![]() During the 1920s, the skyscrapers of New York and Chicago inflected forms prescribed by zoning legislation, creating an urban vernacular specific to each city. The earliest skyscrapers in New York, the nation’s corporate headquarters, for example, recalled the towers of preindustrial Europe, and thus served as memorable landmarks, as demonstrated by the Woolworth Building, whereas those of Chicago, an entrepôt with an entrepreneurial business culture, exemplified the organic-functionalist theories of John Wellborn Root and Louis Sullivan, as realized in the Monadnock and Wainwright Buildings. Throughout history, the architecture of the skyscraper has illustrated aspects of American economic, political, and cultural change. Within the city, a vast transportation infrastructure by rail facilitated movement to and from the skyscrapers of the central business district. Making structures habitable for work or living, for example, required mechanical and electrical systems-initially plumbing, heating, and illumination, and later air conditioning. ![]() A complete definition of the skyscraper, however, encompasses several key technologies. Or is it simply “height”? That would place its origins in New York City during the late 1860s to mid-1870s with the Equitable, Western Union, and Tribune Buildings, both of which utilized elevator technology to attain height. More recently, historians have asked: Is the type’s defining feature the technology of metal skeleton construction? If so, that places its origins in Chicago in the 1880s with the Home Insurance Building, Tacoma Building, Masonic Temple, and Reliance Building. ![]() In history, the question of a single definitive “first skyscraper” was debated throughout the 20th century. Our knowledge of the skyscraper as a building type is based on research exploring the type’s many facets, among them architectural, technological, and urban.
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