Editing Skyscraper (section)

===Early skyscrapers===
{{Main|Early skyscrapers}}

[[File:Oriel_Chambers,_Liverpool_2018.jpg|thumb|230x230px|Built in 1864, [[Oriel Chambers]] in [[Liverpool]] is the world's first metal framed glass [[Curtain wall (architecture)|curtain walled]] building. The stone [[mullion]]s are decorative.]]
[[File:Palaciosalvouruguay.jpg|thumb|267x267px|At its completion in 1928, [[Palacio Salvo]] in [[Montevideo]], was the tallest [[reinforced concrete]] structure at 100 m (330 ft) high.]]
{{Multiple image
| image1            = Wainwright Building, 7th Street and Chestnut Street, St. Louis, MO - 53051647915.jpg
| image2            = Edificio Fuller (Flatiron) edit.jpg
| image3            = Royal Liver Building (219398043).jpeg
| total_width       = 400
| header            = Early skyscrapers
| caption1          = [[Wainwright Building]] (1891) in [[St. Louis]]
| caption2          = [[Flatiron Building]] (1902), in [[New York City]]
| caption3          = [[Royal Liver Building]] (1911), in [[Liverpool]]
}}
In 1857, [[Elisha Otis]] introduced the [[safety elevator]] at the [[E. V. Haughwout Building]] in New York City, allowing convenient and safe transport to buildings' upper floors. Otis later introduced the first commercial passenger elevators to the [[Equitable Life Building (Manhattan)|Equitable Life Building]] in 1870, considered by some architectural historians to be the first skyscraper. Another crucial development was the use of a steel frame instead of stone or brick, otherwise the walls on the lower floors on a tall building would be too thick to be practical. An early development in this area was [[Oriel Chambers]] in [[Liverpool]], England, built in 1864. It was only five floors high.<ref>{{cite web |title=Oriel Chambers |publisher=Liverpool Architectural Society |url=http://www.liverpoolarchitecture.com/tours/buildings/building.php?id=25 |access-date=14 July 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080922062904/http://www.liverpoolarchitecture.com/tours/buildings/building.php?id=25 |archive-date=22 September 2008}}</ref><ref>[http://www.bdonline.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=428&storycode=3155796&channel=783&c=2 Building Design] Architect's website, 8 January 2010</ref> The [[Royal Academy of Arts]] states, "critics at the time were horrified by its 'large agglomerations of protruding plate glass bubbles'. In fact, it was a precursor to Modernist architecture, being the first building in the world to feature a metal-framed glass [[Curtain wall (architecture)|curtain wall]], a design element which creates light, airy interiors and has since been used the world over as a defining feature of skyscrapers".<ref>{{cite news |title=Britain's top 10 maverick buildings |url=https://www.royalacademy.org.uk/article/britains-greatest-maverick-building |access-date=8 July 2022 |work=Royal Academy}}</ref>

Further developments led to what many individuals and organizations consider the world's first skyscraper, the ten-story [[Home Insurance Building]] in Chicago, built from 1884 to 1885.<ref name="Verbivore's Feast, p289">{{cite book|last=Smith|first=Chrysti M. |title=Verbivore's Feast: Second Course: More Word & Phrase Origins|publisher=Farcountry Press |year=2006 |page=289 |isbn=978-1-56037-402-2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=d3bov9J_1w0C&pg=PA289|quote=The word ''skyscraper'', in its architectural context, was first applied to the Home Insurance Building, completed in Chicago in 1885.}}</ref> While its original height of 42.1&nbsp;m (138&nbsp;ft) does not qualify as a skyscraper today, it was record setting for the day. The building of tall buildings in the 1880s gave the skyscraper its first architectural movement, broadly termed the [[Chicago school (architecture)|Chicago School]], which developed what has been called the Commercial Style.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2015/apr/02/worlds-first-skyscraper-chicago-home-insurance-building-history|title=The world's first skyscraper: a history of cities in 50 buildings, day 9|first=Colin|last=Marshall|date=2 April 2015|website=The Guardian}}</ref>

The architect, Major [[William Le Baron Jenney]], created a load-bearing structural frame. In this building, a steel frame supported the entire weight of the walls, instead of load-bearing walls carrying the weight of the building. This was then draped with a stone curtain for aesthetic purposes. This development led to the "Chicago skeleton" form of construction. In addition to the steel frame, the Home Insurance Building also utilized fireproofing, elevators, and electrical wiring, key elements in most skyscrapers today.<ref>{{cite book|last=[[Judith Dupré|Dupré, Judith]] | date= 2013 | title= Skyscrapers: A History of the World's Most Extraordinary Buildings-Revised and Updated |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8-bXwAEACAAJ | location=New York | publisher= Hachette/Black Dog & Leventhal| page=14 | isbn=978-1-57912-942-2}}</ref>

[[Burnham and Root]]'s {{convert|45|m|abbr=on}} [[Rand McNally Building]] in Chicago, 1889, was the first all-steel framed skyscraper,<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |url=http://encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/300004.html |title=The Plan Comes Together |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Chicago |access-date=27 July 2013}}</ref> while [[Louis Sullivan]]'s {{convert|41|m|abbr=on}} [[Wainwright Building]] in St. Louis, Missouri, 1891, was the first [[steel-framed building]] with soaring vertical bands to emphasize the height of the building and is therefore considered to be the first early skyscraper. In 1889, the [[Mole Antonelliana]] in [[Italy]] was 197&nbsp;m (549&nbsp;ft) tall.

Most early skyscrapers emerged in the land-strapped areas of New York City and Chicago toward the end of the 19th century. A land boom in [[Melbourne]], Australia between 1888 and 1891 spurred the creation of a significant number of early skyscrapers, though none of these were steel reinforced and few remain today. Height limits and fire restrictions were later introduced. In the late 1800s, [[London]] builders found building heights limited due to issues with existing buildings. High-rise development in London is restricted at certain sites if it would obstruct [[protected view]]s of [[St Paul's Cathedral]] and other historic buildings.<ref>{{cite news |title=Policy 7.7 Location and design of tall and large buildings | url=https://www.london.gov.uk/what-we-do/planning/london-plan/past-versions-and-alterations-london-plan/london-plan-2016/london-plan-chapter-seven-londons-living-spac-12 |access-date=10 July 2022 |work=London City Hall}}</ref> This policy, 'St Paul's Heights', has officially been in operation since 1927.<ref>{{cite news |title=Protected views and tall buildings |url=https://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/services/planning/planning-policy/protected-views-and-tall-buildings |access-date=10 July 2022 |website=CityofLondon.gov.uk |archive-date=1 November 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221101182326/https://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/services/planning/planning-policy/protected-views-and-tall-buildings |url-status=dead }}</ref>

{{Multiple image
| image1 = Empire State Building cropped.jpg
| image2 = Boerentoren (cropped).JPG
| image3 = Edificio Kavanagh, Buenos Aires, Argentina, 31st. Dec. 2010 - Flickr - PhillipC (1).jpg
| total_width = 400
| header = Interwar skyscrapers
| caption1 = [[Empire State Building]] (1931), in [[New York City]], global standard of reference for the height and length of other mega-structures
| caption2 = [[Boerentoren]] (1932), in [[Antwerp]]
| caption3 = [[Edificio Kavanagh]] (1934), in [[Buenos Aires]]
}}

Concerns about [[aesthetics]] and fire safety had likewise hampered the development of skyscrapers across continental Europe for the first half of the 20th century. By 1940, there were around 100 high-rise buildings in Europe ([[List of early skyscrapers]]). Some examples of these are the {{convert|43|m|ft|abbr=on}} tall 1898 [[Witte Huis]] ''(White House)'' in [[Rotterdam]]; the {{convert|51.5|m|ft|abbr=on}} tall [[PAST (Poland)|PAST Building]] (1906–1908) in [[Warsaw]]; the [[Royal Liver Building]] in Liverpool, completed in 1911 and {{convert|90|m|ft|abbr=on}} high;<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|title=Royal Liver Building |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]] |url=http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/511448/Royal-Liver-Building |access-date=23 June 2011}}</ref> the {{convert|57|m|ft|abbr=on}} tall 1924 [[Wilhelm Marx House|Marx House]] in [[Düsseldorf]], the {{convert|65|m|ft|abbr=on}} tall [[:de:Borsig (Unternehmen)#Borsigturm|Borsigturm]] in [[Berlin]], built in 1924, the {{convert|65|m|ft|abbr=on}} tall [[Hansahochhaus]] in [[Cologne]], Germany, built in 1925; the {{convert|61|m|ft|abbr=on}} [[Kungstornen]] ''(Kings' Towers)'' in [[Stockholm]], Sweden, which were built 1924–25;<ref>{{cite book|last=Hultin |first=Olof |author2=Bengt O H Johansson |author3=Johan Mårtelius |author4=Rasmus Wærn |title=The Complete Guide to Architecture in Stockholm |publisher=Arkitektur Förlag |year=1998 |location=Stockholm |page=62 |isbn=978-91-86050-43-6}}</ref> the {{convert|77|m|ft|abbr=on}} [[:de:Ullsteinhaus|Ullsteinhaus]] in Berlin, Germany, built in 1927; the {{convert|89|m|ft|abbr=on}} [[Edificio Telefónica]] in [[Madrid]], Spain, built in 1929; the {{convert|87.5|m|ft|abbr=on}} [[Boerentoren]] in Antwerp, Belgium, built in 1932; the {{convert|66|m|ft|abbr=on}} [[Prudential, Warsaw|Prudential Building]] in [[Warsaw]], Poland, built in 1934; and the {{convert|108|m|ft|abbr=on}} [[Terrazza Martini Tower|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 the lead by 1895 with the completion of the {{convert|103|m|ft|abbr=on}} tall [[American Surety Building]], leaving New York with the title of the world's tallest building for many years. America by far produced the most skyscrapers in this period.