Windows on the World

Windows on the World was a complex of dining, meeting, and entertainment venues on the top floors (106th and 107th) of the North Tower (Building One) of the original World Trade Center complex in Lower Manhattan, New York City, United States. It included a restaurant called Windows on the World, a smaller restaurant called Wild Blue (which before 1999 was called "Cellar in the Sky"), a bar called The Greatest Bar on Earth (which had previously been the Hors d'Oeuvrerie) on the 107th floor, and a wine school, and a conference and banquet rooms for private functions located on the 106th floor. The restaurants opened on April 19, 1976. Developed by restaurateurs Joe Baum and Michael Whiteman and designed initially by Warren Platner, Windows on the World occupied 50,000 square feet (4,600 m2) of space in the North Tower. The Skydive Restaurant, which was a 180 seat cafeteria on the 44th floor of 1 WTC conceived for office workers, was also operated by Windows on the World. The restaurants were destroyed during the September 11 attacks in 2001. The impact of American Airlines Flight 11 severed all means of escape from the 92nd floor up at 8:46 a.m. All of the staff members working in the restaurant on the day of the attacks died when the North Tower collapsed at 10:28 a.m.