John Delach

Part Two: The Club at the WTC

Revised September 2026 and originally published : October 2001

When the WTC opened, the building boom was over and the towers joined the waiting list of buildings needing tenants. The North Tower, Number 2, the first one completed, did fill up and lived up to its name as a world trade center housing steamship companies, freight forwarders and international commerce brokers of all types and description. The South Tower looked like a bust, but New York State came to the rescue housing state office workers on most floors.

I had ceased being a surveyor, but I remained in the Marine Insurance business as an insurance broker placing insurance for ocean going ships of every size and description.  Business brought me regularly to the North Tower. Located on the upper most floor was Austin Tobin’s crown jewel, The Club at the World Trade Center, his personal gift to power. A magnificent drinking and dining facility with private rooms, cigars, a staff that exuded the snobbery of a private club, three martini lunches and a men’s room so magnificent, it could be an appropriate setting for a national leader to lay in state. The Club kept its own accounts and neither cash nor credit cards were accepted.

When the press became aware of the privacy and opulence of The Club, all hell broke loose. How could a public agency promote a subsidized private club? Tobin had to pacify the press and politicos and so, at night it became “Windows on the World” the unique public restaurant 110 floors in the air. The NY Times first review read in part: “…as to the quality of the food, you cannot beat the view.”

At lunchtime, The Club remained members only. A mentor, Charlie Robbins, introduced me to The Club. Charlie drank Bombay Gin Martinis and loved to entertain there. He especially liked to show it off to visiting British brokers and their wives. This was an era when British firms sent their senior and most promising junior brokers to the United States for two or three weeks at a time. The Labour Governments tax rate was 90% and these trips provided an alternate method of compensation. And so, they came to New York in May and October when the weather is best. 

Charlie’s greatest coup came during a dinner in one of their private dining rooms. He disappeared and, on his return announced: “ May I have your attention. I have arranged a special event for the ladies, a tour of the most magnificent men’s room in the world.” Charlie had convinced the staff to temporarily close the men’s room, and he proceeded to escort the ladies, including my wife, on a private tour to the delight of all.

Charlie encouraged me to become a member. We worked in midtown and the cost was discounted if you were north of Canal Street. During my 20 years as a member, I hosted many a lunch and dinner there. I utilized their private rooms to set agendas, deal with crises, congratulate success, say goodbye to retirees, good luck to transferees and accomplish other matters of commerce.

The view was paramount and at times dramatic. On crystal clear winter nights, the lights of the city and surrounding areas stretched like jewels. Manhattan buildings stood out, as did the brightest pockets of light, the airports. Rivers, bays and oceans glowed if the moon was full while we looked down upon helicopters as they flew by. Jets flying into and out of the three airports traced the sky against the backdrop of the stars. During one dinner, low clouds swept in and we could no longer see the street or other buildings, but we could still see the stars. Such was life in the fast lane 1970s and 1980s style.

However, as the 1990s arrived, The Club became an anachronism. The era of the private luncheon clubs was over. The Harbor View Club, Drug and Chemical Club, The Wall Street Club and the infamous Whitehall Club, with its deadly bartender, Spiro, had all closed. Business had changed in focus, diversity and geography with a reduced tolerance for lunchtime drinking. This and loss of tax deductibility, the cost of space and the desirability of their locations conspired to hasten their demise.

The terrorist bombing of the World Trade Center in 1993 had forced The Club to close, I thought permanently. So, it was with surprise that I opened an announcement in 1995 advising The Club would re-open in 1996. I re-joined at a discounted fee, but seldom used it as I too had changed. I hosted my last dinner in the fall of 1999 for a group of French underwriters from AXA Insurance Company. The summer before, they entertained us and our client at their chateau in Bordeaux, a once in a lifetime event. My colleagues and I decided to take them to The Club and the weather cooperated fully. The view was superb, the food good and the wine far too expensive, but they were as impressed as the French will ever admit. 

I resigned from The Club in 2000 when I retired and never went back. On September 11^th the Club died when the North Tower fell taking with it 72 of its staff and 91visitors who were trapped inside. It was no longer relevant, but with its collapse, how it collapsed, the world changed for me, for us, forever.

To relieve my post-destruction gloom, I searched for and found my old photographs taken as a young man illustrating the promise of their construction together with my last membership card. I thought this evidence and my memories would be the epitaph. Curiously, they were not. A letter arrived with the return address being Mr. Jules Roinnel in Baldwin, Long Island. Jules was the Club’s Manager. Dated October 12^th, it began: ”Dear Member:” This was a surprise, not because I am no longer a member, as I knew I remained on their mailing list, but rather that a letter was sent. The letter spoke of the 72 staff members who died and advised that two surviving luncheon clubs would offer guest privileges until the end of the year. Even though it read in part: “…the future of The World Trade Center Club is unclear.” it had an upbeat tone about it.

It turned out Jules was simply going through the motions. The Club never  gained a third life. The Club, like its era and the towers belongs to history.

May all who died there Rest in Peace.

Part One: The Origin of the WTC

John Delach

Revised September 2026 and originally published: October 2001

I found it hard to accept the destruction of the World Trade Center. The towers, plaza and the surrounding buildings had been so much a part of my life.

During the 1950s and 1960s, Robert Moses and Austin Tobin competed to control the destiny of New York City. Moses, behind his plethora of commissionerships and in the guise of the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority, shaped the way we lived and travelled. He chased the Brooklyn Dodgers to the West Coast, ravaged the Bronx and Brooklyn constructing his holy expressways, and built his most magnificent jewel; The Verrazano-Narrows Bridge.

Tobin, Chairman of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, refused to be outdone. Not content with controlling interstate bridges and tunnels, the docks and piers and three airports, he sought a monument to himself and his agency. He had two powerful allies, David and Nelson Rockefeller, to help him achieve his goal. David was Chairman of Chase Manhattan Bank and Nelson was Governor of New York. They both advocated a trade center and Tobin chomped at the bit to have his Port Authority build, own and manage it.

As early as 1958, the Rockefeller/Tobin alliance started to push the project through the layers of red tape and special interest. Opposed were the private master builders, developers and the real estate lobby. Moses was joined by the Tishmans, Trumps, and Helmsleys, to name a few, who used their considerable influence to stop the Port Authority and keep major construction projects in the private sector. However, the 1960s brought an unprecedented building boom to New York City. It seemed new buildings were rising daily both in downtown and mid-town Manhattan. The creation of the New York World’s Fair and Lincoln Center added to this magnitude of activity. Builders were glutted with work with no end in sight.

The time was right for Tobin and the Rockefellers to proceed with their grand plan. However, one voice still objected, New Jersey. The Port Authority, a bi-state agency, also answered to the Governor of New Jersey, at that time, Richard Hughes. If he voted against this project, that would kill it. What was in it for New Jersey? Not much, and the financing would deter other projects in that state. A deal was needed and Rockefeller’s staff found it. The ailing Pennsylvania Railroad operated the Hudson and Manhattan Tubes between Newark and 33^rd Street in Midtown and the Hudson Terminal in Downtown.

Interestingly enough, The Hudson Terminal buildings were almost in the center of the proposed site for The World Trade Center and were scheduled for demolition.

Governor Rockefeller proposed The Port Authority purchase, upgrade and operate the “Tubes”. The Governor of New Jersey thought this was a swell idea and agreed to sign off on the WTC.

“Just one minute!” Austin Tobin objected. Historically, the Port Authority had resisted being dragged into operating rail lines their greatest fear being forced to take over the New York City Subway System. Rockefeller explained to him; “no Tubes, no World Trade Center” and, as if by magic, the Port Authority Trans Hudson, or PATH was born. However, in the enabling legislation, Tobin insisted a clause be included stating that the Port Authority, in perpetuity, could never again be ordered to operate a mass transit system. Sic transit sic gloria.

A Chicago based architectural firm; Yamaski was awarded the World Trade Center design work. Tobin would have his monument and he wanted it to be special. “Have two towers built, build them to be the tallest in the world, not one, but two.” The original plan for two 80-to 90-story buildings was scrapped. The Empire State Building, finished in 1931, stood 108 floors high and, including its television mast, reached 1,250 feet. Tobin’s towers would rise 110 floors and be 100 feet higher.

I was a young cargo surveyor during the towers’ construction. My job was to go out to piers in Manhattan, Brooklyn and New Jersey to inspect goods that arrived damaged carrying a camera to record my findings. My home office was 15 Park Row and, when I exited the building, my view south was of Saint Paul’s Church and the North Tower rising behind it. I used my camera often to photograph its ascension. Yamaski needed to innovate to make construction possible. The cranes had to be self-elevating and able to lift large sections of steel because the outer walls, together with the core were the only supports. Called, “the Shecketon System,” it relied on high tensile strength steel walls for support without internal columns. On reaching the 30th floor, ironworkers wrote the floor number on corner members of this bare steel. They repeated this each time they completed another ten floors. After the 70^th floor, every fifth floor and, at ninety, they marked each one individually.

When the towers were completed, they were not well received and a joke began to make its rounds that the buildings looked like the two boxes that were used to ship the Empire State Building and the Crysler Building.  

(To be continued)

I readily admit that I was totally out of touch when it came to the escalation in the values of professional sports teams. Granted, I have been a Football Giants fan since 1962 and I learned how the team originated when Tim Mara obtained the rights to the National Football League’s New York franchise in 1925 for $150. Mr. Mara said at the time, “Heck, a storefront with a chair inside is worth more than that in New York City.”

My awakening came in mid-August when the media reported that Bob Inger and Joshua Kushner led a consortium that purchased the Los Angeles Lakers basketball team for $12.5 billion! If that isn’t enough of a wakeup call, add that the purchase price eclipsed the $10 billion paid for the Lakers a year ago.

Right away, I asked myself, “If the Lakers are worth $12.5 billion, then what are the Giants and the other New York teams worth? And so, I Googled, “What is the current values of New York’s sports teams,” and here are the results in descending order:

Giants equal $10.1 to $12 billion

Knicks equal $9.75 to $ 11.75 billion

Yankees equal $9.4 to $ 10.15 billion

Jets equal $6.0 to $10.35 billion

Nets equal $5.6 to $5.7 billion

Mets equal $3.0 billion

Rangers equal $2.4 to $2.6 billion

Why so much, you ask? Tania Ganguli of The New York Times reported on August 17 that, “people in the sports industry said at least a few things had contributed to the rising prices.

“Sports is one of the last big draws to live television, and therefore the teams – are being paid far more for their rights to air games.

“The legalization of sports betting has also opened up new revenue streams for franchises.”

The last NFL team to change ownership was the Seattle Seahawks that sold for $9.6 billion last month. Curiously, another reason given to explain this explosion in valuation was the feeling that sports may be insulated from the effects of artificial intelligence.

Mark Cuban the former owner of the Houston Rockets of the NBA noted that, “ I do think that going forward, one individual writing a check for a team will be rare.”

For example, on Friday, August 14^th, “Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon and one of the richest men in the world, was part of a crowded investment group that joined forces to buy a third of the Liverpool Football Club.”

“Sport is the goose that laid the golden egg.’ said David Andrews, a professor at the University of Maryland who studies the sociology of sport. He has wondered if fans will become disillusioned as sports leagues and teams become too commercialized or financially driven.”

I wonder what the future holds for my Football Giants. Granted, my time with the team is slip, sliding away and my son, Michael and his two sons, Drew and Matt, represent me at most home games. Right now, Tim Mara’s grandson, John controls the Mara’s 50% share of the team and John’s younger brother, Chris is waiting in the wings for his turn.

Steve Tisch represents his family’s 50% share but management of the team belongs to John Mara by mutual consent.

I still write to John as I did to his father, Wellington. I just hope they retain their ownership for my foreseeable future  so I can continue to sign off with:

Go Giants!