#skysrcapers

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[chaffandgrain]

Seventeen-seventy-six will never lose its place in the history books, but its claim to the record books has been undermined by a decision not to build a sculptural fiberglass-and-steel enclosure for the central mast atop 1 World Trade Center.

It is the addition of that mast that would elevate an otherwise 1,368-foot skyscraper into a 1,776-foot structure whose defining measurement was meant to express American spirit and resolve in the face of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.