NYC is Full of Fake Buildings… Why?

Can you guess how many of NYC’s Buildings are Fakes?

I’m in control - Ballpoint // Toys - Cushy // Zoinks - Ballpoint

**Everything used to make this video**

Great news! If you make a purchase from any link above, my channel earns a small affiliate commission from the site.

[marcmcpherson]

33 Thomas Street is literally where everything telecommunications for North America & Europe lives. My mother worked for AT&T and she basically told me that, if something ever happened to that building, almost all forms of communication from Los Angeles to Paris would be down. We would be back to using a town crier or other kinds of primitive means of communication if something happened to that building. That's why that building is so secure.

[dominicg]

My dad works at that AT&T building. He's been with AT&T for over 30 years now, and he is under an NDA and won't really say what he does there, only that it's very important to New York and that the quality of life in NY would decrease if the building wasn't there. He also said it's not really that serious and that if the building just looked normal then no one would even care.

[Sacto]

These "fake" buildings are actually more common than you think worldwide. In London and Paris, there are a lot of them exist to be used as ventilation inlets and outlets for the Underground (London) and Paris Metro/RER (Paris).

[ulysses_]

Not understanding the whole "Fake Building" thing. If a building was built, it's a real building! If that building was used for a different purpose in the past than it is today, or abandoned doesn't mean it's a fake building. It only means that building had a purpose, or has a new purpose. With that said, a real building isn't based on it's purpose! A real building is what's physically there, and what's physically there is the building materials that make it a real building😳

[BogdanPetre]

The first fake building is located at 58 Jaman Street. It was originally constructed in 1847 as a private residence. In 1907, it was purchased by the INB Rapid Transit company to vent air from the subway underneath it. The building was completely hollowed out and now serves as an emergency exit for the subways.

The second fake building is located on Roosevelt Island. It was built in 1892 as a laboratory for City Hospital. It was abandoned in the 1950s and is now a power conversion substation for the subway trains.

The third fake building is located in the middle of the Hudson River. It was built in 1927 to vent air from the Holland Tunnel.

The fourth fake building is located at Mulry Square. It was built in 2019 to vent air from the subway underneath it.

The fifth fake building is located at 33 Thomas Street. It was built in 1974 and is owned by AT&T. It is rumored to be a National Security Agency mass surveillance hub.

[womenofpurposedestiny]

As a native New Yorker this is one of the most informative video about NYC that I've ever seen. Thanks Cash for always creating great videos

[IslemTav]

There was a show many years ago (about 20 years ago) called "Secrets of New York.” One of their episodes, I remember, was about the subway system. Reportedly, there’s tons of water underneath our city, and if it weren’t because of massive water pumps, our subways would be flooded. I think some of these secret buildings may be for the purpose of having these machines running and for air vent purposes. Awesome video!!

[jessguzman]

You’re so creative with your transitions, b roll, and editing

[hurpaderpp]

You really know how to romanticize New York. Always hated the idea of the city but you make it seem super interesting and the history is amazing. Im a super history nerd and never realized the history of New York is so great

[longroth]

The ATT building is a pretty common design for hubs built by phone companies back when it was constructed.
We have smaller version in the city I grew up in. It's around 6 stories tall no windows, only vents around the top, and was built in the same time frame. These are the major switch hubs for the wired phone system, miles of wire, rows and rows of relay switching boxes, offices, and where phone operators and maintenance crews worked out of. They were built solid to mitigate communications disruptions, needed to have strict climate control & ventilation for all the electronics, hence no windows, and tight security. Plus they were built during the cold war era, wired phones were the main form of communication at the time, including secure governmental lines, so another reason security was a factor in the design. Ours had security guards wandering around 24/7 back in the 60's & 70's. Gotta remember too, this was all before the digital age, there were no computers or micro-controllers, rotary phones were in use back then, and it was all electronic relays that connected every phone in the country to each other through hubs like these. I imagine NYC's is so big because, well, millions of people vs a city of 40, 000 where ours is. Ours is no longer ATT, last time I was in the area it was branded Frontier internet & phone services, and still controls all the wired landline phones and DSL internet. All the rows and rows of relay boxes were replaced by racks of servers, and the vents now have windows installed.

[danielx]

The first thing I noticed about that first building is that they aren't actually trying to disguise it. $40 worth of white paint would actually make it fit in with its neighbors. Like, they aren't actually trying to make it look like an actual house. It looks more like a facade for a medium security document storage facility, but if it actually had important stuff in it, they would have spent that 40 bucks and taken two or three other measures like weathering, fake curtains, etc.

[annet]

We have fake buildings in Ontario in the suburbs that look like regular houses but are hydro substations. Always loved those buildings. Great video!

[AbbyCatt]

The big ominous building in New York is a server building owned by AT&t. How did nobody guess this? Servers don't need Windows. Servers also don't need a lot of people to operate them. But being such a robust structure the city probably required that it be an emergency facility in case of disaster.

[michelegoff]

Cash, your videos are SO good! The way you tell a story is phenomenal! You could make a video about dirt exciting! Love ya. Keep up the great work!

[hubertvancalenbergh]

"I don't think they did a very good job at hiding the fakeness of this fake building" had me in stitches! 🤣 unfinished disaster, indeed!

[victoriavillegas]

I love your friendly way to tell things: important, weird, funny, strange or special.

[jfalline]

I love that you aren’t afraid to show the real New York. I enjoyed this video

[MissElaineDumont]

A Building with massive Vents and no Windows usually suggests cooling. So realistically, that Building on 33 Thomas Street is simply used for Servers. Especially considering it belongs to AT&T. Also makes sense that if you put massive amounts of Servers somewhere to put it in a place that's extremely hard to compromise. Hence why "Cyberbunker" in Germany was a pretty smart idea.

[Concetta]

“The clear blue waters of the Hudson River.” The deadpan is real. 😆

[ambabamba]

“Clear blue waters of the Hudson River.”😂