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Culture and Recreation - Who Invented The Skyscraper?

Who invented the skyscraper?

American architect William Le Baron Jenney (1832–1907) is generally credited with the invention of the skyscraper. He first designed the ten-story Home Insurance Building on the corner of La Salle and Monroe streets in Chicago in 1885. This was the first building in which the entire structure was of "skeleton construction" (cast iron, wrought iron, and steel). Some experts believe that two of Jenney's former students designed the first skyscraper. The American firm of Holabird and Roche of Chicago designed the skeleton-framed Tacoma Building, which was completed in 1889. Regardless of who came first, the advent of steel building materials, the development of safe elevators, and the use of central heating systems all combined to make the construction of skyscrapers possible. By the turn of the twentieth century there were several skyscrapers built including the Reliance Building (Chicago, 1895),...

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