Before the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Windows on the World was a Lower Manhattan hot spot, known for its sweeping city views and high-end clientele.
The fine-dining restaurant was located on the 106th and 107th floors of the World Trade Center’s North Tower.
On September 11, 2001, American Airlines Flight 11 struck the North Tower at 8:46 a.m., trapping many people above the impact zone, including those inside the restaurant, which had opened for breakfast service that morning.
The North Tower collapsed at 10:28 a.m., killing all 79 Windows on the World employees who were working at the time, along with 91 guests and people attending a conference at the restaurant.
They were among the 2,977 victims who died at the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, that day.
See what it was like to dine at Windows on the World.
Windows on the World opened to the public on April 19, 1976.
When the concept for Windows on the World was conceived, Lower Manhattan was not exactly a desirable part of the city.
“Windows was a shining ambassador for New York, an escape from a city that was, in decades past, drug-addled, dirty, and crime-ridden below,” Eater wrote in 2015.
Restaurateur Joe Baum took it upon himself to create a “spectacular” restaurant to serve the thousands of employees who worked inside the World Trade Center, as well as tourists and New Yorkers looking for an excellent meal in an awe-inspiring setting.
By 2001, Windows on the World had become the highest-grossing restaurant in the United States.
The restaurant averaged $40 million in revenue annually, USA Today reported.
The lunchtime cold buffet also proved successful, generating $20 million each year. In its last fiscal year, the restaurant’s bar generated $6 million in revenue.
A meal at Windows on the World started with an elevator ride to the top floor of the North Tower.
The restaurant was located on the 106th and 107th floors of the North Tower, 1,300 feet above Manhattan.
Guests would exit into a glamorous mirrored elevator lobby, pictured above, engraved with scenes of New York City.
Stepping inside, guests would enter the 50,000-square-foot dining and entertainment space.
Originally designed by architect and interior designer Warren Platner as a sprawling dining and entertainment complex, it included the main restaurant, private dining rooms, bars, and event spaces, with floor-to-ceiling windows offering panoramic views of New York City.
The Windows on the World complex spanned approximately 50,000 square feet and occupied two floors.
The interior of the restaurant was clean and modern, with white tablecloths, modern light fixtures, and geometric booth seating.
The most famous aspect of dining at Windows on the World was, of course, the view.
The main dining room on the 107th floor featured floor-to-ceiling windows facing east and west, allowing guests to take in the entire Manhattan skyline as they dined.
By day, diners could watch the city’s daily life unfold before them. Once the sun went down, the cityscape below became a vast field of twinkling lights.
Windows on the World was a place to see and be seen.
Its extraordinary height above the city below, convenient location for officegoers and tourists, and upscale interior design made the restaurant not just an architectural achievement, but also one of the most distinctive dining experiences in the world.
The restaurant was redesigned in the mid-1990s by architect Hugh Hardy after the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center, trading the clean, white design for warmer tones.
When the restaurant opened in the 1970s, it featured items such as pork, chicken, fresh seafood, and Mexican dishes.
The menu, originally co-created by American chef James Beard when it opened, was upscale and internationally influenced, reflecting the concept of New York City as a melting pot of different cultures and cuisines.
There was also an Hors d’Oeuvrerie devoted to international small plates and a buffet.
The formal dining room offered prix-fixe meals and a lunchtime buffet, while the smaller restaurant and Greatest Bar on Earth served sushi and sashimi in the evenings.
Critics lauded the cold buffet, citing its fresh ingredients.
“Occasionally, a dish at Windows on the World will escape the master’s overview and cause disappointment. The parade of hot main dishes sometimes marches by with a slight limp,” Food & Wine reporter Carl Desens wrote in June 1978.
He added, however, that the cold buffet was always a hit, thanks to its “fresher-than-fresh, audaciously seasoned salads, seafood, meats and vegetables.”
“The desserts excel each other,” he wrote.
Windows on the World also had one of the most influential wine programs in American restaurant history.
At just 25 years old, Kevin Zraly was hired as the restaurant’s cellar master to design and curate Windows on the World’s wine list.
At its peak, the restaurant reportedly sold more wine than any other restaurant in the world, and its Cellar in the Sky dining room helped to popularize wine pairings in American restaurants, Eater reported.
Zraly served as cellar master throughout the restaurant’s operation until it was destroyed in the 9/11 attacks, resulting in the loss of over $1 million in wine, The New York Daily News reported.
He was traveling for a business meeting and was not at the World Trade Center on the morning of September 11, 2001.
The restaurant was a place to celebrate special occasions.
Dining at Windows felt glamorous and aspirational.
In addition to business lunches and networking events, Windows on the World became a place to celebrate special occasions.
It was also a popular destination for notable figures.
During its 25 years of service, the restaurant attracted politicians, business leaders, entertainers, athletes, and other prominent guests from around the world.
The last executive chef of Windows on the World was Michael Lomonaco, who miraculously survived the attacks.
Windows on the World had several executive chefs during its 25-year history, but Michael Lomonaco was its last.
He joined the restaurant in 1997 at Joe Baum’s request and remained at the helm until it was destroyed in the September 11, 2001, attacks.
Lomonaco was on his way to work that morning when he stopped at an optometrist on the ground floor of the World Trade Center to get his eyeglasses adjusted.
At 8:46 a.m., he felt the building shake and looked up to see Flight 11 crash into the North Tower, roughly 10 floors below the restaurant.
Lomonaco was evacuated from the building and watched in horror as employees inside his restaurant waved white tablecloths out the window to signal for help.
Lomonaco has continued to work as a chef in New York City, as well as devoting time to the Windows of Hope Family Relief Fund, which raised money for the families of those restaurant employees killed in the attacks.
Windows on the World was destroyed during the 9/11 terrorist attack on the North Tower.
Dining at Windows on the World was more than a meal — it was an experience that embodied American ambition, innovation, and excellence.
On September 11, 2001, Windows on the World was destroyed when the North Tower was struck during the terrorist attacks. Everyone inside the restaurant was killed, along with thousands of other civilians and first responders throughout the World Trade Center.
The restaurant’s loss marked the end of an extraordinary chapter in New York’s dining history, but its legacy, the memories of those who experienced the restaurant, and those who perished inside it, have endured.
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