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The Origin of the Skyscraper

The Origin of the Skyscraper

ctbuh.org/papers

Title: The Origin of the

Author: Gerard Peet, Lecturer, University of Applied

Subjects: Architectural/ History, Theory & Criticism Social Issues

Keyword: Development

Publication Date: 2011

Original Publication: CTBUH Journal, 2011 Issue I

Paper Type: 1. Book chapter/Part chapter 2. Journal paper 3. Conference proceeding 4. Unpublished conference paper 5. Magazine article 6. Unpublished

© Council on Tall and Urban Habitat / Gerard Peet The Origin of

“An alternative to using technical criteria to define would be to look at the way the first tall buildings were perceived by analyzing the characteristics that inspired the Gerard Peet press and public to coin a word for this new Author Gerard Peet, Lecturer phenomenon.” Hogeschool Rotterdam (Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences) The modern skyscraper is generally considered to be an American invention. Both G.J. de Jonghweg 4-6 and claim they once hosted the world’s first skyscraper, and even though the tallest 3015 GG Rotterdam The buildings are now being built outside the , many American companies are t: +1 10 794 41 41 involved in the architectural and structural design of today’s world’s tallest buildings. In this e: : [email protected] paper, a new definition of the skyscraper is introduced based on the first appearances of the word in the public press. Consequently it looks beyond the point in time during which the Gerard Peet word was coined in the United States to see which buildings were the first in the world to be Gerard Peet is a lecturer at the Rotterdam University of considered skyscrapers. Applied Sciences, faculty of Urban and Regional . Gerard has been researching the history of the skyscraper for many years. Gerard lectures on this subject at the Hogeschool Rotterdam and is also Birth of the American Skyscraper • The Home in Chicago working on a book about this with the working title According to most skyscraper books, the (completed in 1885): this was the first “Non-American – A Complementary History of building to have a core of Skyscrapers.” Another of Gerard ‘s special fields of world’s first skyscraper was the Home interest is the development of skyscrapers designed as embedded in the (see Figure 1). neighborhoods rather than as separate buildings, and Insurance Building in Chicago, which was the social of tall buildings. completed in 1885. Some publications In 1929, the Peruvian born , Francisco Gerard graduated from the Delft University of however, have presented different views. New Mujica, published his book called “The History , in the Netherlands, as a civil and was a member of the council of Rotterdam, for York journalist and critic of the Skyscraper.” In this book, he identified eight years. As such, he was a member of the Montgomery Schuyler was one of the first to three different typologies for the first Committee of and Housing. Gerard Peet has published and is preparing other books do so. In an article titled “The Evolution of the skyscrapers: addressing architectural and/or planning history. Skyscraper” (published in 1909) he proposed • Pre-skyscrapers: tall masonry buildings several candidates for the title of the first that have passenger . skyscraper: • Embryo Skyscrapers: tall buildings with • The Equitable Life Assurance Building in elevators and a metal frame. ...attention New York (completed in 1870): this was the first building where the • Modern Skyscrapers: buildings of great was used to comfortably gain height constructed on a skeleton that have high-speed electric lifts. Governments are access to higher floors and as such allowed the building to be taller than Mujica determined that Chicago’s Home encouraging these iconic “ usual. Insurance Building had been the first Embryo buildings in order to give Skyscraper and that Chicago’s Rand McNally • The Tribune Building and the Western Building (completed in 1890) had been the a very clear message to Union Building in New York (both first all- skyscraper built in the the outside world: Please completed in 1875): these were the first world. pay attention to our buildings to use elevators and the first to city. show the number of stories of the Schuyler and Mujica were among the first to building on the exterior. The Equitable discuss which building deserved the title of ” Life Assurance Building, for example, the world’s first skyscraper. It can be reasoned Dennis Poon, Thornton Tomasetti, on , . From “New contained seven stories but in its that the arguments used at the time are still Skyscrapers Pop-up across China,” external design showed no more than echoed in more recent publications, such as www.kansascity.com, Dec 5, 2010. four. Winston Weisman’s article “New York and the Problem of the First Skyscraper” (1953), Gerald R. Larson’s “The Iron Skeleton Frame:

18 | The Origin of the Skyscraper CTBUH Journal | 2011 Issue I Interactions Between Europe and the United The World’s First Skyscrapers – A Different High-building Craze.” The subtitle was: “Our States,” and the book “Rise of the New York Approach Skyscrapers” and its first sentence read: “There Skyscraper, 1865–1913” by Sarah Bradford An alternative to using technical criteria to are more very high buildings in New York than Landau and Carl W. Condit, to name a few. define skyscrapers would be to look at the in all the rest of the country put together.” In these publications, the answer to the way the first tall buildings were perceived by It did not take long before similar articles question of which building deserves the analyzing the characteristics that inspired the showed up. Shortly after it had been honor of being the world’s first skyscraper is press and public to coin a word for this new completed in 1882, Chicago’s Montauk Block determined by different definitions, which phenomenon. was given the honor of being called a consequently leads to different results. If the The word “skyscraper” has a long history of skyscraper. On August 2, 1884, the Chicago use of elevators is the only criterion, New defining people and things that are based Real Estate and Building Journal York’s Equitable Life Assurance Building would exceptionally tall. No one knows exactly when reported, “veritable skyscrapers have been be the first. If the use of a metal people started to use this terminology for the springing up here during the past couple of is a criterion, then Chicago’s Home Insurance tall buildings that started to appear in years almost with mushroom rapidity.” Most of Building should be considered the first. If the American in the 1870s, but according to these buildings were mentioned by name use of an all-steel frame is the determining the second edition of the Oxford English (see Figure 2). Some 20 or 30 eight-story flats factor, Chicago’s Rand McNally Building would Dictionary, the word skyscraper got its in New York were left anonymous but also be the first. But other deciding factors could architectural denotation (in print) in the early considered to be skyscrapers. be taken into account as well, such as a in a number of articles in newspapers determined minimum height, shape, and and journals. slenderness of a building, in which case, these Characteristics of the First Skyscrapers new criterions would therefore produce other The Chicago Daily was one of those These buildings called skyscrapers had a candidates for the world’s first skyscraper. newspapers. On February 25, 1883, its regular couple of characteristics in common. The first feature, New York Gossip, contained an article important characteristic was their height. With about architecture in New York titled “The at least six or seven stories and a minimum ®

New York

Equitable Life Assurance Building 1870 † 43 m/141 ft 8 stories Western Union Building 1875 † 70 m/230 ft 10 stories Tribune Building 1875 † 79 m/259 ft 10 stories Boreel Building 1879 † - 8 stories Mills Building 1883 † - 9 stories Temple Court 1883 † 45 m/148 ft 10 stories

Chicago

Montauk Block 1882 † 39 m/128 ft 10 stories Calumet Block 1883 † 44 m/144 ft - Royal Insurance Building 1884 † - 9 stories Counselman Building 1884 † 44 m/144 ft 9 stories Pullman Building 1884 † 49 m/161 ft 10 stories Home Fire Insurance Building* - 44 m/144 ft 10 stories Marshall * - 51 m/167 ft - Northwestern Loan and Trust Company Building* - 48 m/157 ft -

† demolished * these buildings were not completed at the time these articles were published, the Home Fire Insurance Building is better known as the

Figure 1. Home Insurance Building in Chicago (44 m/144 ft), 1885 Figure 2. Skyscrapers explicitly mentioned in the Chicago Daily (Feb 25, 1883) and the Real Estate & Building Journal (Aug 2, 1884)

CTBUH Journal | 2011 Issue I The Origin of the Skyscraper | 19 included in the skyscraper lists of the 1880s. shows that they were not, as several buildings Neither were church spires nor clock , in Europe and Asia preceded them. as even though these towers were tall, the height of these did not contain Rome’s Insulae Felicula space to accommodate people. Hence, Some 25 years BC, the Roman architect , church spires, and clock towers Vitruvius explained why buildings were not considered to be skyscrapers at that in Rome needed to be tall: “Yet with this time. greatness of the city and the unlimited It is reasonable to assume that the word crowding of citizens, it is necessary to provide skyscraper was referring to buildings because very numerous dwellings. Therefore, since a of their height and not because they had level site could not receive such a multitude specific technical features such as elevators or to dwell in the city, circumstances themselves steel frames. These technical characteristics have compelled the resort to raising the were not visible to the observer; their height height of buildings. And so by means of stone was sufficient enough to inspire the pillars, walls of burnt , party walls of observer(s) to create a new word for these rubble, towers have been raised, and these buildings. being joined together by frequent board Based on the above, a definition for floors produce upper stories with fine views skyscrapers based on perception can be over the city to the utmost advantage. Therefore walls are raised to a great height Figure 3. Brussels City Hall, 1420 © Alina Zienowicz pretty straightforward: A skyscraper is a multi-story building which is built to through various stories.” ’s tall apartment buildings, called “insulae,” were height of around 35 meters (115 feet), the accommodate people and has a minimum considered dangerous. There was a great risk were about twice the normal height of 35 meters (115 feet). This is, however, a of fatal fires and construction was often so height of typical buildings at the time. The definition that is only valid for the late 19th and poor that such buildings collapsed. It forced second characteristic of the first skyscrapers is 20th century. As skyscrapers got taller, the two Roman emperors to establish limitations that these tall buildings were all built to minimum height necessary to awe the to the height of buildings, height limits which provide space in which people could either observer into using the word skyscraper were not always enforced. () or live (residential buildings and increased. Consequently, this simple definition hotels). Most of them were office buildings, needs to be revised accordingly because each Possibly the tallest among Rome’s insulae was with the exception of the Marshall Field period in time requires a different minimum the Insulae Felicula. It must have been a Building, which was a department store, and height. special building as it was the only insulae the eight-story flats, which were residential mentioned by name out of thousands of buildings. The World’s First Technology was not regarded as an issue in Skyscrapers – New these articles. As a result, the use of elevators Candidates in buildings was not part of the discussion. Among the buildings listed were masonry Having established a structured buildings as well as buildings using definition of the metal construction. Slender, tower-shaped skyscraper based on buildings were considered skyscrapers in the perception at the addition to wide and tall buildings. As an time, one has to example, The Chicago Marshall Field Building’s wonder whether the length surpassed its height and was American skyscrapers considered to be a skyscraper, demonstrating of the 1870s and that the shape of the building was not part of 1880s were the first the dialogue for defining a skyscraper. buildings in the world to fit within that Both New York and Chicago also counted definition, and if these many multi-story warehouses with a height buildings really were comparable to the first skyscrapers. As these the world’s first were built to store goods and not to skyscrapers. History accommodate people, they were not Figure 4. Vienna City Hall, 1883 © Gryffindor

20 | The Origin of the Skyscraper CTBUH Journal | 2011 Issue I Figure 5. City Chambers, formerly the Royal Exchange (36 m /118 ft) in , 1753 nameless insulae in a fourth century secular power, gaining pre-eminence over the sometimes had to be built on sloping guidebook to Rome. An earlier book, written nobility and the church. Its tower is 97 meters ground, in which case they could only have a by Tertullian in the 3rd century, suggests that (318 feet) tall. The height of the building, limited number of floors at the front of the Insulae Felicula had 12 stories, a height that excluding , is still around 37 meters building and a large number of floors at the would most definitely make it a skyscraper. (121 feet), which is enough to comply with back. Unfortunately, there is no confirmation that the definition of a skyscraper. It would be In 1693, Robert Sibbald gave a description of these speculations are true because the Europe’s only city hall to fit our definition until such a : “Here is one of the highest building no longer exists and no 1883 when Vienna built a new city hall with houses in the world, mounting seven stories archaeological evidence has been found of similar heights: 105 meters (344 feet) for the above the Parliament Court, and being built this building. tower portion and approximately 50 meters upon a great descent of the hill, the back part (164 feet) for the occupiable part of the of it is as far below it, so that from the bottom Symbols of power and religion: Sana’a, building (see Figure 4). to the top, one stair-case ascends 14 stories Brussels and Lhasa The Potala in Lhasa (Tibet, China) is a complex high.” In summary: seven stories at the front, Throughout history, temples, palaces and of palaces, temples and other buildings. Until fourteen at the back. Some sixty years later, in churches have been built with height being 1950, the Potala was of Tibetan 1753, construction begun on the Royal one of the main features to impress people. In government. From 1950 until 1959, it was the Exchange. At the front, it had four stories and most cases the necessary height was created residence of the Dalai Lama. At its highest at the back it had twelve, giving it a backside by means of spires, towers, or domes. In some point, the palace had thirteen floors with a height of about 36 meters (118 feet). It was a cases, however, height involved many stories height of 117 meters (384 feet). As it was built multi-functional building with residential units that could be used to accommodate people. against the slopes of a hill, its height above as well as commercial space for businesses, The Ghamdan Palace in Sana’a, was the ground is much lower at the higher side shops and coffee houses. built in the 3rd century. It may have been an of the hill, thus making it a dubious contender The Royal Exchange was probably one of the example where height was used to both for a skyscraper. last skyscrapers to be built in Edinburgh in impress and accommodate people. The Arab that time period (see Figure 5). Not long after historian, Al Hamdani, wrote about this palace Edinburgh its completion, plans were made for a new around the year 900 and described it as In the 16th century, the Scottish city of town outside the city walls and people started having 20 stories and being “some 90 meters Edinburgh was faced with a growing to leave the Old Town to these new houses. tall.” Sadly, the palace was destroyed in the 6th population within the compact framework of The need to build tall diminished because of or 7th century, which leaves Al Hamdani’s the walled city. As was the case during Roman this sprawl, thus making the Edinburgh writings as the only means of verifying the times, Edinburgh was forced to look at height skyscrapers a dead-end in the evolution of the Ghamdan Palace’s true height. as a solution to house the growing number of skyscraper. Most of the Edinburgh skyscrapers th In the 15th century, the City Hall of Brussels inhabitants. The first half of the 17 century were lost to fire or neglect. The Royal (see Figure 3) was built to be a symbol of saw the construction of houses with six or Exchange, now called City Chambers, is the seven floors. As Edinburgh is situated on a hill, only one still standing today. ®

CTBUH Journal | 2011 Issue I The Origin of the Skyscraper | 21 Desing designed a 49-meter (161-foot) tall defend itself regularly against attacks from tower, which benefited greatly from having gangs of robbers, … in that too it resembles the observatory located at the top. In the American city of Chicago.” Regarding the addition, the tower also served as the needle United States, Helfritz had one more remark to of a giant sun-clock laid out in the make, “Shibam’s high-houses had been built monastery’s gardens. at a time when America only knew miserable In the time it was built, there was little huts.” experience with the construction of a tall Shibam’s history goes back to the 4th century building and stone walls of that height. As a BC. Shibam and its skyscrapers as described result, part of the unfinished tower collapsed by Helfritz date back to the 16th century (see in 1755. Construction was resumed, however, Figure 7a and 7b). Since then, Shibam has not and the tower was completed in 1758 and grown in surface area. Its growth was to be was in operation a few years later. In 1856, two found in height, as the expansion of the city domes were placed on top of the tower would have been at the cost of fertile without changing its overall height. By the agricultural land around the city. Safety 19th century, a museum for natural sciences considerations furthered the necessity for was opened in the tower. Shibam to develop exclusively within its city walls. Shibam Figure 6. Mathematische Turm, Kremsmünster, 1758 “None of the cities [in Yemen] make such an Kremsmünster outspoken impression of a skyscraper city as The Midland Grand Hotel at London’s St. the great city of Shibam.” The German Pancras Station was completed in 1976 and th During the course of the 18 century, the Age explorer Hans Helfritz was clearly impressed was presented as Europe‘s most modern of Enlightenment slowly started to exert its when he visited Shibam around 1930. He was hotel. Part of the hotel was a 76-meter (249- influence within the Roman Catholic Church. one of the first westerners allowed to travel to foot) tall tower above one of the entrance The Benedictine monastery in Kremsmünster the interior of what is now Yemen and he was gates to the station. The tower had eight or was one of the first places to allow scientific the first one to write a book about it: “Chicago nine floors and the rest of the hotel had six. research as a major activity within its walls. der Wüste” (Chicago of the Desert, 1932). It Ascending chambers (hydraulic lifts) were During 1749 to 1758, the monastery built an was a tribute to Shibam: “One sees from a available to guests to reach the upper floors. observatory called the Mathematische Turm distance of many miles how this marvelous By this time, Londoners were used to (see Figure 6). Anselm Desing was both its skyscraper city with its twelve storied houses buildings with tall towers such as the Houses driving force as well as the (untrained) rises from the plain.” It reminded him of the of Parliament. Therefore, the Midland Grand architect, and he wanted it to be a workshop skyscrapers of Chicago, hence the title of his Hotel was just another tower and there was of the noble sciences. Since astronomy was book. However, the height of the houses is no need to introduce a new word for this the main objective of the new building, not the only reason for that: “Shibam has to high, multi-story building (see Figure 8a & 8b).

Figure 7a. Shibam, photographed by Hans Helfritz during his travels. At least one of the Figure 7b. Shibam, Yemen (2005) © National Geographic houses in this picture has 12 floors © Hans Helfritz, Chicago der Wüste (1932)

22 | The Origin of the Skyscraper CTBUH Journal | 2011 Issue I Figure 8a. The Midland Grand Hotel (76 m/249 ft), 1876. Part of St. Pancras Station in London. The clock tower at the Figure 8b. St. Pancras Station, London. © English Heritage right hand side of the building is 82 meters high. Drawing from the Illustrated London News, September 9, 1871

The Midland Grand Hotel was built in the References LANDAU, S. and CONDIT, W. 1996. Rise of the New York Skyscraper. New Haven: Yale University Press. same period as New York’s Tribune and CHAISERI, P., FUJINO, Y., PACHECO, B. & SUN, L. 1989. Western Union buildings. Its inspiration, “Interaction of Tuned Liquid Damper and : Theory, LARSON, G. 1987. “The Iron Skeleton Frame: Interactions Between Europa and the United States.” In Chicago however, did not come from New York’s Experimental Verification and Application.” Structural / Engineering 6(2): 273-282. : Architecture 1872–1922 Birth of a Metropolis, edited by skyscrapers but rather from Belgium’s old City Society of Engineering. John Zukowsky. Munich: Prestel-Verlag. Halls. It was an independent start of England’s ANON. 1883. “New York Gossip, New Developments in MUJICA, F. 1929. History of the Skyscraper. Paris: skyscraper history, American influence would Architecture – The High-building Craze, Our Sky-scrapers.” & Architecture Press. Chicago Daily come later. , February 25, 1883. SCHUYLER, M. 1909. “The Evolution of the Skyscraper.” ANON. 1884. “High Towers and Buildings.” Real Estate and Scribner’s Magazine, September 1909. Building Journal, August 2, 1884. WEISMAN, W. 1953. “New York and the Problem of the First Skyscrapers “Avant La Lettre” ANON. 1933-1961-1970. The Oxford English Dictionary Skyscraper.” Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians (Second edition and supplements). Oxford: Clarendon Press. XII, 1. Not many people will regard the buildings presented in this article as skyscrapers. Some are not slender towers, which is an important characteristic of almost all modern ...integrated skyscrapers. And most of these buildings are not tall by any of today’s standards. However, this exercise was based on the tall buildings of the 1880s which caused a dedication to the There is a movement in the design and construction word “skyscraper,” and these buildings should “ called ‘integrated design,’ where , , therefore be the reference by which to judge specialists, contractors and building operations staff are in on buildings constructed prior to the moment the design process from the outset. Tower have been the word was coined. All of the buildings discussed in this article were built before the designing this way for years; there is no other way. term skyscraper was first extensively used. ” They definitely are skyscrapers by the Dan Kaplan , FXFOWLE, about the process for designing a skyscraper. From “Times ’s standards of the 1880s and they are also the Newest Skyscraper: An Interview with Dan Kaplan of FXFOWLE ,” The Huffington Post, skyscrapers “avant la lettre.” „ December 9, 2010.

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