Tallest building in North America

What to remember

In Lower Manhattan, New York City, One World Trade Center reaches 541.3 m, exactly 1,776 feet. The number is no accident: it recalls 1776, the year of the United States Declaration of Independence. Completed in 2014, the tower is the tallest in North America.

Designed by David Childs of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, it is the main building of the rebuilt World Trade Center complex and is also known as the Freedom Tower. It stands on the northwest corner of the 16-acre site, where 6 World Trade Center used to be, bounded by West Street, Vesey Street, Fulton Street and Washington Street. Work on its foundations began on 27 April 2006.

This record only counts enclosed buildings with continuously occupiable floors. Radio towers and other non-building structures are left out, so One World Trade Center is measured against the continent's true skyscrapers only.