Whose idea was it to build skyscrapers?

Question

when was the first one/s made?

Answer 1

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skyscraper

The word skyscraper was first applied to such buildings in the late 19th century, reflecting public amazement at the tall buildings being built in Chicago and New York City. The structural definition of the word skyscraper was refined later by architectural historians, based on engineering developments of the 1880s that had enabled construction of tall multi-story buildings. This definition was based on the steel skeleton—as opposed to constructions of load-bearing masonry, which passed their practical limit in 1891 with Chicago's Monadnock Building. Philadelphia's City Hall, completed in 1901, still holds claim as the world's tallest load-bearing masonry structure. The steel frame developed in stages of increasing self-sufficiency, with several buildings in Chicago and New York advancing the technology that allowed the steel frame to carry a building on its own. Today, however, many of the tallest skyscrapers are built more or less entirely with reinforced concrete. In the United States today, it is a loose convention to draw the lower limit on what is a skyscraper at 150 meters. Elsewhere, though, a shorter building will sometimes be referred to as a skyscraper, especially if it is said to "dominate" its surroundings. Thus, calling a building a skyscraper will usually, but not always, imply pride and achievement.

Originally, skyscraper was a nautical term for a tall mast or sail on a sailing ship. A skyscraper taller than 300 metres (1,000 feet) may sometimes be referred to as a supertall.

The somewhat arbitrary term skyscraper should not be confused with the slightly less arbitrary term highrise, defined by the Emporis Data Committee as "a building which is 35 metres (115 feet) or greater in height, and is divided at regular intervals into occupiable floors" [1]. All skyscrapers are highrises, but only the tallest highrises are skyscrapers. Habitability separates skyscrapers from towers and masts. Some structural engineers define a highrise as any vertical construction for which wind is a more significant load factor than weight is. Note that this criterion fits not only highrises but some other tall structures, such as towers.

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The crucial developments for modern skyscrapers were steel, glass, reinforced concrete, water pumps, and elevators. Until the 19th century, buildings of over six stories were rare. So many flights of stairs were impractical for inhabitants, and water pressure was usually insufficient to supply running water above about 15 metres (50 feet). However, despite this lack of sanitation, high rise housing dates back to the 1600s in some places. The Romans built apartment buildings sometimes 7 to 8 stories high. These buildings were unstable and dirty and often caught fire due to careless inhabitants. In Edinburgh, Scotland for instance, the defensive city wall defined the boundaries of the city. With limited land area for development the houses increased in height. Buildings of 11 stories were common, and there are records of buildings as high as 14 stories. Many of the stone-built structures can still be seen today in the old town of Edinburgh particularly in the 'Wynds' and 'Closes' just off the Royal Mile.

The oldest iron framed building in the world is The Flaxmill (also locally known as the "Maltings") in Shrewsbury, England. Built in 1797, it is seen as the "grandfather of skyscrapers” due to its fireproof combination of cast iron columns and cast iron beams developed into the modern steel frame which made modern skyscrapers possible. It unfortunately lies derelict and needs much investment to keep it standing. On 31 March 2005, it was announced that English Heritage would buy the Flaxmill, so that it could be redeveloped.

The first skyscraper was the ten-story Home Insurance Building in Chicago, built in 1884–1885. While its height is not considered unusual or very impressive today, the architect, Major William Le Baron Jenney, created the first load-carrying structural frame. In this building, a steel frame supported the entire weight of the walls instead of the walls themselves carrying the weight of the building which was the usual method. This development led to the "Chicago skeleton" form of construction. After Jenney's accomplishment the sky was truly the limit so far as building was concerned.

Sullivan's Wainwright Building building in St. Louis, 1890, was the first steel frame building with soaring vertical bands to emphasize the height of the building, and is, therefore, considered by some to be the first true skyscraper.

Surprisingly for some, the United Kingdom also had its share of early skyscrapers. The first building to fit the engineering definition meanwhile was the then largest hotel in the world, the Grand Midland Hotel, now known as St Pancras Chambers in London, completed in 1873 with a clock tower 82 metres (269 feet) in height. The 12-floor Shell Mex House in London, at 58 metres (190 feet), was completed a year after the Home Insurance Building and managed to beat it in both height and floor count. 1877 saw the opening of the Gothic revival style Manchester Town Hall by Alfred Waterhouse. Its 87-metre-high clock and bell tower dominated that city's skyline for almost a century.

Most early skyscrapers emerged in the land-strapped areas of Chicago, London, and New York toward the end of the 19th century. London builders soon found their height limited due to a complaint from Queen Victoria, rules that continued to exist with few exceptions until the 1950s; concerns about aesthetics and fire safety had likewise hampered the development of skyscrapers across continental Europe for the first half of the twentieth century (with the notable exceptions of the 26-storey KBC Tower in Antwerp, Belgium, built in 1932, and the 31-storey Torre Piacentini in Genoa, Italy, built in 1940). After an early competition between New York City and Chicago for the world's tallest building, New York took a firm lead by 1895 with the completion of the American Surety Building. Developers in Chicago also found themselves hampered by laws limiting height to about 40 storeys, leaving New York to hold the title of tallest building for many years. New York City developers then competed among themselves, with successively taller buildings claiming the title of "world's tallest" in the 1920s and early 1930s, culminating with the completion of the Chrysler Building in 1930 and the Empire State Building in 1931, the world's tallest building for forty years. From the 1930s onwards, skyscrapers also began to appear in Latin America (São Paulo, Buenos Aires, Mexico City) and in Asia (Tokyo, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Singapore).

Immediately after World War II, the Soviet Union planned eight massive skyscrapers dubbed "Stalin Towers" for Moscow; seven of these were eventually built. The rest of Europe also slowly began to permit skyscrapers, starting with Madrid in Spain during the 1950s. Finally, skyscrapers also began to appear in Africa, the Middle East and Oceania (mainly Australia) from the late 1950s and the early 1960s.

Still today, despite the loss of the World Trade Center towers, no city in the world has more completed individual free-standing buildings over 492 ft. (150 m) than New York City, with 197. Hong Kong comes in with the most in the world (221), if one counts individually the multiple towers that rise from a common podium (like Emporis does), as in buildings that rise several stories as one structure, before splitting into two or more columns of floors. If Hong Kong's multiple-skyscraper complexes are treated as a single skyscraper, Hong Kong would certainly have less skyscrapers over 492 ft. However, this number is likely to continue to increase rapidly, due to a prolonged highrise building boom in Hong Kong. Chicago's skyline was not allowed to grow until the height limits were relaxed in 1960; over the next fifteen years, many towers were built, including the massive 442-meter (1,451-foot) Sears Tower, leading to its current number of 90 buildings over 492 ft. Chicago is currently undergoing an epic construction boom that will greatly add to the city's already magnificent skyline. Since 2000, at least 40 buildings at a minimum of 50 stories high have been built. The Chicago Spire, Trump International Hotel and Tower (Chicago), Waterview Tower, Mandarin Oriental Tower, 29-39 South LaSalle, Park Michigan, and Aqua are some of the more intriguing projects currently underway in the city that invented the skyscraper. This construction boom will surely boost the number of skyscrapers in Chicago, and Chicago will likely be the third city in the world to have more than 100- 492 ft. skyscrapers. Chicago, Hong Kong, and New York City, other wise known as the "the big three," are recognized in most architectural circles as having the most compelling skylines in the world. Other large cities which are currently experiencing major building booms in skyscrapers include Shanghai in China and Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.

Today, skyscrapers are an increasingly common sight where land is scarce, as in the centres of big cities, because of the high ratio of rentable floor space per area of land. Skyscrapers, like temples and palaces in the past, are considered the ultimate symbols of a city's economic power which is exemplified by the rise of the Asian economy and skyline.

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History of tallest skyscrapers
At the beginning of the 20th-century, New York City was a center for the Beaux-Arts architecutural movement, attracting the talents of such great architects as Stanford White and Carrere and Hastings. As better construction and engineering technology become available as the century progressed, New York became the focal point of the competition for the tallest building in the world. The city's striking skyline has been composed of numerous and varied skyscrapers, many of which are icons of 20th-century architecture:

The Flatiron Building, standing 285 ft (87 meters) high, was one of the tallest buildings in the city upon its completion in 1902, made possible by its steel skeleton. It was one of the first buildings designed with a steel framework, and to achieve this height with other construction methods of that time would have been very difficult.
The Woolworth Building, a neo-Gothic "Cathedral of Commerce" overlooking City Hall, was designed by Cass Gilbert. At 792 feet (241 meters), it became the world's tallest building upon its completion in 1913, an honor it retained until 1930, when it was overtaken by 40 Wall Street.
That same year, the Chrysler Building took the lead as the tallest building in the world, scraping the sky at 1,046 feet (319 m). More impressive than its height is the building's design, by William Van Alen. An art deco masterpiece with an exterior crafted of brick, the Chrysler Building continues to be a favorite of New Yorkers to this day.
The Empire State Building, the first building to have more than 100 floors (it has 102), was completed the following year. It was designed by Shreve, Lamb and Harmon in the contemporary Art Deco style. The tower takes its name from the nickname of New York State. Upon its completion in 1931, it took the top spot as tallest building, and at 1,472 feet (448 m), towered above all other buildings until 1973.
When the World Trade Center towers were completed in 1973 many felt them to be sterile monstrosities, even though they were the world's tallest buildings at that time. But most New Yorkers became fond of "The Twin Towers" and after the initial horror for the loss of life in the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks there came great sadness for the loss of the buildings. The Empire State Building is again the tallest building in New York City.
Empire State Building
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http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blskyscapers.htm

Answer 2

The word skyscraper was originally a nautical term for a tall mast or sail on a sailing ship. Today the word is used exclusively to refer to a tall habitable building, usually higher than 152 metres (500 feet). A skyscraper is also sometimes referred to as a highrise, a term which is generally used to refer to a residential building.

Until the 19th century, buildings of over six stories were rare. It was impractical to have people walk up so many flights of stairs, and water pressure could only provide running water to about 50 feet (15 m).

The development of steel, reinforced concrete, and water pumps have made possible the construction of extremely tall buildings, some of which are over 300 metres tall. The other development essential to practical skyscraper development was the invention of the elevator.

The skyscraper first emerged in the land-strapped areas of New York City and Chicago toward the end of the 19th century. William LeBaron Jenney designed the first skyscraper in Chicago, The Home Insurance Building. The ten-story structure was constructed in 1884-1885 and was destroyed in 1931 for the Field's building.

The weight-bearing components of skyscrapers also differ substantially from those of other buildings. Buildings of about four stories are supported by their walls, while skyscrapers are larger buildings that must be supported by a skeletal frame. The walls then hang off this frame like curtains. Special consideration must then be given for buildings that are over 40 stories tall because of the force that wind puts on the structure.

atp

Answer 3

First, here is the link to a cut-and-paste that appears above, so you can check out the details
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skyscraper

Actually, I think the links below better answer your questions about why/how did it happen that. . .

Here are some of the key points:

A) The growing NEED/desire for such constructions was related to the growth of an area, but limitations on suitable land to build on in the immediate vicinity. This is obvious in the three cities where skyscrapers first appeared -- London, New York and Chicago (though the historical order is more the reverse of that!!)

B) TECHNOLOGY -- that is, the ABILITY to construct such a tall building as the modern skyscraper (set aside all that stuff about ancient towers...this is whole different category). Two major obstacles had to be overcome by:

1) the invention of a safer ELEVATOR to carry people (there's only so far up it was practical to expect people to climb stairs! but it has to be safe enough people are willing to use it!) -- a nineteenth century development. Key point --the 1853 invention (by Elisha Graves Otis) of a safety device to kept elevators from falling if a cable should break

2) structure that can support such a tall construction (both the weight and the force of winds) -- steel beam constrution in the 1880s resolved this problem.

The key place where much of this happened was Chicago. The key EVENT that propelled it was the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, and the sudden explosive growth that followed it. The limited land forced them to 'look up'. And technological skills amongst those who had recently moved to the city made it possible.

The "first modern skyscraper" was the ten-story Home Insurance Building in Chicago (1884–1885) -- short by recent standards, but the beginning of the trend.


especially useful: http://www.factmonster.com/spot/skyscraperhistory.html

http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/1149.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Chicago#Great_Chicago_Fire

On the Great Chicago Fire and its results, you may also be interested in the new book *Seven Fires* by Peter Charles Hoffer (Public Affairs, 2006), pp. 106-52. (I just picked this up at the library last week, so your question caught my attention.)

Answer 4

The first skyscrapers were built in the 1880's in Chicago ,Illnois and New York City .The first so-called skyscraper was the W.LeBaron Jenny's 1885 Home Insurance Building in Chicago,was only ten stories high. The first New York City skyscraper was built in1889,the George B.Post
Union Trust Building ,and it was 11 stories high.

Answer 5

The crucial developments for modern skyscrapers were steel, glass, reinforced concrete, water pumps, and elevators. Until the 19th century, buildings of over six stories were rare. So many flights of stairs were impractical for inhabitants, and water pressure was usually insufficient to supply running water above about 15 metres (50 feet). However, despite this lack of sanitation, high rise housing dates back to the 1600s in some places. The Romans built apartment buildings sometimes 7 to 8 stories high. These buildings were unstable and dirty and often caught fire due to careless inhabitants. In Edinburgh, Scotland for instance, the defensive city wall defined the boundaries of the city. With limited land area for development the houses increased in height. Buildings of 11 stories were common, and there are records of buildings as high as 14 stories. Many of the stone-built structures can still be seen today in the old town of Edinburgh particularly in the 'Wynds' and 'Closes' just off the Royal Mile.

The oldest iron framed building in the world is The Flaxmill (also locally known as the "Maltings") in Shrewsbury, England. Built in 1797, it is seen as the "grandfather of skyscrapers” due to its fireproof combination of cast iron columns and cast iron beams developed into the modern steel frame which made modern skyscrapers possible. It unfortunately lies derelict and needs much investment to keep it standing. On 31 March 2005, it was announced that English Heritage would buy the Flaxmill, so that it could be redeveloped.

The first skyscraper was the ten-story Home Insurance Building in Chicago, built in 1884–1885. While its height is not considered unusual or very impressive today, the architect, Major William Le Baron Jenney, created the first load-carrying structural frame. In this building, a steel frame supported the entire weight of the walls instead of the walls themselves carrying the weight of the building which was the usual method. This development led to the "Chicago skeleton" form of construction. After Jenney's accomplishment the sky was truly the limit so far as building was concerned.

Sullivan's Wainwright Building building in St. Louis, 1890, was the first steel frame building with soaring vertical bands to emphasize the height of the building, and is, therefore, considered by some to be the first true skyscraper.

Answer 6

Structural engineers. Previously, when the only available materials were brick or stone, buildings were rarely built beyond the 6th floor because of the danger that structural pressures posed. With the development of steel and cement, especially in the 20's and 30's, the age of truely tall buildings, starting with the Empire State, had begun. The new materials gave the buildings the strength to withstand these structural pressures.

Answer 7

i count number on loose speech, obviously. yet, i visit obviously see the parallels to the alternative of the dual Towers with the hot tower, which will be 100 and ten memories, surrounded by technique of timber--the position they DID fly onto the spot--the position many global huge seen 9/11 justice for united statesa. and the global--and that "great legal professional" could characterize God. because this poem easily could properly be interpreted this type, someone could have flipped out. so some distance because the poem is worried, it needs artwork in words of meter and language. it may use some cleansing up.

Answer 8

SKYSCRAPERS!!! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rb4lgOiHBZo

RMI Services

Answer 9

Gee, pyramids, the Tower of Babel, IDK but it's probably all been torn down by time and we may never know.
Hey, even the monkeys hang around as high up as they can, hunh? LOL, seriously though, I think we'll never really know.

Answer 10

my great grand pa's(joke) sorry i can't answer. bcoz i don't know