By: Stephanie S.
Believe it or not, Chicago was once the home of the tallest and greatest number of skyscrapers. These first skyscrapers were not what we would envision today as a skyscraper; they were merely 10-20 stories high and made possible by Henry Bessemer and George Fuller. Bessemer patented a process that turned raw iron into steel and Fuller created a system utilizing a “cage” of steel bars for support structure, which is still used today (Tucker).
Architects took advantage of the Chicago steel industry’s technological innovations and engineered the first skyscraper using steel-girder construction when they built William Le Baron Jenney's 10-story Home Insurance Company Building from 1884–85 (Skyscraper). Other structures not built with steel simply sank to the ground due to lack of support (Tucker).
Skyscrapers also had another element of appeal. They were designed to resemble centuries of the past including Classical, Gothic, and Renaissance. Whether living in, working in or just passing by skyscrapers were a true marvel, except if you lived or worked on the top floor.In 1857, the first safe passenger elevator was installed in the Haughwout Department Store in New York City, making it more practical to build taller buildings. After all who wants to walk up 10-20 flights of stairs? By 1913, New York boasted yet taller and more ornate skyscrapers than its shorter, stockier, Midwestern parent (Donaldson, 2005). Its first true skyscraper was the Flatiron building, finished in 1902 (Tucker). Although not as tall, another building in New York held the record of the world’s tallest building for four years and stood 309 feet tall (Tucker).
The New York World Building stood until 1955 at 18 stories. (True skyscrapers are what we know skyscrapers as today, whereas the New York World Building was one of the first “skyscrapers” that ranged from 10-20 stories). Skyscrapers were a symbol of America’s rising social, global, and industrial power and they solved geographical and social issues that were rising in the early 1900’s (Tucker). With crowded cities, Chicago and New York utilized skyscrapers to house the growing number of immigrants.“…skyscrapers constitute New York City’s most important icons; without their visual presence, the city practically disappears.”- Sarah Donaldson
Sources:
Donaldson, S. (2005, February). Chicago vs. New York. Next American City. Retrieved July 1,
2010, from http://americancity.org/magazine/article/chicago-vs-new-york-carol-willis- and-kenneth-t-jackson-donaldson/
Skyscraper. (2010). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved July 11, 2010, from Encyclopædia
Britannica Online: http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/547956/skyscraper
Tucker, M., Ho, R. & Megallon, J. The First Modern Skyscraper: New York & Chicago. Retrieved
July 1, 2010, from http://www.ivc.edu/arthistory2/Documents/art2526projects/skyscrapers_sp06.pdf
Pictures:
http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/cas/fnart/fa267/20_sky1.html
