Claire Reid
A man approached the mysterious windowless skyscraper in New York to show how its intercom system works.
For those of you who are familiar with the skyscraper, 33 Thomas Street - formerly known as AT&T Long Lines Building - is a 29-story windowless building in Tribeca, Lower Manhattan.
In a forest of glistening plate glass, this building is an homage to the brutalist style of architecture, and to make it further stand-out, of course, it’s hard to ignore the fact that it has zero windows.
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As you can imagine, its weird-design has sparked much debate about exactly what goes on behind those walls, with theories ranging from spies and espionage to aliens and real-life Men in Black.
Officially, the building is part of AT&T's long lines network - but that hasn’t stopped speculation over the years.
In recent years, one particularly persistent theory is that the building has been used as a National Security Agency (NAS) surveillance site.
In 2016, non-profit organization, The Intercept, claimed that there was 'compelling evidence', including leaked documents from NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, that pointed towards the building having been used as a surveillance site, code-named TITANPOINTE.
According to their 2016 investigation, a former AT&T engineer said there is 'a major gateway switch' that 'routes all calls between the US and other countries around the world'.
In a clip shared online, intrepid YouTuber Ariel Viera decided to let his curiosity get the better of him and went and paid it a visit himself for his channel Urbanist: Exploring Cities.
Viera reveals that he believes that the building is being used by the NSA - but he doesn’t let that put him off getting a close-look at the intercom.
"So this is the intercom the NSA uses to get inside the building," he explains.
"They have to show their face in front of the camera, they have this kind-of mirror device and here you talk to them. You have to hold your card also.
“This is the connection for the NSA.”
He goes on to mention the leaked Snowdon files - before mentioning how ‘ominous’ the building looks.
“It's a really ominous building,” he said. “There’s usually only one person in the lobby and that's it - very rarely you see people coming in or out.
“And the other thing is, there’s actually no lights in this building at night. It just is ominous in the dark.”