The Construction of Skyscrapers    

 

 

New York City is the birthplace of the skyscraper. Its ascendancy pre-dates the 20th Century.

 

 "The demand for tall office buildings arose during the 1860s as the commercial district along Broadway between the Battery and City Hall became more congested, and as large businesses, among them insurance and communications firms, sought more impressive and larger corporate headquarters. Skyscrapers were made possible by technological advances, especially the passenger elevator, used successfully in the late 1850s."

-- Encyclopedia of New York City, 1995.

 

 

Woolworth's Building  circa 1917

 

The Skyscraper Museum offers a variety of information and exhibits about skyscrapers.  PBS produces a web and television series about their history and construction.

 

"Building skyscrapers is the nearest peace-time equivalent of war... The analogy to war is the strife against the elements... continue." --- From Col. William A Starrett, Skyscrapers and the Men who Build Them, 1928.

 

 

Building of the Empire State Building, circa 1931

Empire State Building circa 1950

                                         

"The finishing touches are now being put on the biggest foundation in the world, which is below what are, as of now, the highest pair of buildings in the world. These are the twin hundred-and-ten-story towers of the World Trade Center, built for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey...continue." - Edith Iglauer, The New Yorker, November, 4, 1972.

 

World Trade Center under construction and completed