Impressive too is the transformation of the rest of the site, reduced to Ground Zero by the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, which is now a national memorial plaza and museum.
The plaza includes two huge pools in the footprints of the former towers, with plaques engraved with the names of the six victims of the 1993 World Trade Centre bombing and the 2977 victims of the 2001 attacks, the largest loss of life from a foreign attack on American soil and the greatest loss of rescue personnel in American history.
The plaza also contains a grove of hundreds of trees, including some transported from Washington DC and Pennsylvania to honour the victims of Flight 93 and the Pentagon attack.
The memorial museum, which opened on September 11, 2011, commemorates the life of each victim.
Despite claims the super-strengthened building is now one of the safest in the world, it is hard to believe there can be no trepidation for tenants given the site's history.
Given that context, the reported comments from some of the first of the building's tenants from the publishing giant Conde Nast, who began moving in this week, were powerful: ''It's a great tribute to America to see this ... I'm very proud to work here'' and ''I don't think you look at this building with fear, you look at it with inspiration''.
Such comments speak volumes about the power of the human spirit, which is of course symbolised by the building known as the Freedom Tower.
The significance of the World Trade Centre as a hub of wealth, power and influence, with its symbolic Twin Towers, were perfect targets for terrorists wishing to strike a blow to the heart of America.
It is easy to see the new building with its 104-storey, $3.9 billion price tag, as a similar monument to success, excess, power and glory, another step in the continued race to be bigger, better, higher, faster, bolder, brighter, to lord it over all others, and impossible not to be reminded of the biblical tower of Babel and the punishment for humanity's hubris.
But the tower represents much more.
It is an important symbol of resilience, and rebirth, but equally one of remembrance.
It is now the tallest building in the US, and its 1776-feet height marks the year of American independence.
It has observatories and glass enclosures at the height of the former Twin Tower buildings.
Its very name, the One World Trade Centre, is designed to unify, to signify strength in numbers, the power of people, to stand on the shoulders of those who have gone before, and have the power to rise again.
In the circumstances, many New Zealanders will reflect on our own day of reckoning in Christchurch and our own ''Ground Zero'' - the aftermath of the CTV building collapse - and that city's determination to rebuild.
Albeit vastly different circumstances, the dilemmas with deciding the fate of the damaged Christchurch Cathedral are central to that city for the same reasons as the One World Trade Centre: the building is a symbolic one, and a replacement represents much for the city, not just its users.
Both buildings symbolise the power of human spirit, determination and endeavour.
They will represent the desire to move forward but to respect the past, and those who have fallen, and the desire to unite even when life has been torn apart.
Such powerful values are what make such symbols vulnerable to attack, whether verbally or physically.
But get them right and they can be powerful reminders that those who seek to grow towards the light will always rebuild, and do so on the foundations of values held dear.
