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.
Cash, you're a brave man.....outing these secret buildings that if destroyed would bring civilization to it's knees. Hopefully, your name won't be put on a list, a secret list where only the keeper of that aforementioned list knows your real name, assuming it is not Cash Jordan (I assume it is real because you're a man of integrity and wouldn't trick your followers that way.) Am I using my real name? Not on your life, boy. May your mouth be washed out with a soap called Lifebuoy or Palmolive!! This message will self destruct in five seconds. Everything will be disavowed. Yo.
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.
Good guess. It turns out that telecom switching is now done using specialized computer systems of very high size and capacity (to the naked eye these will look just like massive servers) with specially designed software to execute insane levels of connection switching, billing handling, capacity management and similar functions. There are many other similar buildings in various nodes on the "backbone" of the internet. These places are also typically called "Long Lines". Another feature of a place like this is that it will have the ULTIMATE BACK UP systems for power. Typically this will be very large diesel generators providing power, and routinely tested to know that they work.
I worked for a company (no name) and we worked with AT&T at different locations. It's servers and cooling systems. I worked in many buildings like this. What goes on inside keeps the world going. That's all I'll say.
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.
In my town, the old post office building has been turned into a colocation for the ISPs. Its unmarked, looks like an old abandoned building. But at night, you can see lights from network switches blinking in series. Hidden in plain sight they are, but very essential to our communications.
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).
Funny cause Ripley's Believe it or Not featured one in England back in the 80s. The first one reminfed me of it but it was small and when you look in the window you can see trains go by.
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!!
That was one of my guesses, if only for the rainwater & everyday water that would find itself down there. I imagine ventilating & pumping the air & water for an entire underground city would take a lot of buildings! Now, that last building? I have no idea, but you can bet there’s some sketchy shit going on in that one🤣
I find the idea that new york is this city built on top these old ruins made of concrete and pipes that most residents don't even know about anymore mildly entertaining. You guys should make an adventurer's guild there and have people explore underground.
There is this book - of course I forget the name - about how fast nature would “return” to its prehuman form. I think it said the subway would take 36 hours to flood without any human intervention, which makes sense if only considering the city is at or below sea level.
That fake building is in Brooklyn Heights. I use to live up the block. Comedian Bill Cosby use to live around the corner. There's a bunch of fake buildings in NYC.
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.
The basement probably once contained battery rooms to provide fast emergency power to make sure that telecommunications were independent of the power grid.
Yep. Probably every city has something like this NYC AT&T building. NYC has a big one just because of the amount of communication that's goes on in NYC. There's one in San Francisco that has a small room that the CIA or the NSA has equipment installed. They're monitoring internet traffic. AT&T employees aren't allowed in that room. At least that's how it was back 25 years or so.
Yes I am a Central Office Technician in western ny and these buildings were built to withstand a lot. One of my offices even has a fallout area. They used to have cross bar switches in them which took up a lot of room very heavy and noisy.
Solid security, high ceilings (for air flow, and raised flooring for computer rooms), heavy load capability (again for computer racks)... this is simply a very large and secure datacenter, which is essentially the same thing as a Telco Central Office.
The AT&T building at 33 Tomas Street is a telecom switching hub (node switches) for the tri-state area and the northeast. I used to work in the building
The “clear blue Hudson” made me laugh. That entire river is full of PCB from the Federal Dam in Troy, all the way to New York Bay. You can’t even eat fish out of the river, sadly. PS- great, informative video. Subscribed.
Ha, I haven’t heard heard that saying “had me in stitches” for a long time! I even forget the origins of the phrase? To be sewn up in stitches after laughing so hard??
The vent for the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel all the way downtown was used for the Men in Black HQ entrance. Roosevelt Island used to be called Blackwells island, and housed a hospital for patients needing to be quarantined, a prison and an asylum. The journalist Nellie Bly faked being insane to get checked into the asylum and exposed horrific treatment and conditions, which got the place shut down (it was akin to what Geraldo Rivera found at Willowbrook in Staten Island.)
The insane asylum (The Octagon) which was at the north end by Coler Hospital at the far north end is now the entrance for an apartment building. The exterior once a ruin is now fully restored. The original plan for the apt building was in a Victorian/Edwardian style with gables but the locals killed it. What's now there is a basic modern concrete block, but what was left of the Octagon building was saved.
Incredible! I absolutely love old buildings structures and hearing the stories about them! When my old man takes me up on Garrett Mountain in Paterson to our landlords place on a clear day you an see that bridge to Manhattan on a good day!
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
The history of NYC goes wayyyyyy back. It’s been around since the 1700s so there’s plenty of history! You should look it up- there’s a lot of documentaries about the history of NYC and it’s all really fascinating!
Right! The NYC area had a lot of action during the Revolutionary War! There were forts all over the place, on up to the Hudson River to West Point. As a kid in the ‘60’s I loved riding over the Throggs Neck Bridge, it seemed to be the highest one in the world. Underneath the Bronx side is a fort called Fort Skyler. There was another fort across the way and I learned that there were huge chains from fort to fort in the water. They would be pulled tight and would block British ships from coming through. A lot of history right there in NYC!
How can you be a history fan.. and not have run into any of new yorks history? Like you can barely go back into American history without talking abt New York
Same here. Never lived in New York, have no plans to move there, much less plans to move to New York City with the crazy real estate prices. But he always presents things in such an entertaining way. Plus the editing is fantastic -- like a professional television show
This is the kind of UA-cam video worth watching. I wish they had a section for great videos that they could put stuff like this in and charge extra for and give the profits to the creators. That way you would not have to sift through the junk and clickbait.
As a native New Yorker this video was quite enlightening, interesting, educational and also hilarious (some of your introductions were too funny). Thanks for this video. 👍🏻
I've been saying that for a minute. He could either be the permanent host of Saturday Night Live or a reporter on Sixty Minutes if not mayor of the greatest city on Earth. Maybe all three at the same time. While still showing us sink sprayers in shoebox apartments. No joke!
@0:02, there is a similar grand looking fake facade building at 23-24 Leinster Gardens in London (UK) which serves as a vent for the Metropolitan tube line. The Strecker building is beautiful. Glad that it is being reused rather than falling into dereliction.
Wowee Cash, your real estate and city videos have been really entertaining for the last couple years 🎉now with your excellent reporting I’m gaining real in-depth knowledge! Really appreciate all your hard work as a business and family man🤓
When I goggle mapped it, (the 'fake house') and did the overhead satellite image, it said "IRT SUBWAY VENT" ! Wha?????? Now I can't wait to finish watching your video, thank you! SO interesting!
33 Thomas Street is definitely some data center of sorts, I'd imagine. There are main hubs for internet backbones that have to live somewhere. Seems pretty reasonable to convert a beefed up building that was originally a telephone exchange into a highly secure data center. I wouldn't have any doubts of it also being used for government shenanigans as well.
Cash, I don't know if you covered it yet, but the Irish Famine Memorial Park (?) is quite interesting. It looks like a city park located inside a giant concrete bowl.
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.
I've worked at the dying pier 8 -9 for years.. years before the park was started and well after it was done. This building actually is an access point for FDNY, Con Ed, the EPA and other utilities. And it's no "secret". They be out there posted up with cones and big red utility vehicles sometimes within a year. You will see them working, coming in and out of the building. The real locals within that area knows of it's existence. Even myself, passing by to my once container job, when i didn't want to drive the 15 minutes to and from work, only to struggle for parking once arriving home. My doctor's office is still in that area as we speak.
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.
If it's just housing a subway vent and exit, there's no reason to go through the trouble of disguising it. Your motivation is simply aesthetic - making it look ok and a fit for the neighborhood is good enough. Now if it was a safehouse or a spy center then for security it is worth the extra expense of making it look as unobtrusive as possible.
A spy safehouse would just be a totally normal house, because spies are inconspicuous. The facade was built so the subway vent wouldn't devalue the properties around it. @@Qermaq
Our Dad worked for Western Electric (then AT&T) for decades and we travelled extensively (but always returned home to our house after those long ‘vacations’ - we were never uprooted) my entire childhood … what we did not know until 25+ years after he retired, is he was a contracted civilian with the Navy to install and manage the top secret Cold War SOSUS project … and he was finally declassified and could talk about it (we never even knew he had a classified security clearance!) so, yah, it is perfectly sensible that AT&T has some hoodoo guru stuff going on. 🙂
Down the road from me, which I live next to a watershed, is a abandoned small building. I was told it’s a well/pumping station and it’s pipes are underground, go down my road, to pump water into a stream that then fills a reservoir (lake) that supplies water to a nearby town. It’s used when there is drought, the watershed and stream dries up. Otherwise, it looks like an ordinary abandoned small barn.
Years ago I worked for an energy company and I had to go check a place which I presumed to be a building, it had an address but I couldn't find it on a map and I had to ask some other employees what was going on. Turned out it was a space under railway tracks and to get there I had to open a heavy duty steel gate and a steel door in a pedestrian underpass. Inside that quite a large place were huge number of computers in racks, I guess they were monitoring trains etc. It was kinda creepy place.
I am a Canadian, this is one of the most unique videos that I have ever watched. Very informative about all these fake buildings in NYC. Thank you Cash for sharing your knowledge
Toronto has some buildings like this to hide electric generators? A quick Google search will give you some interesting looking houses made to look like houses built in the area
I've noticed a lot of fake buildings as I've traveled. I figured they were electric or telecommunications substations, held some type of pumps or are even server farms. I thought they made them blend in so it didn't look ugly in the area and also for security. I know one that's a server farm but all the employees work remotely, only coming in if there is an emergency. It's located in the middle of a busy downtown area with lots of clubs and bars. They only have like 10 parking spaces and they are very clearly marked "no parking ever - you will be towed at your expense. Please do not park here, even for" just a minute " As you can imagine, people park there. There are several security cameras and you can see them pull in, park, walk to wall with the no parking signs and the name and contact number of the tow company who will tow their car. They stare at the signs, look at each other, discuss, then teeter off in their stilettos. Within 10 minutes, the car is towed. When they come teetering back 4 hours later and are outraged and confused about their car, calling the police only to be told it's been towed.
Well if it’s owned by AT&T and AT&T trucks parked around it then isn’t it obvious? It’s probably where they have routers, signals and whatever else they use to make the internet and tv work. Theres a place here in my area in Atlanta that looks exactly like it only it’s just one story and it’s also owned by AT&T.
Yep. From Wikipedia: "it is a telephone exchange or wire center building which contained three major 4ESS switches used for interexchange (long distance) telephony, as well as a number of other switches used for competitive local exchange carrier services."
We have one in Boston in Government center that is tall and also crazy looking owned by the telephone company at least when I was a kid .It is AT&T now . Government center in Boston has some serious crazy looking buildings anyways so it kinda blends but it is giant bunker looking because of the lack of normal windows . Now I want to check to see if it has the unusual cars ?????
😮This video was very interesting. You are so funny and gave me my morning chuckles. I would not want to have an apartment with a view of that ugly building with graffiti.
33 Thomas St looks to me like a huge data center. I worked at one for ExxonMobil which was very small in comparison but I could understand the function of this building if that is what it is.
That creepy tower with no windows I believe used to or may still be owned by a large internet company and hosts a numerous amount of servers and data and the walls are to help from outside penetration and attacks .please don’t quote me but it’s something like that
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.
I use to build data centers and the security associated with them. It can't be a very large center, the cooling and backup generators would be visible. Yes you can put them on the roof but the requirements take space. In addition you can't use on as a shelter since the data centers are secure space (homeland security requirements for critical infrastructure) these buildings fail secure (fire alarm etc you can leave but no one enters). Also the major transatlantic data comes in and leaves southern VA now..its why it's a hot spot for building major data centers now.
That first building kinda elevates the aesthetic of the block because it's so neatly painted and provides some contrast. Also the history of Roosevelt Island itself is pretty interesting.
New York is incredible. I’ve been twice and can’t stop looking at videos and reading about it. So many cool things and history. The construction is mind blowing!
Interesting application of urban design. Interesting how most of them are ventilation units for the tunnels. That's something most folks don't think about until they have to.
Because we’re not the ones that built them, these buildings were already here, New York City was already here before it became a City, the buildings were founded not built. They found them
@@653j521Missing the point entirely. People want quality but not willing to pay the cost for it. That’s also not counting developers who cut corners and pocket the excess. Because developers can never be corrupt or greedy right? /s
I had no idea New York has all these fake buildings, the last one might be a data farm, you have to have ventilation for those gigantic computers. Thanks Cash
I think all major cities have real buildings that have been converted to other uses. I know here in St Louis we do. One not far from me is a power substation inside an old building.
damham5689, It's something I never thought about, nor has anyone ever pointed it out. So St. Louis too, I live in San Francisco, so now I've got to see what's up here. Thanks
We have the fake houses over in the UK in London to use as a vent for the underground but ours is an entire block and was originally going to be just a fence you could see over but the people of the neighbourhood didn’t want a gaping hole in their view so the council decided to put up a wall of fake houses with no roofs. Worked pretty well.
There's a smaller scale version of the at&t building in my hometown, but the parking lot behind has been closed off for years, very similar concrete all around and a high up door
I’ve never had the chance to visit New York City, I love that I can get a guided tour of the city from someone so enthusiastic and knowledgeable about the city.
It’s not the NSA, that’s bullshit. It a massive windowless switch building like numerous others in the US. AT&T has ridiculous numbers of copper telephone wires throughout Manhattan. This building is the hub.
Cash-Your selection of content is absolutely fabulous! You present material that everyone is interested in. That was a great idea. A++ Keep going!☮️👏👏👏👏
I’d rather data centers looked like the first two instead of the ugly gray blocks we have now, and even repurpose the lovely old buildings they tore down to build those monstrosities. - Cheers from Northern VA.
The AT&T massive building built during the Cold War Era can only suggest one conclusion - providing as secure communications center as possible, just in case. And I also have it quite easy to imagine that wired connection might still be of more value than cell phones in a big time emergency. And in fact, how are the cell tower transmitters getting their signals in the first place? Or where and how do they forward your cell phone calls? I think wired connections to some central switching facilities are to be expected even in the cell phone era.
People in Nashville found out fast how useless cell phones were when that RV bomber took out the AT&T hub. All their little idiotphones were destroyed but landline phones still worked.
Mind you, I'm not sure if that AT&T building would survive a Russian nuclear attack, though. The Russians still have missiles armed with a _25 megaton_ nuclear warhead specifically to attack underground bunkers and to take out large metropolitan areas, and the blast effects of a 25 MT warhead is probably strong enough to topple even this building.
@@Sacto1654 I don't know why you're even talking about that like it's relevant. If Russia did that then we would would press the big red button and life as we know it on this planet will be wiped out. I don't think it's relevant if this building would survive an end of the world attack.
They’re basically using the home structure as a plenum for the underground tunnels. Makes perfect sense, and very creative to conceal it in a home structure, so it’s not an eye sore to the community or affects the value of the homes in the area.
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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.
most of the large physical switching buildings are no longer in use, the switching is done virtually now.
But is the meaning today as actual? Everybody communicating with mobile phone and no one cares about good old telephones.
really????
Cash, you're a brave man.....outing these secret buildings that if destroyed would bring civilization to it's knees. Hopefully, your name won't be put on a list, a secret list where only the keeper of that aforementioned list knows your real name, assuming it is not Cash Jordan (I assume it is real because you're a man of integrity and wouldn't trick your followers that way.) Am I using my real name? Not on your life, boy. May your mouth be washed out with a soap called Lifebuoy or Palmolive!! This message will self destruct in five seconds. Everything will be disavowed. Yo.
North America, yes, Europe, not even close :)
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.
It's a wind catcher they were usually built in the deserts since Roman times. It's odd to have it in New York
publically available knowledge readily accessible by operators of Ill intent , Whee !
Good guess. It turns out that telecom switching is now done using specialized computer systems of very high size and capacity (to the naked eye these will look just like massive servers) with specially designed software to execute insane levels of connection switching, billing handling, capacity management and similar functions. There are many other similar buildings in various nodes on the "backbone" of the internet. These places are also typically called "Long Lines". Another feature of a place like this is that it will have the ULTIMATE BACK UP systems for power. Typically this will be very large diesel generators providing power, and routinely tested to know that they work.
I worked for a company (no name) and we worked with AT&T at different locations. It's servers and cooling systems.
I worked in many buildings like this. What goes on inside keeps the world going. That's all I'll say.
This building is a "listening building" especially to spy on terrorists. I have no problem with that - keeping us safe.
“The clear blue waters of the Hudson River.” The deadpan is real. 😆
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.
In my town, the old post office building has been turned into a colocation for the ISPs. Its unmarked, looks like an old abandoned building. But at night, you can see lights from network switches blinking in series. Hidden in plain sight they are, but very essential to our communications.
..?:‘man bun
>under NDA
>"Not even that serious"
I was looking for this comment, i was going to say same thing.
It's a data center.
*i have some nsa relatives as well
@@Doobus_Goodus Not unusual in the telecommunications industry.
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
There are NO native New Yorkers, just slaves who come and go from time to time.
You do know he is stealing other people content. no reason to praise a content thief.
Douglas Envious much?!?☺
@douglasonney9576 says the person who has no videos on their page. who are you?!?
Haven't watched Cash's videos in a while. But it seems he's still about NY reality. 🎉
You’re so creative with your transitions, b roll, and editing
I love that you aren’t afraid to show the real New York. I enjoyed this video
It’s a fake ny ?😂 writing from ny .. 😂
I love your friendly way to tell things: important, weird, funny, strange or special.
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!
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).
Funny cause Ripley's Believe it or Not featured one in England back in the 80s. The first one reminfed me of it but it was small and when you look in the window you can see trains go by.
Ministry of Love, NY NY branch
The London one is in Leinster Gardens and conceals part of a tube line.
@repentandbelieveinJesusChrist1Amen 🙏.
Chicago
We have fake buildings in Ontario in the suburbs that look like regular houses but are hydro substations. Always loved those buildings. Great video!
Yup there's one in Guelph I've seen. At Carden street near the Guelph Central Station
Heh. Talk about hidden in plain sight! lol
Any idea who actually owns all these 'fake buildings' ? Foreign investors ?🤔
The whole world protects itself in this manner. This reporter, as a traitor, is identifying targets for our adversaries. Treason.
Im a telecom engineer, and I work in the AT&T building . There are floors we have never been inside . But the rest are mostly servers .
Nice. I hope exposing this information doesn't cause you any problems.
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!!
That was one of my guesses, if only for the rainwater & everyday water that would find itself down there. I imagine ventilating & pumping the air & water for an entire underground city would take a lot of buildings!
Now, that last building? I have no idea, but you can bet there’s some sketchy shit going on in that one🤣
@@goldenageofdinosaurs7192 No doubt about that last building! 🤣
I find the idea that new york is this city built on top these old ruins made of concrete and pipes that most residents don't even know about anymore mildly entertaining. You guys should make an adventurer's guild there and have people explore underground.
There is this book - of course I forget the name - about how fast nature would “return” to its prehuman form. I think it said the subway would take 36 hours to flood without any human intervention, which makes sense if only considering the city is at or below sea level.
I vaguely remember that! was it on a public access channel? I recall an episode on the steam system too
That fake building is in Brooklyn Heights. I use to live up the block. Comedian Bill Cosby use to live around the corner. There's a bunch of fake buildings in NYC.
i wonder if there is a fake building of fake news -)
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.
The basement probably once contained battery rooms to provide fast emergency power to make sure that telecommunications were independent of the power grid.
Yep. Probably every city has something like this NYC AT&T building. NYC has a big one just because of the amount of communication that's goes on in NYC. There's one in San Francisco that has a small room that the CIA or the NSA has equipment installed. They're monitoring internet traffic. AT&T employees aren't allowed in that room. At least that's how it was back 25 years or so.
Yes I am a Central Office Technician in western ny and these buildings were built to withstand a lot. One of my offices even has a fallout area. They used to have cross bar switches in them which took up a lot of room very heavy and noisy.
A Central Office… very common, no windows for security, the equipment would require a much smaller footprint today.
Solid security, high ceilings (for air flow, and raised flooring for computer rooms), heavy load capability (again for computer racks)... this is simply a very large and secure datacenter, which is essentially the same thing as a Telco Central Office.
The AT&T building at 33 Tomas Street is a telecom switching hub (node switches) for the tri-state area and the northeast. I used to work in the building
The “clear blue Hudson” made me laugh. That entire river is full of PCB from the Federal Dam in Troy, all the way to New York Bay. You can’t even eat fish out of the river, sadly. PS- great, informative video. Subscribed.
Why did they dig the PCB’s up in Troy ..weren’t they safer if left buried ?
This is another great video. You would make a great reporter Cash!
This guy presentation style is crazy, am subscribing
Great video. Love the history and cool stuff about NYC - not just the daily doom and gloom from this channel. Love this video
"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!
Post modern art installation.
Yeah, Cash said a lot of funny things in this vid 😅
Ha, I haven’t heard heard that saying “had me in stitches” for a long time! I even forget the origins of the phrase? To be sewn up in stitches after laughing so hard??
The vent for the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel all the way downtown was used for the Men in Black HQ entrance.
Roosevelt Island used to be called Blackwells island, and housed a hospital for patients needing to be quarantined, a prison and an asylum. The journalist Nellie Bly faked being insane to get checked into the asylum and exposed horrific treatment and conditions, which got the place shut down (it was akin to what Geraldo Rivera found at Willowbrook in Staten Island.)
I knew it! I was thinking "That reminds me of that huge building in _Men In Black_."
The insane asylum (The Octagon) which was at the north end by Coler Hospital at the far north end is now the entrance for an apartment building. The exterior once a ruin is now fully restored. The original plan for the apt building was in a Victorian/Edwardian style with gables but the locals killed it. What's now there is a basic modern concrete block, but what was left of the Octagon building was saved.
@@cathoderaytube7497
AT&T Employee: " Can I help you?"
Job Applicant: "Yeah, this dude gave me this ca..."
AT&T employee: "Elevator....."
Incredible! I absolutely love old buildings structures and hearing the stories about them! When my old man takes me up on Garrett Mountain in Paterson to our landlords place on a clear day you an see that bridge to Manhattan on a good day!
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
The history of NYC goes wayyyyyy back. It’s been around since the 1700s so there’s plenty of history! You should look it up- there’s a lot of documentaries about the history of NYC and it’s all really fascinating!
IKR.. it’s so much fun, it’s so worth watching for newbies
Right! The NYC area had a lot of action during the Revolutionary War! There were forts all over the place, on up to the Hudson River to West Point. As a kid in the ‘60’s I loved riding over the Throggs Neck Bridge, it seemed to be the highest one in the world. Underneath the Bronx side is a fort called Fort Skyler. There was another fort across the way and I learned that there were huge chains from fort to fort in the water. They would be pulled tight and would block British ships from coming through. A lot of history right there in NYC!
Go to the Brooklyn or New York Public library buildings to get your fill of unbiased NYC history.
How can you be a history fan.. and not have run into any of new yorks history? Like you can barely go back into American history without talking abt New York
I don't even know how but I've become addicted to this channel.
Aren't we all?
Same I check every day for a new video. I don’t even live anywhere near NY.
Same here. Never lived in New York, have no plans to move there, much less plans to move to New York City with the crazy real estate prices. But he always presents things in such an entertaining way. Plus the editing is fantastic -- like a professional television show
_I don't even know how but I've become addicted to this channel._
And that's the plan ....
me too lolol
I like that you explained what the buildings are instead of leaving everyone to believe the rumors.
This is so interesting! Great job Cash!! ,Love your videos!
This is the kind of UA-cam video worth watching. I wish they had a section for great videos that they could put stuff like this in and charge extra for and give the profits to the creators. That way you would not have to sift through the junk and clickbait.
You're god damned right. Tired of internet crap.
As a native New Yorker this video was quite enlightening, interesting, educational and also hilarious (some of your introductions were too funny). Thanks for this video. 👍🏻
Cash...
Your videos are more and more interesting. You are way more than a realtor.
I've been saying that for a minute. He could either be the permanent host of Saturday Night Live or a reporter on Sixty Minutes if not mayor of the greatest city on Earth. Maybe all three at the same time. While still showing us sink sprayers in shoebox apartments. No joke!
_Your videos are more and more interesting. You are way more than a realtor._
Undeniable.
@0:02, there is a similar grand looking fake facade building at 23-24 Leinster Gardens in London (UK) which serves as a vent for the Metropolitan tube line. The Strecker building is beautiful. Glad that it is being reused rather than falling into dereliction.
Yes, we all saw that Sherlock episode 😂
Yes we all saw that Sherlock episode 😂
Hey I like your energy! Life goals my man
As a New Yorker, i love this video! Thank you for showing aspects of this city that i wouldn't otherwise see.
Wowee Cash, your real estate and city videos have been really entertaining for the last couple years 🎉now with your excellent reporting I’m gaining
real in-depth knowledge! Really appreciate all your hard work as a business and family man🤓
When I goggle mapped it, (the 'fake house') and did the overhead satellite image, it said "IRT SUBWAY VENT" ! Wha?????? Now I can't wait to finish watching your video, thank you! SO interesting!
33 Thomas Street is definitely some data center of sorts, I'd imagine. There are main hubs for internet backbones that have to live somewhere. Seems pretty reasonable to convert a beefed up building that was originally a telephone exchange into a highly secure data center. I wouldn't have any doubts of it also being used for government shenanigans as well.
I really enjoyed this video Cash very interesting.
Cash, I don't know if you covered it yet, but the Irish Famine Memorial Park (?) is quite interesting. It looks like a city park located inside a giant concrete bowl.
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.
You seem to be straight forward
If you say so. Lol.
Thanks! Saves a lot of time.
And I would guess you're a real life genius or computer wiz
But that's me and my simple mind process 😔
I wonder who can spot the fake post?
“Clear blue waters of the Hudson River.”😂
Had me in laughts too, also the guy fishing there. Imagine fishing in the Hudson, you can get used condoms catfish and beer cans salmon out of it.
I hope he wasn’t serious when he said that- I giggled when he said it!
That's how you generate comments
@@LukeStephens-gw6fbyeah it was sarcasm 😂
Glad to see you doing something more fun - all the months and months of shop lifting videos had me staying away lol
I've worked at the dying pier 8 -9 for years.. years before the park was started and well after it was done. This building actually is an access point for FDNY, Con Ed, the EPA and other utilities. And it's no "secret". They be out there posted up with cones and big red utility vehicles sometimes within a year. You will see them working, coming in and out of the building. The real locals within that area knows of it's existence. Even myself, passing by to my once container job, when i didn't want to drive the 15 minutes to and from work, only to struggle for parking once arriving home.
My doctor's office is still in that area as we speak.
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.
If it's just housing a subway vent and exit, there's no reason to go through the trouble of disguising it. Your motivation is simply aesthetic - making it look ok and a fit for the neighborhood is good enough. Now if it was a safehouse or a spy center then for security it is worth the extra expense of making it look as unobtrusive as possible.
A spy safehouse would just be a totally normal house, because spies are inconspicuous. The facade was built so the subway vent wouldn't devalue the properties around it. @@Qermaq
Up
There's something in there. Something that wants to get out. And when it does, all hell will break loose.
@@benjamindover4337 Oh go watch Poltergeist.
Our Dad worked for Western Electric (then AT&T) for decades and we travelled extensively (but always returned home to our house after those long ‘vacations’ - we were never uprooted) my entire childhood … what we did not know until 25+ years after he retired, is he was a contracted civilian with the Navy to install and manage the top secret Cold War SOSUS project … and he was finally declassified and could talk about it (we never even knew he had a classified security clearance!) so, yah, it is perfectly sensible that AT&T has some hoodoo guru stuff going on. 🙂
Down the road from me, which I live next to a watershed, is a abandoned small building. I was told it’s a well/pumping station and it’s pipes are underground, go down my road, to pump water into a stream that then fills a reservoir (lake) that supplies water to a nearby town. It’s used when there is drought, the watershed and stream dries up. Otherwise, it looks like an ordinary abandoned small barn.
2:30 we have these in London for the underground.
Your storytelling skills are great! I’ve been trying to grow my UA-cam channel with similar stories! This is great!
Dope video! learned something new today.
Years ago I worked for an energy company and I had to go check a place which I presumed to be a building, it had an address but I couldn't find it on a map and I had to ask some other employees what was going on. Turned out it was a space under railway tracks and to get there I had to open a heavy duty steel gate and a steel door in a pedestrian underpass. Inside that quite a large place were huge number of computers in racks, I guess they were monitoring trains etc. It was kinda creepy place.
I assume it’s for something else more sinister👁️
😀@@lori5613
Hmmmmmm bet not just trains😢
@@lori5613 Your assumption was right, at last. There hasn't been any feedback from OP for more than 2 months 😢
Very cool video. I loved the X-Files bee sting reference as my family just watched that movie. Keep these great videos coming. You are hilarious 😂.
This is such a brilliant video and very unique 🤣. Great job Cash! 💯
I knew I recognized you as we walked past at 1:26. Can't wait for more videos on Brooklyn!
Awesome video!! I learned today, and made my next visit to NYC more interesting. Thank you!!
I am a Canadian, this is one of the most unique videos that I have ever watched. Very informative about all these fake buildings in NYC. Thank you Cash for sharing your knowledge
Toronto has some buildings like this to hide electric generators?
A quick Google search will give you some interesting looking houses made to look like houses built in the area
You need to branch out more and go to other sources. This is pretty basic stuff. Your actually left with more questions than answers.
Cash u r now an investigative reporter. Awesome dude!!!!👏👆👊
he may be the best in NYC, he seems to be the most evenhanded, reports whats happening, rather than what he wants to have happened.
waiting for the spiderman arc to complete the cycle@@scottmcshannon6821
Investigative Reporting sounds VERY interesting.
None of this is news and has been in PRINT MEDIA for decades, genius.
I've noticed a lot of fake buildings as I've traveled. I figured they were electric or telecommunications substations, held some type of pumps or are even server farms. I thought they made them blend in so it didn't look ugly in the area and also for security.
I know one that's a server farm but all the employees work remotely, only coming in if there is an emergency. It's located in the middle of a busy downtown area with lots of clubs and bars. They only have like 10 parking spaces and they are very clearly marked "no parking ever - you will be towed at your expense. Please do not park here, even for" just a minute "
As you can imagine, people park there. There are several security cameras and you can see them pull in, park, walk to wall with the no parking signs and the name and contact number of the tow company who will tow their car. They stare at the signs, look at each other, discuss, then teeter off in their stilettos. Within 10 minutes, the car is towed. When they come teetering back 4 hours later and are outraged and confused about their car, calling the police only to be told it's been towed.
Well if it’s owned by AT&T and AT&T trucks parked around it then isn’t it obvious? It’s probably where they have routers, signals and whatever else they use to make the internet and tv work. Theres a place here in my area in Atlanta that looks exactly like it only it’s just one story and it’s also owned by AT&T.
Yep. From Wikipedia: "it is a telephone exchange or wire center building which contained three major 4ESS switches used for interexchange (long distance) telephony, as well as a number of other switches used for competitive local exchange carrier services."
33 Thomas is still used for telephone switching, but some of the space is also used for highly secure datacenters
We have one in Boston in Government center that is tall and also crazy looking owned by the telephone company at least when I was a kid .It is AT&T now . Government center in Boston has some serious crazy looking buildings anyways so it kinda blends but it is giant bunker looking because of the lack of normal windows . Now I want to check to see if it has the unusual cars ?????
Super interesting, Cash! Love these off the beaten track videos!
I always wondered what that building was that is right over the Holland Tunnel. Awesome video!
😮This video was very interesting. You are so funny and gave me my morning chuckles. I would not want to have an apartment with a view of that ugly building with graffiti.
Cash does it again! Posted another weirdo video I didn’t know I wanted to see. 😂😂😂
33 Thomas St looks to me like a huge data center. I worked at one for ExxonMobil which was very small in comparison but I could understand the function of this building if that is what it is.
As a lover of architecture, I found this video fascinating.
Me too😊
It _WAS_ interesting !
AS A HUMAN BEEING, i found this video fascinating.(Well, joke a part, as i am also a building engineer...)
man i love your content but love you even more youre so great at narrating and just being you thank you
Yes! 👍
He _is_ good at this.
That creepy tower with no windows I believe used to or may still be owned by a large internet company and hosts a numerous amount of servers and data and the walls are to help from outside penetration and attacks .please don’t quote me but it’s something like that
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.
I use to build data centers and the security associated with them. It can't be a very large center, the cooling and backup generators would be visible. Yes you can put them on the roof but the requirements take space.
In addition you can't use on as a shelter since the data centers are secure space (homeland security requirements for critical infrastructure) these buildings fail secure (fire alarm etc you can leave but no one enters).
Also the major transatlantic data comes in and leaves southern VA now..its why it's a hot spot for building major data centers now.
Making clones .
they don't need windows? so it's running on linux or similar?😂
Why would you place servers in such an expensive spot
Server of what?
Great episode!
Good video! Thanks. Seattle also has a weird AT&T building at 2101 2nd Ave in downtown.
That first building kinda elevates the aesthetic of the block because it's so neatly painted and provides some contrast. Also the history of Roosevelt Island itself is pretty interesting.
“Clear blue waters … of the Hudson River” this made me chuckle.
me too
lordy lol it's so polluted it probably catches fire. all I see is dead fish there
Yeah I sensed a touch of sarcasm there. 🤣
@@josefmazzeo6628REAL ITS LIKE GREEN
Thats good sarcasm haha
Loved the informative content of this video, thank you!! 💖
New York is incredible. I’ve been twice and can’t stop looking at videos and reading about it. So many cool things and history. The construction is mind blowing!
What a great day Cash!! Still love NY❤
Interesting application of urban design. Interesting how most of them are ventilation units for the tunnels. That's something most folks don't think about until they have to.
Kool, great work! Really interesting for exploring while here in NYC.
It's always amazes me to learn how long ago they were constructing engineering marvels that still seem almost impossible to build today.
Because we’re not the ones that built them, these buildings were already here, New York City was already here before it became a City, the buildings were founded not built. They found them
@@josevaladez8056 bruh
@@josevaladez8056🤨🤔👀
@@josevaladez8056that’s spot on.
@@josevaladez8056lol conspiracies time
It is wild the things people could build so long ago and now they cut corners to build homes.
Yeah, too bad we have to pay workers a living wage, right?
@@653j521Missing the point entirely. People want quality but not willing to pay the cost for it. That’s also not counting developers who cut corners and pocket the excess. Because developers can never be corrupt or greedy right? /s
Junk everywhere
5:26~ “…the autopsy room and the alien room…”
I’m like bruh… 🤣🤣🤣🤣
I had no idea New York has all these fake buildings, the last one might be a data farm, you have to have ventilation for those gigantic computers. Thanks Cash
I think all major cities have real buildings that have been converted to other uses. I know here in St Louis we do. One not far from me is a power substation inside an old building.
damham5689,
It's something I never thought about, nor has anyone ever pointed it out. So St. Louis too, I live in San Francisco, so now I've got to see what's up here. Thanks
@@bkm2797 they are hard to a spot . I would have never know about the substation except my cousin works at the power company and told me about it.
There's nothing fake about these buildings, except for the Brooklyn Heights hollowed out house.
lawrencesiskind3554,
You got to admit that last building looked like something you'd see in Hell,lol,geezus.
I love how you so nonchalantly say "they had to remove things like the alien room" 🤣
We have the fake houses over in the UK in London to use as a vent for the underground but ours is an entire block and was originally going to be just a fence you could see over but the people of the neighbourhood didn’t want a gaping hole in their view so the council decided to put up a wall of fake houses with no roofs. Worked pretty well.
So I guess it doesn't have a faucet sprayer Cash !! 😢
Interesting Cash. Exploring the secret buildings os New York City.😊😊
There's a smaller scale version of the at&t building in my hometown, but the parking lot behind has been closed off for years, very similar concrete all around and a high up door
I’ve never had the chance to visit New York City, I love that I can get a guided tour of the city from someone so enthusiastic and knowledgeable about the city.
I hope you get to visit one day. New York City is a whole different world. 🗽
It’s pretty disappointing lol.
yup it's probably a building full of servers for the NSA.
It is. It is one of several sites around the US that collect data on US citizens.
@@AnnSisuLiv You know that because...?
It’s not the NSA, that’s bullshit. It a massive windowless switch building like numerous others in the US. AT&T has ridiculous numbers of copper telephone wires throughout Manhattan. This building is the hub.
No, Google builds those… 😁
Or just where all the servers are.
Like this video it's very informative never knew these things existed I wish you could bring more videos like this.
I would definetley watch a part two.... And three if possible!
Thank you for bringing this up.
What about the apartments above Cafe Hestia at 686 3rd Ave?
Cash-Your selection of content is absolutely fabulous! You present material that everyone is interested in. That was a great idea.
A++
Keep going!☮️👏👏👏👏
Good for you for getting that far into X-Files, i want to believe too.
the X files, (the truth is out there) (the X files sounds like a show for divorce survivors )just sayin
@@georgiasmith64 that might be most of gen Z
Omg 🤦
I’d rather data centers looked like the first two instead of the ugly gray blocks we have now, and even repurpose the lovely old buildings they tore down to build those monstrosities. - Cheers from Northern VA.
The AT&T massive building built during the Cold War Era can only suggest one conclusion - providing as secure communications center as possible, just in case. And I also have it quite easy to imagine that wired connection might still be of more value than cell phones in a big time emergency. And in fact, how are the cell tower transmitters getting their signals in the first place? Or where and how do they forward your cell phone calls? I think wired connections to some central switching facilities are to be expected even in the cell phone era.
People in Nashville found out fast how useless cell phones were when that RV bomber took out the AT&T hub. All their little idiotphones were destroyed but landline phones still worked.
Mind you, I'm not sure if that AT&T building would survive a Russian nuclear attack, though. The Russians still have missiles armed with a _25 megaton_ nuclear warhead specifically to attack underground bunkers and to take out large metropolitan areas, and the blast effects of a 25 MT warhead is probably strong enough to topple even this building.
The Cold War was a farce... it wasn't even real. There is something else going on with that building.
@@Sacto1654 I don't know why you're even talking about that like it's relevant. If Russia did that then we would would press the big red button and life as we know it on this planet will be wiped out. I don't think it's relevant if this building would survive an end of the world attack.
Was wondering when you was going to do this house 😊
Yes I finally got around to it
This is fascinating!!
We also have several of these fake buildings in Newcastle in the UK to vent the underground Metro system. And they are used to be Victorian homes.
Very interesting. Thanks, Cash.
They’re basically using the home structure as a plenum for the underground tunnels. Makes perfect sense, and very creative to conceal it in a home structure, so it’s not an eye sore to the community or affects the value of the homes in the area.
This WAS a very interesting video.thank you for inviting me to watch your video ‼️🙋🏽👍🏽😃.