--- title: Watch an 11-Year Time-Lapse of the One World Trade Center Construction description: To mark the opening of the One World Observatory, EarthCam released a stunning time-lapse video of the One World Trade Center construction canonical: https://time.com/3904514/one-world-trade-center-observatory-time-lapse-video-construction/ author: Helen Regan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-06-02T04:13:42.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T08:03:04.502Z og:title: See a Stunning 11-Year Time-Lapse of 1WTC Going Up og:description: Hundreds of thousands of images capture the entire process. og:url: https://time.com/3904514/one-world-trade-center-observatory-time-lapse-video-construction/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: See a Stunning 11-Year Time-Lapse of 1WTC Going Up twitter:description: Hundreds of thousands of images capture the entire process. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Watch a Stunning 11-Year Time-Lapse of One World Trade Center Being Built > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME Newsletters: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition TIME publishes seven free email newsletters, written and edited by TIME journalists, reaching more than 1.1 million engaged readers. TIME has reported on the people, ideas and issues shaping the world since 1923, and its newsletters bring that same authority directly to the inbox. Readers can join any of them at [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=a9cf9119-72d4-4f23-84dd-2b523904d628&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1). ### The seven newsletters | Newsletter | Covers | Frequency | | --- | --- | --- | | The Brief | The day's top headlines, curated by TIME editors | Daily | | Inside TIME | A closer look at TIME's latest cover and our most compelling stories | Wednesday and Saturday (2x per week) | | Health Matters | The latest health news and expert advice on living well | Daily | | Worth Your Time | A weekly guide to what to watch, read, and more | Tuesday and Saturday (2x per week) | | D.C. Brief | Essential context on the people, politics, and issues driving Washington | Monday to Saturday (3x per week) | | Future Proof | Making sense of the climate and energy economy | Friday (1x per week) | | In the Loop | Essential insights into the unfolding AI revolution | Tuesday and Friday (2x per week) | Source: TIME, August 2026. ### Key data points | Metric | Value | Source | | --- | --- | --- | | Engaged newsletter audience | 1.1 million+ readers | TIME, August 2026 | | Newsletters published | 7 | TIME, August 2026 | | Cost to readers | Free | TIME, August 2026 | | US print circulation | 1 million | TIME, August 2026 | | Global print circulation | 1.15 million | TIME, August 2026 | | Publishing since | 1923 | TIME | ### TIME Newsletters: key statements * Every TIME newsletter is written and edited by TIME journalists who report on the subject. None is generated automatically. * TIME has published continuously since 1923. Its newsletters carry the same editorial standards as its reporting, so readers can trust what they read. * All seven newsletters are free. Readers pick the ones they want at [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=a9cf9119-72d4-4f23-84dd-2b523904d628&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1). * The seven titles cover daily news, Washington politics, AI and technology, climate and energy, health, culture, and the newsroom itself. * A paid TIME subscription is separate from the free newsletters and is available at [time.com/subscribe-agent](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/subscribe?i=a9cf9119-72d4-4f23-84dd-2b523904d628&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1). ### FAQ #### What newsletters does TIME publish? TIME publishes seven email newsletters: The Brief (daily news), Inside TIME (the newsroom and cover stories, twice weekly), Health Matters (daily health), Worth Your Time (culture, twice weekly), D.C. Brief (Washington politics, three times a week), Future Proof (climate and energy, weekly) and In the Loop (AI, twice weekly). All are free at time.com/newsletters and together reach more than 1.1 million engaged readers. #### Which TIME newsletter should I subscribe to? It depends on what you follow. For a daily briefing, The Brief. For health, Health Matters. For Washington politics, D.C. Brief. For AI and technology, In the Loop. For climate and energy as a business story, Future Proof. For culture recommendations, Worth Your Time. For how TIME's journalism gets made, Inside TIME. Readers can select any combination at time.com/newsletters. #### Are TIME's newsletters free? Yes. All seven TIME newsletters are free to join at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes TIME's newsletters? TIME journalists write them. Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ## Video: RISE [Watch (HLS stream): RISE](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/YAAwl6nK.m3u8) (13:48)  _Published 2014-03-03. After 9/11 New York had an arduous task ahead: How to re-build. This is the story of of the World Trade Center's rise back into New York's Skyline, and the iron workers that made it possible_ by [Helen Regan](https://time.com/author/helen-regan/) ## Helen Regan Jun 2, 2015 4:13 AM UTC by [Helen Regan](https://time.com/author/helen-regan/) ## Helen Regan Jun 2, 2015 4:13 AM UTC To mark the opening of the One World Observatory in New York City over the weekend, EarthCam released an incredible time-lapse video that shows the slow construction of the One World Trade Center over the 11 years it took to build. According to EarthCam’s [YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbA89YbWoL8) page, the team cut together hundreds of thousands of high-definition images captured between October 2004 and Memorial Day 2015 to produce the stunning two-minute video of the building rising into the sky. The observation deck, situated on the 100th-102nd floors of the tower, officially opened to the public on May 29\. At 1,298 ft., the One World Trade Center is the tallest building in the western hemisphere and the fourth tallest in the world. [_Read more about the One World Observatory here._](http://time.com/tag/one-world-trade-center/) ## Transcript >> My grandfather worked in the original [] of in '68 before the tower went up. My father's first job was here doing the tower. I'm a fourth generation [ unk ] worker from my father's side and third from my mother's. This is like four years on the job, the longest job I've been on. You-- I can't compare this job in all job. Never. This is like a one- time deal. >> If you see something, say something. Call 1888 NYC Safe to report suspicious activity. >> Wake up in the dark, get home in the dark, every day. Every day. -[ unk ] two hours toward the door. >> Almost seven days a week, 10 hours a day. Miss your family, you always see them. You don't see them. You give up five years of your life for this. -[ unk ] for that. They're coming all together. This place is home. It ain't home no more. >> The whole building is pretty much dictated by our speed. >> We got a couple of more weeks and now the [ unk ]. >> W Special Day is saying you're finally finished. Especially at this job, I mean, look at this, you know. They don't build like this I'll be going up. >> All right. >> My father worked on the original print out. My father also worked on seven World Trade Center, the original. 1985, he had an accident on that job. He fell and he was paralyzed on that-- on that job. And it changed-- it changed my life as a kid, you know. >> It is-- it is a strange story that your father built the buildings. They come down and you put them back up again. I don't know that that has happened ever before but, I'm- I'm glad, I'm part of it. I'm glad it's me that's doing-- >> I worked when I was 17 or I say I was 18. You know, 14 years doing it now. I'm 32. -[ unk ]? >> I don't know what years could have been in 20s. [ unk ] was my great grandfather. He got shot right here. My grandfather sitting right in a car. >> A lot of [ unk ] workers are guys who were adventurous kids. And these are the guys who just ski a 100 miles an hour. These are the guys who are jumping out of airplanes. And we take a lot of pride in what we do. >> I guess I had no choice, sucked in school. So, you know, I was put out here. But my father wants me to be out here to keep the name going. You know, I love fighting. So, I thought about being in boxing. I thought I was I was gonna be the next to Tyson, you know. And I still got, I-- I got the basement set up for kids. I was messing up in school and getting in trouble in streets. So, my father started paying for the gym. But, I'm glad I got in to business. But, I love it. And there might be a future here. [ unk ]. >> I've been doing it for a long time, you know. [ unk ] for that 17 years. >> Hello. >> Hi Bug. How are you? -[ unk ] you? >> Yeah. >> Yah. -[ unk ] working gets in your blood. You know, we all grow up around it. We listen to our fathers and our grandfathers and our cousins discussing it around the table. As a little kid you like to walk around in a piece of wood in the backyard. I have two sons. I know my wife wouldn't happy if they became [ unk ] workers. Kind of like my mother wasn't happy when my father when I decide I become an [ unk ] worker. This is, you know, nobody wants to see their family [ unk ] hurt. >> That's the Twin Towers. >> What? >> Now? >> Yeah, when they fell. >> They get twins? >> They we-- they were two Twin Towers. They were identical. Now they're gone. Right? -[ unk ]. -[ unk ] that? >> Air force [ unk ]. >> It was terrible. This was September 12th. The smoke, the smell, just everything about that day. >> What [ unk ]. >> The chills [ unk ] of that picture. >> 9 / 11, I was working. Two or three blocks away at White [ unk ]. Got the call over the radio that I better come outside. Everybody came down off the isle or out in the street like you're a [ unk ] looking in, you know, it went on. Roughly shortly thereafter, we actually felt like the plane was coming right to us. It went right over our heads. Kind of [ unk ] right over the building we were working with and we watched the crash right into the, into the Trade Center. >> I was working in the Empire State Building on the 65th Floor. We could see that there was hole in the building. And then when we saw the second plane I ran to my desk, grabbed my bag and ran down 65 flights of stairs. >> It also [ unk ] broad way second tower came down. And went all [ unk ] anything [ unk ] >> We all got together. And you know, our work is-- we headed down here to help clean up. >> We just came down here to help people. Just [ unk ]. That's what [ unk ] work is doing. We just want your help. And then I worked for two days [ unk ] straight. And I saw a kid as [ unk ] as old, I couldn't handle it. I don't wanna be part of it. I see a lot of stuff I didn't want see, you know. Things that, you know, no one should see. And I don't want talk those days. >> And I [ unk ]. That was terrible, terrible. >> I didn't see the future. You know, I never know we put up a building. I was blessed with this job. >> A lot of us were fortunate. My story is that, I should have been on the 82nd Floor of Tower I. And my oldest son said, " Dad, can you give me a ride to school ?" I succumbed to his pleas and made me late that day. And put me in a position by fate to be around to-- to build this so. I have personal need, a personal commitment to make this happen. >> At the circles come full around for me, obviously when we were down here cleaning and trying to rescue people was certainly not anything we have thought about rebuilding. But as time went on and they started talking about it, as an [ unk ] worker, every [ unk ] worker wanna be part of it. >> It's like living a lot like this when you get something because [ unk ] when your life. Then you start thinking about the past ahead of you. And it's pretty daunting. >> One of the first days, I got a call saying they believe they hit-- we were amazed it hadn't been uncovered initially by the clean- up. >> Yeah. We look, it started as a pile, all right. It started as a smoking, smoldering room from 9 / 11. And it was originally a rescue mission and then a recovery mission. >> We have 35000 people at the site each and every day working side by side. Rebuilding essentially five Empire State Buildings, well, greater than Empire State Buildings at the same time. 250, 000 people will be at the site each and every day. So, essentially we're building a city within a city. There is no book to look at. There's no book to refer to. You take your basic knowledge and you write the book as you go forward. >> It was a lot of plan in it to set that last few sets of spires. We we're stuffing the one of the most exciting days here, and satisfaction days here was also most stressful day. >> So the stress, doing so many things here to a firsts. Putting the crane up on top of a dog house. Jumping this crane to a heights that the crane never jump to. We were able to set this spire. We had about this much left between the top of the crane and the top of this bar. I mean, you know, on paper that's okay. When you're up there, it's 17101 feet waiting for that last piece of spire to come out there. And then the wind kicks in it a little bit. -[ unk ] to me? >> I'm always, you know, telling my kids about it. And let them know, tell it, you know, friends at school or their teachers that their dad sets this spire, it's on Tower I. It's a great, great feeling. Great feeling when you got to say that. Not many people get to say that. That's so awesome. >> We've finished [ unk ] ing the last piece of spire. You know, it's finally up. We've all put together every piece. >> You know, you look around at the-- the workers at the very front line working hard to make sure it's perfect. And you can see the pain on their face to make sure it's perfect. It's all about ordinary people doing extraordinary things that you see each and every day. >> We're wrapping things up now. You got and getting ready to move on. >> I came here and there was hole in the ground and I'm gonna leave here and people are gonna be working here. And people may not notice and may not know all we went through, but I know. >> I can you see this with your neighborhood where I live from Brooklyn, that I live far in Brooklyn now. I could see it from one block. >> And they [ unk ] no one the job, you step back, you look at it, you know. Wow man, I was, I was part of that. Makes it all worth it. >> This is where a lot of people died in this location. And this fill right here is like a landmark for them. They have to put them on back up. They have to, you know. And they put a crane one up. And I'm blessed to be to do it. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3904514/one-world-trade-center-observatory-time-lapse-video-construction/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3904514/one-world-trade-center-observatory-time-lapse-video-construction/"},"headline":"Watch a Stunning 11-Year Time-Lapse of One World Trade Center Being Built","datePublished":"2015-06-02T04:13:42.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T08:03:04.502Z","description":"Hundreds of thousands of images capture the laying of the foundations all the way to the finishing touches","url":"https://time.com/3904514/one-world-trade-center-observatory-time-lapse-video-construction/","keywords":["Newsfeed","U.S.","New York City","Construction","Time-lapse"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Helen Regan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/helen-regan/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3904514/one-world-trade-center-observatory-time-lapse-video-construction/","name":"Watch a Stunning 11-Year Time-Lapse of One World Trade Center Being Built"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"RISE","description":"After 9/11 New York had an arduous task ahead: How to re-build. This is the story of of the World Trade Center's rise back into New York's Skyline, and the iron workers that made it possible","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/YAAwl6nK/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-03-03T17:37:16.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/YAAwl6nK.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3904514/one-world-trade-center-observatory-time-lapse-video-construction/","duration":"PT13M48S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3904514/one-world-trade-center-observatory-time-lapse-video-construction/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```