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Take That, ESB: One World Trade Center Goes Red For Cardinal Dolan
By
Garth Johnston
Published Feb 27, 2012
Modified Feb 27, 2012
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By
Garth Johnston
Published Feb 27, 2012
Modified Feb 27, 2012
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The Empire State Building might have made a point of going white this weekend, but at least one structure in the city went and honored newly-anointed Cardinal Dolan with some red lights. One World Trade Center (nee the Freedom Tower) notably turned crimson to honor the Catholic. Which was not a simple matter of flipping a switch!
Since the building is clearly not done, it actually takes a lot of manpower to change its nighttime color. According to a Port Authority spokesperson, cellophane covers have to be placed on each of the existing external construction lights to create the red effect (how long and how many people it takes to do that, they wouldn't say). The current red theme will remain in place until Friday.
This isn't the first time the increasingly visible tower has brought some color to the nocturnal skyline—it has, after all, regularly shone red, white and blue. But this is quite possibly the frist time it has gone and dissed its older skyscraper sibling by putting on colors the ESB chose not to wear (the last time folks made a fuss about the iconic tower's twinkles 1WTC was not tall enough to matter).
And this may well not be the last time the two tussle. How exactly 1WTC will be lit up when it is completed is still being determined.
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