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When was the first skyscraper built?

The first skyscraper, the 10-story Home Insurance Company Building in Chicago, Illinois, was completed in 1885. It was designed by William Le Baron Jenney (1832-1907).

A skyscraper is a very tall building that is supported by an internal frame of iron and steel, rather than by the walls themselves. Skyscrapers are built to save ground space where there is limited land.

Three technological developments made the construction of skyscrapers possible: a better understanding, from engineering and bridge design, of how materials behave under stress and load (weight); the use of steel or iron framing to create a structure, with the outer materials "hung" on the frame; and the invention of the first passenger elevator by Elisha Otis (1811—1861) in 1852.

Sources: Bagenal, Philip, and Jonathan Meades. The Illustrated Atlas of the World's Great...

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