Preserving the Physical Remnants of 9/11
Section 106 Success Story: Vesey Street Stairway—Survivors' Stairs (New York, New York)
Shortly after September 11, 2001, families of those killed in the attacks on the North and South Towers of the World Trade Center Complex requested that Ground Zero be determined eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. Properties are normally required to be at least 50 years old to qualify, but the site was listed on the basis of exceptional significance. This determination of National Register eligibility triggered a full review of the site's recovery and rebuilding. under Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act.
photo by: Mike Roberts (vcohen) via Wikimedia CC BY 2.0
The Vesey Street Stairway in 2008.
The Vesey Street Stairway served as an escape route for hundreds of people fleeing the towers on the morning of the attacks and survived as the only above-ground structure after the collapse of the North and South Towers. As redevelopment plans for the site advanced, preservationists and family representatives raised concerns that the stairway and other physical remnants of the towers, such as the tower footprints, the slurry wall, and the Last Column, would be lost in the rush to rebuild.
As a consulting party to the Section 106 review, the Historic Districts Council, Port Authority representatives, and other preservation organizations and victims' families conducted a public process to identify which elements of the site carried historic and memorial significance and should be retained during rebuilding. The review was not without tension as family members, downtown neighbors, and officials all held different views of how the site should be rebuilt, but this collaborative process, as required by Section 106 review, ensured that each voice was heard before final decisions were made.
What We Would Have Lost
Without Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act, the last surviving above-ground remnant of the original World Trade Center complex—the Vesey Street Stairway—could have been demolished during the rebuilding of Ground Zero. Because the site's rebuilding involved federal review, Section 106 required public consultation with preservationists, victims' families, and other stakeholders before the stairway and other remnants could be altered or removed. Under the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation's proposed regulatory changes, federal agencies would no longer be required to mitigate the effect of projects like this one on historic and culturally significant sites, and public comment on these decisions would become entirely optional, possibly expediting demolition.
photo by: Kelly Paras
The Vesey Street Stairway in the National September 11 Memorial & Museum.
photo by: Kelly Paras
Detailed view of the Vesey Street Stairway.
As a direct result of this consultation process, the Vesey Street Stairway was preserved and relocated to the National September 11 Memorial & Museum, where it is now on display as the Survivors' Stairs. Without Section 106 review these stairs may have been lost to history, but instead, the public was able to share what they felt needed to be remembered. Today, the Vesey Street Stairway is one of the most visited artifacts in the museum.
