For about 4,000 years the tallest structure built by humans was The Great Pyramid Of Giza. It was built around 2500 BC as a tomb for the Pharaoh Khufu. Its height is 145m. This record was broken only after the 1300s, when a cathedral was built in England that was ~160m tall. For the next 500 years, this record was beaten by a series of churches, until the Eiffel Tower was built in 1889.
But then, Eiffel Tower isn’t precisely a building. It’s not a building in which people can stay or work in. In terms of proper buildings, this building by Chicago Home Insurance, built in 1884, is known as the world’s first skyscraper. This was a building built for humans. Where people went to work, it was used as an office space. Before this, the previous tall structures, were either built for monarchs, or for Gods.
This was a major turning point in human history. Though this building was only 55m tall. Shorter than the Great Pyramid of Giza. But only after this, did we get the innovation and technology that we could build habitable skyscrapers. When the competition to build tall buildings began, it was limited to New York and Chicago. Because America was the world’s largest and most productive economy till the end of the 19th century. And these 2 cities were central to the most economic boom.
