Ground Zero Stairs Named to Historic List

NPR | By Margot Adler

Published May 10, 2006 at 3:51 PM EDT

Patty Clark, left, and Kayla Bergeron stand on the Vesey Street, or "survivor" stairs. The two Port Authority workers were at the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, and escaped via the Vesey Street staircase 10 minutes before their tower collapsed.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation announced today its annual list of America's most endangered historic places. Among the 11 was a surprising name: the Vesey Street staircase at Ground Zero in New York City.

Dubbed the "survivor" staircase by many, this partly ruined concrete structure, some 20 feet high, juts out of the gaping hole. It's the only remaining above ground remnant of the World Trade Center.

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