It’s not a great surprise then that the architectural revolution of the Home Insurance Building was the inclusion of an internal iron frame that is reminiscent of Eiffel’s self-titled tower in Paris. The Home Insurance Building in Chicago was designed by Major William LeBaron Jenney who was an engineer by training and attended École Centrale Paris with Gustave Eiffel. The Home Insurance Building in Chicago is thought to be the world’s first skyscraper. Not only was the building taller and more imposing than any that had appeared in cities before then, but it incorporated new technology that would evolve to become a core architectural concept to building tall structures, namely the use of an iron frame. The most popular choice for the title of “world’s first skyscraper” is the Home Insurance Building that was built in Chicago in 1885. There’s no official universal definition of what constitutes a skyscraper, no given height, number of storeys, or required features or materials. There is some debate as to which building should have the title of the world’s first skyscraper. While those are features that you would expect to see in every building nowadays, this was not the case back in the 1870s and 1880s when the world’s first skyscrapers began to emerge above the city skyline. This tends to include a steel skeleton, an elevator, wind bracing, anchoring, fireproofing, heating, cooling, ventilation, plumbing, lighting, and electrical wiring to support the larger building size. In addition to being significantly taller than other buildings typical of the area, skyscrapers tend to have certain architectural and technological features. The debate rages on about which building can claim the title of the world’s first skyscraper, however there is some consensus about the typical characteristics required in order to be classed as a skyscraper.
But what was the first building to tower above the crowd, and why was that design so revolutionary? Skyscrapers are a common sight these days, with taller and taller buildings reaching towards the sky in order to impress potential tenants, clients, and grab themselves titles, awards and headlines.
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