Skyscrapers
Skyscraper Chronology
Compiled by J. Mitchell Update 1/7/2005
Year Type Item Architect SF Rent Height Stories Cost FAR City Country Significance
1850 Technology Permanent bath & WC USA First installed in white house - sewers critical
1854 Technology Safety Elevator Otis USA Made passenger elevator acceptable
1871 Event Chicago Fire Chicago USA Made vast construction desirable
1874 Technology Radiator Baldwin USA
1879 Technology Incandescent Lamp Edison USA Edison proudest of parallel circuit, system
1884 Building Home Life Insurance Jenney Chicago USA
1888 Building Rookery Burnham & Root Chicago USA
1889 Building Tacoma Holabird & Roche Chicago USA Many innovations in construction
1889 Building Eiffel Tower Eiffel USA Used Otis elevators, tallest structure
1891 Building Monadnock Burnham & Root Chicago USA
1891 Building Wainwright Sullivan 11 St. Louis USA
1895 Technology ASHRAE Lab USA Lab at University of Illinois to develop heating
1896 Document Skyscraper Article Sullivan USA First articulation of aesthetic of skyscrapers
1897 Building Park Row Robertson 391 30 NY USA
1902 Building Flatiron Burnham & Root 285 23 NY USA Isolated when built - appeared very tall
1906 Technology Air Conditioning Carrier USA Invention of system
1908 Building Singer Flagg 612 47 NY USA
1909 Building Metropolitan Life Le Brun 700 50 NY USA
1912 Building Grand Central Station Warren and Wetmore USA
1913 Building Woolworth Gilbert 792 60 NY USA First clearly recognized as a wonder
1914 Event Word War I Start USA
1915 Building Equitable 1,200,000 30 NY USA Reaction to it produced NY Setback rules
1916 Event Zoning Setback NY USA Shaped future skyscrapers
1916 Event US Enters WW-I USA
1922 Event Tribune Competition Chicago USA Saarinen Design won 2nd place - big controversy
1925 Building Tribune Building Hood Chicago USA
1928 Event Stockmarket Crash USA
1929 Building Chrysler Van Alen 1,046 77 NY USA
1930 Building Daily News Hood NY USA
1931 Building Empire State Shreve Lam and Harmon 1,790,433 1,250 102 21 NY USA
1950 Building UN Secretariat Harrison NY USA First international style glass-walled tower
1951 Building Lever House SOM NY USA Pilotis, well thought of
1958 Building Seagram Building Van der Rohe NY USA Masterpiece
1969 Building John Hancock Center SOM 1,127 100 Chicago USA
1971 Building World Trade Center Yamasaki 1,350 110 NY USA
1973 Building Aon Center Stone 1,136 80 Chicago USA
1974 Building Sears Tower SOM 1,454 110 Chicago USA
1990 Building Bank Of China Pei 1,209 70 Hong Kong China
1992 Building Central Plaza DLN 1,227 78 Hong Kong China
1996 Building Shun Hing Square K.Y. Cheung 1,260 69 Shenzhen China
1997 Building Petronas Towers (2) Pelli 1,483 88 Malaysia
Kuala Lumpur Remarkable form - Enormus
1997 Building T & C Tower C.Y.Lee 1,140 85 KaohsiungTaiwan
1997 Building Baiyoke Tower II Plan Architects 997 85 Bangkok Thailand
1998 Building Jin Mao Tower SOM 1,380 88 Shanghai China
1998 Building Citic Plaza DLN 1,283 80 Guangzhou China
1998 Building The Center DLN 1,148 79 Hong Kong China
1999 Building Burj al Arab Hotel W.S. Watkins 1,053 60 Dubai UAE
2000 Building Emirates Office Tower Norr Group 1,163 54 Dubai UAE
2004 Building Taipei 101 C.Y.Lee 1,671 101 Taipei Taiwan Tallest building as of 12/2004
Sources Douglas - Skyscrapers: A Social History
http://www.emporis.com/en/
7a6a1537-b6f0-423e-befe-e3496580b8cf.xls - Chronology - Printed 1 of 2
Building Statistics
Wt Toyotoa Corolla CE 2,600 lb
Area Suburban House 2,000 SF
Lifetime Income Engineer $ 2,100,000
Height Suburban 2-Story 30 ft
USS United States Length 990 ft
Building Empire State Comcast Tower Pyramids
Bricks 10,000,000
Cost $ 35,000,000 $ 465,000,000
Cost/SF $ 20 $ 375
Elevators 67
Exterior Metal lb 1,460,000
Height Ft 1,250 975 481
Radiators 7,000
Rentable SF 1,790,433 1,240,000 600
Site SF 83,860
Stone CF 200,000
Stories 102 57
Floor-to-Floor Avg 12 17
Volume CF 37,000,000 89,000,000
Water CF/Day 80,000
Weight lb 616,000,000 12,000,000,000
Weight/SF 344
Windows 6,500
Wire ft 17,000,000
Workers Avg 2,500 5,000
Workers Max 4,000 4,500
Total Time to Build mths 13 240
PersonHrs 5,460,000 200,000,000
Hrs/SF rentable 3
Lifetimes to Pay for it 17 221
Number of Toyotas - Wt 240,000 0 4,620,000
Number of Houses - Area 895 620 0.3
Number of Houses - Ht 42 33 16
Number of USS United States 1.3 1.0 0.5