“Chief Engineer” Hyman Brown
by Patrick Marks
5/26/09
Colorado 9-11 Visibility
While introducing an interview that appeared on NBC-TV on September 11, 2001, Tom Brokaw referred to Hyman Brown as the “architect” of the World Trade Center’s Twin Towers.[i]
Hyman Brown was not the architect of the Twin Towers.
In an article that appeared on September 10, 2007, The Jerusalem Post referred to Hyman Brown as the “Twin Towers chief engineer.”[ii]
Hyman Brown was not the Twin Towers chief engineer.
Hyman Brown, in various books, articles, lectures, and television interviews has been referred to as the “architect . . . chief engineer . . . project engineer [iii]. . . construction manager[iv] . . . fifth in command ”[v] of the Twin Towers.
None of it is true. What’s more, Hyman Brown admits that none of it is true, although he has made no effort to set the record straight.
The Twin Towers were designed by architect Minoru Yamasaki in the early 1960s . . . when Hyman Brown was an undergraduate at City College of New York.[vi] Construction on the Twin Towers took place in the late 1960’s . . . when Hyman Brown was attending California State University at Los Angeles. The Twin Towers were completed in 1971 . . . when Hyman Brown was employed at Tishman Realty and Construction in Los Angeles. According to his own resume,[vii] Hyman Brown began working at the World Trade Center in 1972, a full year after the Twin Towers were dedicated.[viii] Did he hold a position of authority after 1972? Maybe. But he held no important position before then, although everywhere he goes, from Boulder to Jerusalem, he strives to leave the impression that he did.
In a history of the World Trade Center entitled City in the Sky, architect Minoru Yamasaki is referred to six times, chief engineer John Skilling thirteen times, structural engineer Leslie Robertson eight times, and construction manager Ray Monti six times, but Hyman Brown is not mentioned.[ix] In a personal email to me, Leslie Roberston said that he never heard of Hyman Brown.[x] How could that be? How could the structural engineer not know the identity of the “architect”, the “chief engineer”, the “production manager”? Is that credible?
