I posted this in another thread and thought it would make an interesting discussion.
Claims that Chicago is the "birthplace of the modern skyscraper" have been challenged by architects and experts in the past. There are some very real and very credible arguments that New York is the true birthplace.
In most accurate versions of history, New York City had surpassed Chicago in the "skyscraper race" in the early to mid 20th century. The first buildings that
everyone and their grandmother considered "skyscrapers" were built in New York City. The word
skyscraper (originally a nautical term) was first printed in Chicago but was more popularly applied to the tall buildings being built in New York in the late 19th century. In the grand scheme of things, Chicago was only partially responsible for advancing the technology. The first metal framed building was built in England
nearly 90 years before the Home Insurance Building in Chicago! And then there is this...
from Science News all the way back in 1986 about a
skeleton frame buiding in New york that pre-dates the Home Insurance Building and is thought to be the first "true skyscraper"... the quote is by an expert on Chicago architecture and retired Northwesten professor.
"In my view, we can no longer argue that the Home Insurance Building was the first skyscraper," says Carl W. Condit, now retired from Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill., and author of several books on Chicago architecture. "The claim rests on an unacceptably narrow idea of what constitutes a high-rise commercial building," he says.
"If there is a building in which all these technical factors (of a skyscraper)--structural system, elevator, utilities--converge at the requisite level of maturity," argues architectural historian Carl Condit, "it's the Equitable Life Assurance Building in New York." Completed in
1870, the building rose 7-1/2 stories, twice the height of its neighbors. To lighten the building and keep costs down, engineer George B. Post used a primitive type of skeletal frame in its construction. A great fire destroyed the building in 1912.
Here is also a link..
The first skyscraper - new theory that Home Insurance Building was not the first | Science News | Find Articles at BNET
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