![]() ![]() Located in Chicago, Cook County, Illinois in the Loop community area, Rookery Building was constructed in 1886 and completed in 1888. The building featured a weight bearing frame coupled up with the city's unique style of architecture. ![]() Home Insurance Building is considered the first skyscraper to be supported, both inside and outside, by a fireproof metal frame. The building had ten floors, but two were added later on giving it 12 floors. Originally measuring 138 feet, the Home Insurance Building located in the city of Chicago officially opened in 1884, but it was demolished in 1931 after 47 years. On July 18, 1974, the building was added to the list of National Register of Historic Places while on November 23, 1983, it was designated a Chicago Landmark. In an area where the modern style of architecture is dominant, Delaware Building is among the few buildings that have managed to maintain its old style. ![]() The Delaware Building is among Chicago's earliest skyscrapers built in 1872 located in the city's central business district. The city of Chicago continued to build new skyscrapers in its existing style whereas New York moved on to tower designs. Due to the development of engineering techniques, it was easier for the construction of even taller buildings. During the 20th century, a new class of skyscrapers was being developed especially because of the continued demand for new office spaces. However, the construction of new skyscrapers more than 150 feet high within the city was banned in 1892 leaving New York City to develop taller buildings. The skyscrapers were often referred as the products of the Chicago school of architecture. Skyscrapers in Chicago were mainly concentrated in the financial district. The city of Chicago paved the way for the establishment of skyscraper designs many of which were built between the late 1880s and early 1890s. ![]() The Oldest Skyscrapers In Chicago Early Skyscrapers In Chicago By 1888 the numbers of tall establishments started growing rapidly, and they were named skyscrapers. Home Insurance Building was the first skyscraper built in Chicago, Illinois measuring about 138 feet tall it was officially opened in 1884. Such inventions made it commercially and technically possible for the construction of skyscrapers. Another factor that highly encouraged the growth of early skyscrapers was the advancement of technology with new inventions such as electric lighting and elevator. Traditionally, cities in the US comprised of low-rise establishments, but post-civil war economic growth prompted the use of urban land which in turn encouraged the establishment of skyscrapers from as early as the 1870s. The electric elevator seems to have been invented in the 1880's.Between 18, American cities like Chicago and New York began the construction of tall commercial buildings making them the earliest skyscrapers. Interestingly enough, though, the Bessemer process was patented in the 1850's, along with Elisha Otis' patented elevator safety system. In some ways, the story of skyscrapers is the story of America and the developing world during the industrial revolution (and the Gilded Age), right down to the class struggle between the fat cats who owned the building and the workers who actually built them. When US Steel became cheap enough, realtors and financiers could finally afford to construct these monoliths, which was economically attractive in an era that saw America triple its urban population. Skyscrapers are built so that they can sway with the breeze, rather than simply stand up to it. Steel is very strong, too, but it has the ability to bend a little under pressure, rather than snap. Iron is durable and strong, but very rigid, so when there is too much pressure in a certain area of an Iron bar (or sword), it will snap and break. Skyscrapers were made feasible because of the Andrew Carnegie's development of the Bessemer process, which allowed him a much more cost-effect method of refining iron into steel. When the building was completed in 1885 the other buildings had not been constructed yet.įord's Model T was produced between 19, so this picture could not have been from 1885. This picture must have been taken closer to its demolition, rather than its construction. ![]()
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