The Secret Behind the Huge, Windowless Skyscraper in NYC
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- čas přidán 31. 05. 2024
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Music by Epidemic Sound
Written by Adam Chase
I was a little disappointed when you stopped talking about bricks. That stuff was interesting.
agreed. the stuff later was only half as interesting
Kevin C angry upvote
I found it only half as interesting as the skyscraper itself.
Seriously... do the bricks video.
me 2
I'm literally staring at that building out my window while the NSA watches me from that building through my phone watching a video about how they are watching me from that building
I am confuse
My head hurts now, thanks! 😀
Phoneception?
damn, it's classy AF
@Fmono • 38 years ago • Updated Why do you close the door when you go to the bathroom? Even if doing nothing wrong, I don't want the NSA to my private information. By the same logic as yours then, you would let the government put a camera in your bedroom then?
"The villain's hideout could be anywhere"
*The villain's hideout*
Almost as crazy as him being that guy from wenderover productions
Just needs a huge sign on the top that says Doofenshmirtz Evil Inc.
About as obvious as Doofenshmirtz Evil Inc.
@@hilosky You beat me by two months. Anyway, I am still leaving the comment.
"lithium"
"Titanpointe'
The NSA names stuff like a 14yo would
xXGIMpL0rdXx first reply
@@CoolBluePlayz who cares
Next we will hear “carbon”
Vinny Games stfu
@@josefsmakal3719 Hmmmm
kinda bummed this video isnt actually about bricks :((
Seriously!
ditto
Don't worry. I'm sure Practical Engineering will do a video on them at some point :)
same
Sean Morgan czcams.com/video/pg2Q4ifjO_A/video.html
We deserve a video about bricks that starts like it's going to reveal confidential information about the US government
"Okay that should be enough NSA talk to get *Big Brick* off my trail"
Stop the brick-tease make it happen
@@ungratefulmango _Big Brick is watching._
Yep we do
YES.
"So uh AT&T, we need to put a tap on literally everything coming through NYC"
"Oh sure just put it on the floor above the major switches"
AT&T likely has no choice in this matter.
AT&T wouldn't mind though since they're also leasing expensive vacated Manhattan floor space. I've seen multiple generations of telephone switch equipment and they really are packing more capabilities into smaller boxes.
@@doujinflip You're not kidding. I started in the phone world when we were still installing huge meridian systems and still serving 3100 and millenniums. Now what used to be the size of a refrigerator is neatly packed in a 2U box.
@@rixille they offered to pay att, att did it for free
Back when this was built, it was all just one telephone company. Literally all phones were Bell Telephone (aka American Telephone and Telegraph, later AT&T). And yeah, they were almost a governmental company rather than a corporation.
I’m a bit late to this party so this question (or these questions) may already have been answered.
If you want a building that survives a nuclear blast, and is thus windowless, why would you (1) build it above ground, (2) as a skyscraper, (and 3) on the most expensive real estate in the world?
Muricah
Because there’s no other option for a nuclear survivable building in nyc?
e l e n a
But why NYC.
For all we know it is an underground building. That skyscraper could be nothing more than a shell to throw us off.
@@johnjacob688 everything we have to do is press F3+N to turn into spectator mode and check out underground air blocks.
Anyone sad that we didn’t get to learn about the brick types
Jared Lampal I actually was like “well it’s odd but a bit interesting”
The most common bricks are made from clay and heated at a thousand degrees centigrade.
Bricks are energy efficient because they hold sunlight throughout the day and release that energy after the sun goes down.
8 million bricks were used to build the Great Wall of China - in 200 BC!
Bricks have frogs. The indentation in the surface of a brick is called a frog, and debate rages over whether the bricks should be laid frog-up or frog-down.
The minerals used to create a brick determine its color. Red bricks are red because of the iron in them, and higher temperature firings produce darker colored bricks.
There is minimal waste in the brick production process as only an insignificant amount of minerals and moisture vanish during the heating process
There are face bricks, common bricks, paving bricks, fire bricks and refractory bricks - each designed for a specific purpose.
In 2007, a new type of brick was invented using fly ash, a by-product of coal power plants.
Brick can withstand extreme temperature changes and is considered one of the most durable building products
The Romans created mobile kilns which allowed them to introduce kiln fired bricks to the whole of the Roman Empire
Max Aggropop neat
no
Yeah, I actually was starting to look forward to learning about bricks. Can you make a brick video for real now, HAI?
"Not gonna reveal it's address"
"33 Thomas Street" "One block behind the NY FBI offices" *shows multiple satellite images of the building and its relative location*
That's the whole joke...
Jesus he can't give every one on a silver platter.
Woosh
thanks for explaining that to us idiots, youre so clever.
@teflontelefon haha sorry thought i clicked op not you. See how you though i was being dick to you. Sorry
Edit: i didnt click you so msg was to op
Lmfao I was just gonna say this. He told us EXACTLY where it was.
Twice, now, I've been legitimately interested in his brick talk, and twice I've been let down.
Petition for HAI to make a 100% serious brick video.
He did, but it was about carbon dioxide.
I'd sign that
"There's no way they'd sit through all that"
You underestimate us.
Nice try FBI
@@HarryWizard Good day CIA
@@thefireocean1 Not today, NSA.
@@HarryWizard Hold the calls, Interpol.
@@HarryWizard the national guard are on their way.
Back to bricks hooray!
Edit: Damn, foiled again...
elrafa111 same
I honestly thought it was going to be about bricks, but was perfectly fine with that. I was slightly disappointed when he stopped talking about bricks
@@drpeper6471 Same. I want a video about bricks now.
Bricks or we riot!
I've got deja vu with these bricks...
Of course the first thing you think of when building a nuke-proof building is a skyscraper
maybe it goes underground the same number of floors...
@@MiniRockerz4ever So the top can fall on top, perfect. It'll then have cover.
@bryan diaz varela Nuke proof, not zombie proof. Zombies just phase through windowless buildings. That's why windows exist.
@bryan diaz varela woosh
It's called *nyc*
For anyone wondering what the large openings in the side were for, they were apertures for large horn shaped microwave antennas as were used on the AT&T Long Lines network. They are fascinating things to look into and once you see one tower you'll see them all over.
Yeah, I figured it would be something like that.
“While others call it, simply, 33 Thomas street. Now I’m not gonna reveal its address”
Me: *goes on google maps*
Me: yep, found it
Edit: it has windows at the very top *and* near the bottom. Crazy.
Types “Titanpointe” into Google Earth and there she is.
I would guess the windows are just for some sunlight in such a window-less building.
1970s America: if we automate phone switchboards we won't have strangers listening to our calls
NSA: That's where you're wrong kiddo👉👉
Actually, it's more a function of _not having to pay for operators._
Granger Montag lol
Lol
@@jfbeam
True
@@jfbeam conspiracytards will always exist. it's a sad reality.
My kids were watching this over my shoulder. The "boring" part with bricks scared them off. Well done!
Plot twist: that part was a decoy so that only the right people will know the secret
Lol
Karma _ they are it’s just those kids thought it was so cool that they ran away
Your kids are the feds
@@Wogsmawp you are kids? work on your grammar.
It’s actually the world’s tallest gentleman’s club
As a display of imperial extravagance, all US government building contain their own gentleman's club.
Brandon Jacobson I wouldn’t be surprised !
@@PH1M0 Um.. no. Sure, those do exist, but they're not in every building. Mainly the most important ones, such as the US Capitol, the White House, etc. The Eiffel Tower has one too, since the suite where Eiffel would host other prominent figures is technically an exclusive gentleman's club.
And since the gentlemen who go there are so tall, there are actually only 10 stories instead of 20.
@Mcheetah no, but the poles are. It takes a lady five minutes to slide down the pole upside down with one leg splayed out
The AT&T Long Lines building was the direct inspiration for The Oldest House in the game Control. Pretty cool to see a video about it. Cool piece of brutalist architecture.
Interesting - I immediately thought of the oldest house when I saw the building!
I came here to say the same thing
I know I’m late but that’s exactly what I was thinking from the thumbnail alone.
Came here for this comment. I'm sitting here on my couch going "No, actually the NSA is the cover story for what's really happening there."
God, thinking about it makes me realize Control just hit all of my buttons right.
It was like if Warehouse 13 had an illicit love child with Black Mirror and Bloodborne.
When it starts “Bricks, lots of bricks”
Me: this is gonna be good
when u realize u got baited
_ight ima head out_
MinnytheMorki Actually, this video was made possible by brilliant
@@newyork6480brilliant out here helping people build mental bricks called knowlege
My dad used to work there for AT&T.. There were floors you were never supposed to go to and they had key switches rather than buttons in the elevator. The entire building, even the regular floors were patrolled by scary looking guys. -- The other names for the building were "The Slab", "The Monolith", and "The Tombstone".. -- What they DON'T tell you, is that even though the roof is over 500 feet from the ground, the basement goes five floors DOWN into solid bedrock under Manhattan.. There's also one hidden floor that can only be accessed from the stairs.
WOW!!!
Can we just talk about how smooth his transitions are into his sponsorships
Aleister's windowless nuke proof building that is also a rocket.
and which can withstand a similar sized building yeeted at it and a lightning bolt that completely envelops it without a scratch.
Finally a to aru fan
was waiting for a Toaru comment
"The Ministry of Love was the really frightening one. There were no windows in it at all. Winston had never been inside the Ministry of Love, nor within half a kilometre of it. It was a place impossible to enter except on official business."
-George Orwell, 'Nineteen Eighty-Four'
Reading it for the first time now when I have off time at work!
@Peter A.
I have not read 1984 Indeed sounds like a depressing read.
Do you surmise from the book an aspect of logic over emotion?
In other words: removing all emotional thinking/intelligence??
Stuart D Yes that sounds about right. Although I haven’t read the novel in a good while, the aforementioned intellectual and emotional conformity present in Orwell’s depiction of a dystopian world was indeed really depressing :/
@Peter A. I agree, it's depressing as hell, unlike Animal farm, I actually couldn't finish it because of it. But I think Orwell wrote because he wanted less of the sheeps in Animal Farm, who just went along with everything and who are the real culprits in all this.
@Peter A. by suppression of thought through the destruction of the English language, are you referring to acronyms?
I have been inside this building back in mid 90’s. My company had the contract to fix the workstations and printers. I thought it was a telephone switchboard. The security to get in was insane. It was easier to get inside the Federal Reserve and all the stock exchanges . Also on my list of assigned buildings
I can imagine it would be several orders of magnitude harder to get OUT of the federal reserve or the stock exchange with something valuable though
There really is so much going on in the world that we don’t know about. They probably have an underground tunnel from the FBI headquarters to Titanpointe.
I love the way his go-to way to get the FEDS off his back is to talk about bricks for 2 mins straight
They were investigating you, but ran into a brick wall...
*So basically AT&T made it really easy for the NSA to do phone wiretaps...*
Yeah it's almost like big corporations and the deep state are in bed together. 🤔🤔
More like NSA made it very HARD for AT&T not to cooperate with them.
have you googled for CALEA btw?
Not just AT&T. Every phone network was built like that. (and the internet as well, in the early days. see also: "meet points", and "carrier hotels")
Every phone and internet companies in every countries work with the government when needed.
I thought the brick video was finally released
Potato Gamer czcams.com/video/pg2Q4ifjO_A/video.html
@@abhikovvuri4879 fuck off
Abhi Kovvuri it just has some depictions of bricks
Abhi Kovvuri it just has some depictions of bricks, not information
Ily
The Oldest House
It's the MAN IN BLACK'S headquarters, everyone should know that.
It’s the Oldest House
* Mossad
From the creators of “What’s Obama’s last name?”
now comes...
Where is 33 Thomas Street?
It is in the Earth
At 33 Thomas Street.
@@archaeopx4505 r/woooosh
I can't find it!
@@xanpenguin754 Keep looking for it; It's just somewhere in Thomas Street, I swear!
“No i’m not going to reveal its exact address”
“Some call it 33 Thomas Street”
*shows the exact location on a map*
Thats the street Thomas street
33 Thomas St.
New York, NY 10007
And it’s next to the famous jenga tower in case you were too lazy to look up the address
Is almost impossible y
To find....
Going into satellite view on google maps and trying to hunt down this building by simply knowing how it looks actually takes a bit of time...
Same goes for finding it in pictures of the skyline.
For being a building without windows, it blends into its surroundings very effectively.
I love the high tech duct tape on the camera at 4:50. That’s quality.
don't forget the equally high tech UV resistant zip ties
That’s what makes a $1500 camera into a $1600 camera.
I feel blessed that I wasn't the only person to notice that
HAI: Some call it 33 Thomas street
Next line: Now I’m not gonna reveal the exact address
👍🏼
I thought that was confusing too, it's a giant concrete windowless structure how hard can be to find?
Some people have no common sense !
Jordan no it’s weird because he doesn’t need to find the address as it’s already in the name and when I was in NYC I never knew about it
And he didn't...he only said what some people call it. That what some people call it could be construed as an address is merely a coincidence!
@stan sorensen me too
RealLifeLore: Toyota Corolla
Wendover Productions: Planes
Half as Interesting: Too many mistakes and never runs out of Jokes
Tzwac dastag what about real engineering
@@advisedpotato8983 His voice makes me very sleepy
@@billcyber3070 who bricks?
@@tzwacdastag8223 Mr bricks
@@parcton9716 never heard
Hey Sam, good job on this!! Even if a few few details were a bit of, you clearly put in a lot of effort to understand a complicated topic, and I appreciate you.
This dude is a segue savant! Seamless transfer from content into sponsors message; well done good sir
I came for bricks and architecture talk, stayed for [REDACTED]
I quite like your [DATA EXPUNGED]
I came for bricks and architecture talk and after i was finished i fell asleep.
Any scp article trying to be mysterious
KETER CLASS
The Oldest house decided to finally show up
I'd still watch a HAI episode dedicated to bricks
He really should just make a video on bricks
Roland Falken but it’s only gonna be a quarter as interesting
He got me hook line and sinker.
Which would be better than a lot of HAI episodes
Who’s here after the events in Nashville? Pretty suspicious to me.
You guys are schizo.
At this rate we will finds out everything about bricks
"I'm not gonna give the address"
"Its 33 Thomas Street, New York, NY"
2:50
"We need the computers to keep working, don't use Windows".
I sense there was perhaps something lost in translation.
LOL this is subtly brilliant.
OMG, I totally missed that!
Lord Samich. Fucking gold! 😂
There was nothing lost.
I don't think there's anything else to learn about this building that I haven't already seen on CZcams etc, but when I see a video about it, I can't help but watch.
1:02 hearing this as a Florida man is hilarious
Have you raided the building yet?
Next year’s April fools video has better actually be about bricks.
I second that motion.
next video has to be about bricks
holy crap yes. GET THIS SHIT TO THE TOP!
"the long lines building, which is also what i call Newark Airport"
.....because it wouldn't be H.A.I./Wendover video unless they mentioned an airport or anything aviation-related.
Sam got royally done over by someone at Newark airport once. This is at least the fourth time he's roasted them.
Soon, every building in America will have long lines!
Mark Flierl Already there.
"this video is about bricks"
by now my brain just translates that into "I'm going to be spilling government secrets"
Fun fact, 33 Thomas Street was one of the main inspirations for the outside of "The Oldest House" from Control.
HEY!! What are you doing out here, Broderick?! Get back in your sarcophagus container!! You had one job: Keep the lights on. ONE JOB!
The reason we have automated telephone switching systems is also half interesting- was invented by an undertaker who realized his business was way down. Found out that the wife of his biggest competitor was directing his customer calls to her husband’s business rather to him. He realized that automated direct dialing was needed.
True: Almon B. Strowger - Invented the Strowger Switch(board)
But only for one particular switch, known within the Bell System as step and mostly used for smaller CDOs. Other switches, such as Panel or Crossbar, were invented by the Bell Telephone Company.
Hai: "This video is about bricks."
****DEFCON 1 ACTIVATED****
Brics?
Not only that but if you go on Google maps and go over there it says "titanpoint"
Glad to see you used a friends picture I took mid 70's of guy at the trunk test position.
Salesman: “How many bricks do you need?”
Architect : yes
Original joke. Very funny.
CruelQuertos yes it’s original and so far 48 people think it’s funny so how about I fuck off
Joshua Cho i’m attracted
Original very funny
Being a Florida man, you know what I must do now.
Florida and Cuba Man use the power of capitalism and communism to raid 33 Thomas Street
@@stewlover420 in what kind of dark blood ritual you could use capitalism and communism together :O
@@jskratnyarlathotep8411 china?
Godspeed
*o h n o*
Cincinnati Bell has a smaller building like this at 7th and Plum. Though sometime in the 80's they added windows on the north side so people in the offices wouldn't want to jump out of the windows they didn't have. I toured that building when I was in grade school and they had a cool way of getting large amounts of files (paper files) from one place to another. They had automated cars with a file box on top that ran on tracks suspended from the ceiling. They even had their own little dumbwaiter elevators to go from floor to floor. You just set some sliders on the lid of the box to tell it what floor and department to go to and set it on it's way. Pretty cool stuff for the late 70's and early 80's.
With our southern neighbour, Belgium, their so-called "Module" size is the most popular.
I live in NY and go to NYC often and always been fascinated by that building. Thanks for the history
How do u only have 9 likes u always have like 7K likes lol
I remember reading The Intercept's reporting on these locations. Fun fact: when one of their journalists took a picture of one of the NSA's secret buildings in DC, he got questioned by the police moments later. For taking a picture of a building. Yikes!
Great video, and you just sold me on a subscription to brilliant
Is directly found by Apple Maps and can also be watched in Apple‘s Look Around (like Streetview)
For the people that don't know: Wendover Productions and Half As Interesting are the same person
impossible
Noooo
Whoaaaaaa.... Wayyyyyyyyyy really?
No way
Stop lying /s
Omfg I just googled it and it’s true! Now that I think about it they do have the same voice 😅
Not gonna lie, I was getting into that Brick talk.
Man, what a great video about bricks, learned so much.
It is called the Long Lines building because back in the day, the part of AT&T that was the long distance company was called AT&T Long Lines. Also, the switches that are currently in the building are #4 ESS switches, which is such an old design that the first #4 ESS switch was installed in Chicago during 1976.
Can we have a actual brick video. I’d actually watch that
No. Run along.
"The building is ... known as 33 Thomas Street, but I'm not going to give you its exact address."
Um ... okay.
Worked in an office built out of a converted telephone exchange. Going to work was like trying to get into a prison, had to go through ceiling high steel turnstiles instead of doors. Turns out strowger switches were incredibly heavy so the buildings containing them were incredibly reinforced. Plus many were built during the Cold War so were built to take a nuke. An entire building of these switches got replaced with a couple of 19” rack cabinets so they decided to use the rest as office space. They let an ordinary IT minion like me work there without any security vetting whatsoever so I don’t think they were doing spy shit at this one tho
If this was an office built by Bell during the cold war, it was likely some type of Crossbar, or possibly 1ESS. Step (Bell's switching system based on Strowger's invention) was generally only used for small offices.
In Chicago, there's a building with only a few narrow windows just South of the downtown area.
It's a prison.
Close to a place I used to live, there was a AT&T switching center. Had windows, signs over the doors and everything, and you could see the machinery inside. At some point, they bricked up the windows, all the AT&T signs came off, and it's a non-descript building with absolutely no indication what's inside. I suppose it could be another owner, but I doubt it...
Honestly I feel really stupid. I wasn’t expecting a building with literally no windows. I was expecting a building that was missing the glass, so like a half finished building.
LMAO.
Same!
Bro i was expecting no widows in the building
Me too
Same
"I'm not gonna give the exact address"/"The building is called 33 Thomas St".
DOES NOT COMPUTE
I used to see this hulking behemoth every day when I was working down in Tribeca, decided to walk over to it one day. It's just a normal looking entrance, I believe it says AT&T on the building. There are also a few other major telecommunications points in Manhattan, one being somewhere on Hudson street IIRC.
I love how it was so classified that some intern didn't have access that's like saying being a 88m in the army is a classified job cause my wife can't just hop in the truck and drive lol
"33 Thomas street..."
*"...now, I'm not going to reveal its exact address"*
"Its also 2 blocks away from the FBI Center"
Ikr, wtf?
ale84 well it’s also 500 feet tall, and has literally no windows, it sticks out like a sore thumb.
When AT&T built this and a few other tall windowless Manhattan buildings in the early 70's, it was public knowledge that they were Long Distance Switches. We were told why they were windowless and it was reported there were enough provisions to support the building's staff for many, many months if need be. The phone system would survive!
2:15 boy, you massively overestimated how long it will take AI to read Wikipedia, use outdated memes, and write bad puns.
It's an influence on The Oldest House from the game Control, I know that much.
ah yes, the oldest house, also known as the headquarters for the US Bureau of Control
The US Bureau of Control is actually based off this building
control used this building as inspiration
The thunder song distorts you
So I wasn’t the only one thinking of the game when I saw the building...
thank god im not the only one thinking about this
Duh, thats just the Federal Bureau of Control
I knew somebody else was thinking that. Maybe they got inspired.
@@morganrobinson8042 They actually did, they said so in an interview
was looking through the comments section hoping someone would mention the FBC
The Board/NSA is pleased to see that you're a man of culture/control as well.
At&t also has a windlowless castle looking building in downtown south bend. We call it the ATT castle
I'm such a nerd - this building is a must-see for me when I visit America and New York in June - I really love Brutalist architecture, and this specific building was one of the main design influences for one of my favourite ever games (the awesome 'Control', PS4/PS5), aaaaaaand it's also just a short walk away from the nearby Ghostbusters firehouse - cool! So, I'll be making a mini pilgrimage to see this specific building in June - I surely can't be the only gaming/photographer nerd who shows up to gawk at it...
Isn’t that where the Men in Black are located?
No that was the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel ventilation building across the street from Battery Park.
Lol no
AT&T also has a “windowless” skyscraper like that in Chicago. There are a couple of floors with windows at the bottom, and a couple at the top.
Worcester MA ( West of Boston) has the same thing...
I saw one in Houston too, not a skyscraper, but it's still a pretty big white block.
Every local AT&T Central Office has no windows. It's easier to maintain temperature controls for all the routing equipment with well insulated walls.
@@ispq thank you! I was wondering what the reason was
Syed Abbas hey, simple question, do you go to WFMS?
Where the Norman is the US standard bricksize, in the Netherlands the most widely used is the Waal size. Where Waal is referring to a Dutch river other sizes are Vecht and IJssel, not a surprise: also named after Dutch rivers.
We have a similar (part) windowless 16 story At&t building at 14th and Locust in Kansas City, Mo.
The bit about bricks was the most interesting part of this video.
same
Ehh, I found it only half...
@@stylesrj ...as interesting
These replies are the best.
Brick talk 2019!!!
Why two comments?
I was actually looking forward to learning about different types of bricks.
I used to talk to people who worked in AT&T’s International transmission and maintenance centre in that building all the time twenty years ago.
Im sad, i wanted you to keep talking about bricks
Brick video soon please!
It is the Ministry of love, the place where there is no darkness.
VGames 1 I just finished reading 1984 for school, I was thinking this then entire time!
Ethan Coble hey I read 1984 for school too
Thank you.
It would be difficult to escape during fire! Yes , the brick introduction was immersive! The fresh smell of bricks & cement & paints of newly build buildings ... With cups of coffee , we can talk for hours ... ♥️🌷🕯
everyone knows it's where Evil Corp stores all their backup paper records
Ok so it is the building in Mr Robot. Lol i was wondering that when i thought it looked familiar
@@stevooo1790 Not only u...
*Doofenschmirtz evil incorporated jingle sounds in the background*
Was wondering how long I’d have to scroll until I saw a Mr Robot reference.
@@Connor-sj7uv same
I feel like playing “Control” game.
The Foundation would like to know your location.
Iron bolt The board/government will contain/capture you now
It is actually surprising how many cities have similar buildings. A friend pointed out the one here in South Bend in