The World’s First Skyscrapers
The world’s first skyscraper was built in the American city of Chicago. Video: View of Chicago in 2019.
The world’s first skyscraper was built, not in the coastal American city that would ultimately become synonymous with the soaring structures, but in the Midwestern American city of Chicago in 1884-85.
The successful construction of this proof of concept set off the development of other early skyscrapers that may collectively be called the “first generation of skyscrapers.”
Some of these first-generation skyscrapers remain standing today.
These early skyscrapers – all of which stood less than 20 stories tall – pale in comparison to the behemoth steel and glass structures that dot the Chicago skyline today.
But the technological innovations embodied in this first generation of steel-framed high-rises would in short order be exported around the world, paving the way for the modern-day skyscrapers that adorn our cities today.
These early skyscrapers are therefore the antecedents to today’s One World Trade Center, Burj Khalifa, and other modern feats of vertical engineering.
The early skyscrapers of the late 19th century were the antecedents to today’s modern skyscrapers. Playlist: Skyscrapers & Towers Around the World.
The contemporaneous invention of several technologies allowed for the development of the skyscraper.
An obvious impediment to building up in the 19th century was the challenge of moving people up and down tall structures quickly and safely.
The solution came with the invention of the first safe passenger elevator.
Devised by American inventor Elisha Otis in the 1850s, this design included a backup system to prevent the cabin freefalling if the cable holding up an elevator ever snapped.
Otis’ mechanism consisted of guide rails fitted to each side of the elevator shaft and a spring system which would, in the event of a snapped cable, prevent the cabin from plummeting.
The design was first put into service in the Haughwout Building in New York City.
The invention of this safety mechanism for passenger elevators allowed people to travel up and down the many stories of tall buildings quickly and safely without laborious climbs up dreary interior stairways.
Also in the 1850s, the invention of the Bessemer Process – a method of mass-producing affordable steel – made the use of steel building frames economically viable.
The newfound ability to mass-produce affordable steel which could support the enormous weight of tall buildings and the invention of a method for safely and easily moving people up and down these structures paved the way for the world’s first skyscrapers.
Multi-story buildings had been constructed before the first skyscraper opened its doors in Chicago.
For example, in 1870 the six-story Equitable Life Building opened in New York City.
But these buildings were masonry structures that did not use steel frames, and masonry structures had several shortcomings.
Load-bearing masonry walls precluded the installation of large windows, and thereby limited the flow of natural light into the building (in stark contrast to today’s skyscrapers which often incorporate floor-to-ceiling windows).
Moreover, the base masonry holding the structure up needs to get thicker as the load it bears grows, meaning that tall masonry buildings would need to expand horizontally as they expanded vertically.
This made the construction of tall masonry buildings less attractive to developers: the taller the desired building, the larger the plot of land needed to support it.
Steel structures, by contrast, allow for uniform wall thickness up the length of the building.
Chicago’s Home Insurance Building, designed by William Le Baron Jenney, was the first to take advantage of this fact and is thus generally considered to be the world’s first skyscraper.
Built in 1884-1885 using materials from Andrew Carnegie’s steel company, the 10-story building was erected using steel-girder construction.
Unlike masonry buildings in which the weight of the entire structure is supported by load-bearing walls, the massive load of this first skyscraper was held up by a system of interlocking horizontal and vertical beams.
The horizontal beams supported the weight of each floor and were affixed to vertical steel columns that ran the length of the building.
The steel frame was then ensconced in curtain walls – exterior masonry walls which supported only their own weight while the load-bearing steel skeleton held up the building.
(Related: Learn about Andrew Carnegie and the Gilded Age here.)
The development of other steel-framed buildings quickly followed and many of these early skyscrapers can still be found in Chicago today.
The Reliance Building
The Old Colony Building
The Monadnock Building
The Marquette Building
The Fisher Building
The Rookery Building
The Second Leiter Building
Sullivan Center
The Manhattan Building
The conception of the steel-framed skyscraper would set off a race to the heavens between Chicago and New York City – the metropolis that would soon become synonymous with the towering structures.
From there the structures eventually spread to dot cities around the world.
Written By: Aiden Singh Published: July 18, 2020 Sources