Documenting the Building of One World Trade Center

A sky-high book signing at the Observatory at the very top of One World Trade Center. Image courtesy of Judith Dupré.

From bridges and monuments to skyscrapers and churches, architectural historian Judith Dupré’s books offer visually-rich histories of the built environment. Her eighth work, One World Trade Center: Biography of the Building (2016), was the first book to be published with the support of an NEH Public Scholar grant, a grant that is designed to foster well-researched books for the public. Dupré’s book offers an unparalleled look into the making of One World Trade Center, beginning with the aftermath of September 11, 2001, and continuing through the construction of the new tower and the other major buildings at the site. It includes cutaway diagrams, historic images, time-lapse, and exclusive interviews conducted by Dupré with project stakeholders—the lead designers as well as workers in the trades. The book has been widely celebrated, featured in The New York Times, Architectural Digest, and CBS Sunday Morning. As Dupré describes it, the book is a “heroic American story of resilience, ingenuity, and hope.”

“Far beyond the money, the NEH grant was an acknowledgment of my work over the past two decades. It was my first prestigious national grant and receiving it gave me a professional boost, the impact of which cannot be underestimated.”

–Judith Dupré

A trailer for One World Trade Center: Biography of the Building. Video courtesy of Judith Dupré.

Many of Dupré’s books have been bestsellers—but in a time of diminishing financial support for writers, the Public Scholar program is a lifeline for independent scholars like her, helping to make this kind of rigorous scholarship economically feasible. The fellowship helped Dupré pay for the costs of the many images, diagrams and maps that make the book so engaging. It also afforded her the time to produce a website, build a social media campaign, and write articles and op-eds to promote the book, labor that typically goes unpaid.

Composer Sebastian Winter has read his dog-eared copy multiple times. Inspired by the book, he’s writing a symphony about One World Trade Center, with help from the author. Image courtesy of Judith Dupré.

Of equal importance, the NEH’s recognition of the project was deeply significant to Dupré, whose large-scale, illustrated, and scholarly works for the public fall outside of academic norms. Like research fellowships, NEH Public Scholar grants are carefully vetted by committees of peer reviewers. “Far beyond the money,” Dupré said, “the NEH grant was an acknowledgment of my work over the past two decades. It was my first prestigious national grant and receiving it gave me a professional boost, the impact of which cannot be underestimated.”