and lack of windows, are architectural anomalies. We'll explore their history, dating back to the Cold War era, and their evolution into today's high-tech surveillance hubs.
_Uncovering the Unseen_
Through a blend of historical context, architectural analysis, and a touch of humor, we'll unravel the stories these buildings tell about surveillance, privacy, and power in our society. From their origins as telecommunications hubs to their current role in the digital age, these structures challenge our understanding of architecture and its unseen impact on our daily lives.
_A Thought-Provoking Conclusion_
As we walk past these buildings in our daily lives, they stand as silent, yet powerful reminders of the complex interplay between technology, privacy, and architecture. Join me in uncovering the secrets of the architecture of the unseen, and ponder the implications of living in a world where the surveillance state never rests.
_CREDITS_
Video co-produced and edited by Evan Montgomery.
Stock video and imagery provided by Getty Images, Storyblocks, and Shutterstock.
Music provided by Epidemic Sound
#Architecture #Surveillance #UrbanMystery
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_About the Channel_
Architecture with Stewart is a KZbin journey exploring architecture’s deep and enduring stories in all their bewildering glory. Weekly videos and occasional live events breakdown a wide range of topics related to the built environment in order to increase their general understanding and advocate their importance in shaping the world we inhabit.
_About Me_
Stewart Hicks is an architectural design educator that leads studios and lecture courses as an Associate Professor in the School of Architecture at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He also serves as an Associate Dean in the College of Architecture, Design, and the Arts and is the co-founder of the practice Design With Company. His work has earned awards such as the Architecture Record Design Vanguard Award or the Young Architect’s Forum Award and has been featured in exhibitions such as the Chicago Architecture Biennial and Design Miami, as well as at the V&A Museum and Tate Modern in London. His writings can be found in the co-authored book Misguided Tactics for Propriety Calibration, published with the Graham Foundation, as well as essays in MONU magazine, the AIA Journal Manifest, Log, bracket, and the guest-edited issue of MAS Context on the topic of character architecture.
_Contact_
FOLLOW me on instagram: @stewart_hicks & @designwithco
Design With Company: designwith.co
University of Illinois at Chicago School of Architecture: arch.uic.edu/
#architecture #urbandesign

[@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.

[@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.

[@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 😳

[@belwa42]

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.

[@belwa42]

@@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.

[@Cockdonut]

Orange peel

[@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.

[@AndrewBrownballroomdru]

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!

[@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

[@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!

[@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.

[@StringerNews1]

@@whackamolechamp no, they're built windowless because machines can't appreciate a view, and it's cheaper to not put in windows. It has the added benefit of protecting the equipment from extreme weather and fire. But after seeing the aftermath of real nuclear bomb testing, it's laughable to think that not having windows is some sort of mgic way to survive a nuke blast. Besides, there would be no people left for the evil "the government" to subjugate then. These buildings are designed to withstand fires and floods (both of which Chicago has had), and that's about it.

[@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

[@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

[@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.

[@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.

[@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

[@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!

[@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

[@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? 😆🤣🗽♥️

[@ELMS]

My daughter and her husband were travelling to NYC and sent me a beautiful nighttime picture of the skyline. I sent it back to her with a big arrow pointing at the black shape of 33 Thomas, and told her it was NSA central. She replied “WHAT! I NEED TO KNOW MORE!” I just sent her your excellent video. I had no idea there were other similar buildings in other cities. Really enjoying the channel.

[@rfarevalo]

It is not NSA central. No need to let your daughter and her husband believe you are paranoid.

[@Kburd-wr6dq]

@@rfarevaloTITANPOINTE

[@norwegiangangsta]

@@rfarevalo it is mate ..

[@CB-vt3mx]

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.

[@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

[@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.

[@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).

[@alpenschatz]

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

[@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

[@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.

[@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.

[@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!

[@isdeirinnme]

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

[@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.

[@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!!

[@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.

[@Embassy_of_Jupiter]

The fact that they don't have windows makes the somewhat more honest. They could have put a window facade on it to hide the fact that they have something to hide. But no, they are surprisngly open about hiding something. Kind of ironic.

[@Mahlak_Mriuani_Anatman]

They intentionally do that

[@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.

[@donjones1124]

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

[@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.

[@DavidKoppana-iq8jr]

Great introduction to rocket money. Thank you. I really found this a very educational video. I am a civil engineer, and just love architecture of the sort.

[@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.

[@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.

[@freetolook3727]

There's a one story building with no windows and card key security in my small city. It's was/is a telephone exchange building that's now part of the Internet network.

[@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

[@matthewsallman1700]

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

[@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.

[@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!

[@fabsgwu]

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

[@JohnnyNiteTrain]

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

[@khester7397]

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

[@sparkeyjones6261]

😅

[@ems4884]

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

[@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

[@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.

[@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.

[@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

[@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?!?

[@VisiV]

That AT&T building in Seattle gives tours all the time. I wonder what gets shown. When I used to work next to it, there were always weird groups of senior citizens being ushered in and out by guides.

[@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.

[@tangoteamleader]

4:54 it’s definitely NSA, not NASA 😂

[@crispincrunch2453]

2 syllables > 3 syllables, whether for efficiency or laziness

[@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.

[@brianflynn2791]

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

[@jatdesign4495]

There is a bell building in downtown Tulsa, it’s labeled. It’s a concrete box like these buildings. They moved from their art deco structure to a brutalist structure built in the 70’s.

[@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.

[@utubesux1]

Men in black headquarters

[@maryjennings228]

😂😆😅💕🌎

[@ianchesney9639]

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

[@BAMFponcho]

There is a building like this in my city or Fort Worth, Texas and it always drew my interest. Very odd to have such a large building with no way to look out of them. I think it is a headquarters of an AT&T branch now.

[@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.

[@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.

[@RicoBanani]

I've passed by that building in Manhattan a few weeks ago at night... Very cool and ominous looking

[@thecommentor4914]

It’s so horrible. Not just this. Everything and every nation. Very worried about the future. What’s terrifying is how everyone doesn’t even know.

[@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.

[@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

[@claysmell]

thanks for the info on 33 (nice number by the way) - my boss and I walk by this at lunch often, and always wonder why they built it like that.

[@barneycockburn]

Wanna know what’s creepier, to me at least? The Google-owned Tower right next to the branded Google Tower in Austin that’s nothing but servers. I’ve heard different things (born and raised here in Austin), but the consensus is that it’s their AI Center. A building w/ nothing but servers- sound like the making of the Matrix much?

[@HandyMan657]

I really hope you didn't just figure this out, man. They used to call the program Hemisphere, then specter, I think. Either way, they've been doing this via those buildings for decades. But hey, good episode.

[@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😂

[@Yzeezinger250]

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

[@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.

[@rosezingleman5007]

I have a (now deceased) first degree relative who worked his entire career for No Such Agency, in DC but also all over the world. He was very concerned about the violations of privacy of his agency.

[@johnnyxmusic]

😂😂😂

[@norwegiangangsta]

And your fucking point is what? Bunch of words that no one helped?

[@freetolook3727]

They're made to look like blocked up old factory buildings. It's intentional design doesn't attract attention and in fact makes most people want to look away or ignore it.

[@foxale08]

At the time built it was more for surviving nuclear blasts

[@freetolook3727]

Right!

[@sparkeyjones6261]

They don't look anything like factory buildings.

[@chazventura3594]

I live in Worcester MA. We have one of these windowless ATT skyscrapers. I have often wondered what goes on in there.

[@SynthAir]

Missed opportunity to end the video with "and that's what they want you to think"

[@CaptainXJ]

I actually really love the design of these buildings, I hate everything they stand for though.

[@analogicparadox]

Control and Mirror's Edge nail this feeling right in the head, although they do it in completely different ways.

[@UD503J]

To be fair, it's really only the spy bits that are the problem. The rest of the building just runs internet and phone connectivity.

[@Burito-tj5ry]

So you hate telecommunication?

[@richardstanleymaness5768]

What about AT&T building in Fresno CA? I worked inside it once upon a time. Your description fits.😮

[@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. :)

[@torashuPanda781]

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

[@Skipping2HellPHX]

The tone of this video is peculiar. This could be sold as a information video, but the tone is much more conspiratorial.

[@openperspective]

So I live near Atlanta, and we used to have another building with no windows that was way more conspicuous. I think it was a government archives building. They blew it up a few years ago.

[@TornaitSuperBird]

I just realized that I live very close to one of these buildings, specifically the one in Los Angeles.

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[@barryrobbins7694]

12:53 Nice segue from the video. “…monitor my spending…”😀

[@iancowan3527]

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

[@JB-1138]

I think we have one of these in Tacoma, WA as well.

[@TK-_-GZ]

Algorithmic Punch! Great video, concise and interesting.

[@hepcatliz]

critical physical infrastructure, hmmm. that's gonna make me look at the clunky buildings downtown with a new eye. Great video!

[@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)

[@alltehstuffs]

We need to talk about what happened in Nashville on Christmas morning 2020

[@RlsIII-uz1kl]

There's something similar but smaller in Jeffersonville IN across the river from Louisville Kentucky. On to corner of Locust Street and Maple St. I believe it had a bellsouth logo on the side that's no longer there.

[@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.

[@HandleHandled]

How much heat is generated with storage vs what I would assume are hotter activities like servers or sensing. Just wondering if vertical buildings are good for efficient cooling

[@IanZainea1990]

4:29 lol love that the last major trust to be broken up, owns them all

[@Nerval-kg9sm]

There's a smallish (like 3 above-ground stories covering half a block) phone company windowless building in downtown Mountain View, CA, one block off the main avenue of Castro St. I was fascinated by it as a kid in the 70s.

[@sparkeyjones6261]

I know which one you're talking about. I've spent weeks at a time in there surrounded by mountains of rack mounted servers. 😂

[@zhou_sei]

yes, ALL of them just walk on by without noticing a single thing ever. very intelligent observation from the only person ever to make observations!

[@WyattWade]

I have a miniature version of one of these just a 5 minute walk down the street. I’ve always wondered about it… it’s 6 story’s of concrete, brick and steel. No windows on the first two floors then bars on the 3rd and 4th maybe 5th too and windows on the very top. It has a Bell plaque on the outside and a tall barbed wire fence around the parking lot that white vans come and go from time to time. Sometimes you’ll see a faint light creeping threw some of the windows but it looks like it’s all coming from the same source. You don’t really notice the place until “you do” then it seems odd for a suburban area.

[@biterface03]

We have one of these in Long Beach, & one in LA that I know of. It’s interesting to speculate

[@digitalworms]

Whats crazy is I use to live in Russellville Arkansas and the middle school there has no windows and setup exactly for a public fallout shelter! I went there the last year it was used as a public school and its so odd not seeing natural light during most of the day! They also had trailers out in the yard that was mobile classrooms! Now its a GED school!