Until recently, Manhattan’s skyscrapers had been about the success of the city as a place of business. From the Woolworth to the World Trade Center, the skyline’s standout monuments were ciphers for the thrust of capitalism. The city’s first post-9/11 masterpiece, however, Frank Gehry’s 8 Spruce Street, indicated a change. The WTC had its business inscribed in its name; Gehry’s tower was a condo building. It also housed, in its base, a public school and facilities for a hospital.
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