Why do a lot of phone company buildings have no windows?
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M$29 Answers
It is often described as one of the most secure buildings in America, and was designed to be self-sufficient and protected from nuclear fallout for up to two weeks after a nuclear blast. Its style has been generally praised, with the New York Times saying it is a rare building of its type in Manhattan that "makes sense architecturally" and that it "blends into its surroundings more gracefully" than any other skyscraper nearby.
From the building description:
This building is essentially "windowless" for the security and protection of the expensive equipment.
- The exterior walls are granite-faced precast concrete panels.
- The building has a typical floor to floor height of 18 feet in order to accommodate the telephone switching equipment requirements.
- To support the equipment, the floors were required to be designed for 200 to 300 psf live loads.
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M$
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Their construction is considered as Class 1 - Fire Resistive as per NFPA 220. The main function of this construction class is to withstand the effects of fire and prevent its spread.
The National Fire Protection Association's Handbook of Fire Protection
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M$It was not just the value of the equipment, per se, but the value of the entire National network - it was a matter of National security before that term became a dirty word.
Before the AT&T Long Lines building referenced above, New York Telephone, in the 1960's, built 811 Tenth Ave as their first windowless building. It's now an AT&T building.
"Like all the other telecom fortresses, this was designed to withstand considerable nuclear blast and fall-out and be self-sufficient for long periods of time. "
http://www.greatgridlock.net/NYC/nyc3.html#105
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M$
1) Security. The equipment housed within the windowless building is worth millions.
2) Climate control so the switches do not over heat and can work properly.
I work at a Telephone Company.
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M$
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M$
The reason they were built this way is because they enclosed the network servers, PBXs, and other telecommunications equipment, like power supplies, etc. All these equipment produces a lot of heat, which is not good for optimal performance of these equipment, thus cooling units preserve the building cold.
Having no windows helps to keep the building cold.
Another reasons are security and to prevent theft.
My wife worked for 16 years at GTE in Hawaii, and in texas. I work for an IT department and know about networks and PBX boxes.
Believe me when I said these equipment makes a lot of heat!
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M$Now my interpretation of this is a building is all concrete for grounding purposes along with the others mentioned (security, climate control). Section 4.3.4 mentions a low resistance path to ground should be make using reinforced concrete that is in direct contact with bare earth. Which depending on what building you are referring to is why some are all concrete. I would also believe that all concrete buildings, especially for a teleco Central Office (CO) would be to keep signal interference to a minimum. Especially if you are talking about a wireless companies main equipment building. A CO building for a teleco company is usually houses the interface from your landlines into the teleco main network. Which would be a main point to protect from signal interference and storm damage (lightening, etc).
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-Employees not being distracted by what's going on outside
-No visibility from outside = increased security inside
-Protecting business secrecy
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2) There is no benefit from having windows.
3) There is an increased startup cost (designing and building) with windows.
4) There are increased recurring costs with windows.
5) There are greater security risks with windows.
6) Higher maintenance costs with windows.
7) There's more, but hopefully that's enough.
Grey matter between ears.
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M$
myself and the picture above.
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M$
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M$
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Sure Vampires work there, but don't be silly. Vampires are a small part of the work force at the telephone company and thereby only a very small reason for no windows. The UnDead or Living Dead far exceed the number of Vampires, please, get your facts straight "phillydrifter". The UnDead also do not like sunlight and would be very rude to people calling for information. So, when you get one of those rude operators from time to time, you can be sure that the building they are in has windows. I have researched this very carefully, the answer here is far more accurate that any I have read so far. Hope this has cleared up the mystery.
So many good answers, but this one is the best for relating directly to the question and providing a good source! Thanks!
Ah, you beat me to posting this AT&T building. I pass by it all the time!
Wow that building looks neat! And great explanation as to why this one is built the way it is. I hope the implications are generalizable to all phone company buildings.
Simply through word-of-mouth from Bell Telephone old-timers (I did several projects creating exiting plans for a lot of their switching stations in the Cleveland area in the 80's), the buildings were meant to protect US communications even in times of nuclear war, severe storms, etc. They were built to be, in effect, communications fortresses.