Cornerstone for Freedom Tower laid at WTC site

Officials in their Independence Day speeches could not resist referring to Freedom Tower as a 1,776-foot building, the main structure of which will reach only 1,500 feet — still quite higher than the twin towers were — while the TV antenna may approach 2,000 feet.

The cornerstone is about 65 feet below nearby Vesey Street, on a concrete pedestal. Next to it is a column footing from which structural steel will rise in the next year; that is, if all the financing falls into place for a project that may cost at least $1.3 billion and has no large prospective office tenants yet.

With many questions unanswered, symbolism was the order of the day at the ceremony. The muted celebration of progress was tempered — as are all events at the WTC site — by the inescapable shadow of 2,749 lost lives. ‘‘Today is renewal,’’ said the Rev. John D. Romas, pastor of St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church on Cedar Street, which was crushed beneath one of the WTC towers.

In a speech accompanied by the screech of a passing PATH train, Gov. George E. Pataki of New York said the future 73-story office building would ‘‘serve as a reminder that not only did thousands die on this sacred ground, but that they lived, worked, loved and dreamed here, too.’’

He was joined by Gov. James E. McGreevey of New Jersey and the developer Larry A. Silverstein in unveiling a five-foot-six-inch-high block of granite that was quarried a little over a month ago at Ruby Mountain in the Adirondacks.

Engraved on its buffed and polished face are two- and four-inch-high letters, in simple sans-serif Gotham typeface, highlighted in silver leaf. ‘‘To honour and remember those who lost their lives on September 11, 2001 and as a tribute to the enduring spirit of freedom,’’ the cornerstone says.

At 10:45 am, as the canyonlike WTC foundation reverberated with the bass of Morris Robinson of the Metropolitan Opera singing God Bless America, the 20-tonne block was hoisted into a temporary position as a photo backdrop, sitting on heavy timber supports atop a concrete pedestal within a shallow 300-foot-square pit.

An hour and 20 minutes later, after the high-ranking officials and some 520 invited guests had dispersed, the stone was raised again by Dan McClain, at the controls of a 150-tonne crane from Bay Crane Service. The timber supports were removed and the stone was laid on the pedestal.

By this time next year, Freedom Tower will have begun its ascent to a point somewhere high in the sky, certainly higher than the original north tower (1,368ft) or the south (1,362).

‘‘The glory of this latter house shall exceed the former,’’ McGreevey said, borrowing from the Old Testament book of Haggai. — (NYT)