Which is the first skyscraper in the world?
Burj Khalifa of Dubai today ranks first among the tallest buildings in the world. People come from all over the world to see it. While there are malls and shops in the lower floors of this building, people live in the upper floors. A lot of technology was used in making it. But do you know when did skyscrapers start being built? Also, what was the first tallest building in the world?
According to the facts recorded in history, in the desert city of Shibam in Yemen, residential buildings made of mud bricks as high as ten floors, built in the 13th century, still exist. Not only this, San Gimignano in Tuscany, Italy once had more than seventy towers two hundred feet high, all built before the 15th century.
But the term "skyscraper" was first used to describe a tall building during a construction boom in many American cities in the late 19th century, where the first tallest building was built . But you might be surprised to know that it was not Manhattan where the first skyscraper was built. Then which city was it, where the first skyscraper was built?
Let us tell you that the name of that city was Chicago, where the first skyscraper was built. It dates back to the year 1885, where the first building was constructed using steel columns and beams instead of massive masonry walls. Its name was the Home Insurance Building, which was designed by architect William Le Baron Jenney. This building paved the way for the construction of skyscrapers for decades to come.
Before the construction of Home Insurance Building, buildings were constructed with thick load bearing walls. But Jenny, who designed the first skyscraper, used thin walls because the weight of the building was borne by the steel frame rather than the walls. This allowed buildings to become taller and lighter than masonry buildings of similar size and height.
The weight of the Home Insurance Building was only one-third that of a masonry building. When Jenny submitted her designs to the city council, the committee was skeptical. In such a situation, despite permission being given, they temporarily stopped the construction of the building, so that further investigation could be done to see whether the building could actually stand on its own or not.
But the Home Insurance Building was not only built, it gave rise to an entirely new architectural movement called the Chicago School. Buildings in this style used steel-framework with masonry cladding, allowing large plate-glass window areas and limited exterior ornamentation.
After this, permission was given by the administration and by 1893 the work of Home Insurance Building was completed. In less than ten years, twelve skyscrapers ranging between 16 and 20 storeys were built in the city. These skyscrapers later rapidly became tourist destinations.