The World's Tallest Buildings (1885-2010) Quiz

Answer: Chicago

Before elevators, most residential buildings were limited to no more than seven stories. Wealthy tenants lived on lower floors, while poorer residents had to climb several, if not many flights of stairs, to reach their quarters on the higher floors. The elevator turned this social stratification upside down as illustrated by the desirability of the modern penthouse.

Elisha Otis introduced the safety elevator. This meant that the cab would not plunge downwards if the cable broke. He demonstrated this at the New York Exposition in 1854. In 1857, the passenger elevator was installed at 488 Broadway, New York City.

A skyscraper is a tall building having multiple floors. The building must be continuously habitable. There is no universally-accepted definition of how tall a building must be to qualify as a skyscraper, some sources state 100 meters (330 ft) and some 150 meters (490 ft) in height.

The Home Insurance Building is considered the world's first skyscraper. It was the first tall building that was supported internally and externally by a fireproof structural steel frame. It was originally ten stories / 138 ft (42 m) tall. Two extra floors were added in 1891, making the completed building 180 feet (54.9 meters) tall. The building opened in 1885 and was demolished 46 years later in 1931.

Answer: Philadelphia City Hall

When discussing the height of skyscrapers, we need to be careful with terminology and definition. For many years, the Great Pyramid of Giza, at 146.5 m (481 ft), was the tallest 'structure' in the world for over 3,800 years. In 1311, the Lincoln Cathedral commenced in 1311 was the tallest 'building' in the world until 1890. However, its spire collapsed in 1549 and other buildings (usually churches and cathedrals) earned the title. In 1890, the Ulm Cathedral became the world's tallest church with a steeple height of 161.5 m (530.0 ft). In 1884, the Washington Monument capped at 555 ft (169 m) became the world's tallest structure until 1889 when the Eiffel Tower was completed at 330 m (1,083 ft). Later, various radio masts and television towers were the world's tallest structures (but lacked architectural merit).

So when it came to height, 'structures' were excluded because they were not buildings, which, by definition, meant occupied or inhabited. When determining the world's tallest building, the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH), is considered the authority in determining building height criteria This organisation defines a "building" as "...structure that is designed for residential, business or manufacturing purposes" and that it "has floors".

Tall churches and cathedrals occupy somewhat of a middle ground: their ground-level areas are occupied, but their height is in their towers and spires which are not occupied. The CTBUH has not defined whether a church or cathedral is a "building" or merely a "structure". They are mentioned here to demonstrate that skyscrapers are not the only "tall buildings". Further, the CUTBH uses three different criteria for height determination of a building: "Height of the highest floor" is one criterion, and "height to the top of any part of the building" is another, but the default criterion used by the CTBUH is "height of the architectural top of the building". The top of the building would include spires but not antennae, masts or flag poles.

So while the Philadelphia City Hall is not a skyscraper, it was the world's tallest habitable building at 548 ft (167 m) when it was completed in 1894, surpassing the tallest church, the Ulm Cathedral. Philadelphia City Hall is the world's largest free-standing masonry building, being built using brick, white marble and limestone. This record is very unlikely ever to be broken given that the steel-framed skyscraper is much cheaper to build than masonry if a building being built needs to be tall.

The Louisiana State Capitol in Baton Rouge at 450 feet (137 m) tall and 34 stories, is the tallest capitol in the United States.

The Old Post Office Building was the second-tallest structure (after the Washington Monument), in the nation's capital as its clock tower reached 315 feet (96 m) when completed in 1899.

The Los Angeles City Hall when it was completed in 1928 until 1964 was the tallest building in Los Angeles at 138 m (453 ft).

Answer: True

With an overall height of 612 feet (187 m), the Singer Tower was the tallest building in the world from 1908 to 1909. The original building was a ten-story building with a load-bearing masonry wall built in 1897. To accommodate the tower, the original building was merged with the building next door and the whole building was retrofitted with a steel frame. The foundations for the tower had to be much deeper than the building foundations. Bedrock was 82 feet/28 metres below ground level and foundations were built on the hardpan just above the bedrock. This was far more expensive than budgeted but the owners were determined for New York not to trail Chicago in tall buildings (This, initially, was due mainly to New York City authorities, which would not allow steel-frame construction techniques until 1889. As such New York had only four buildings over 16 stories tall in 1893, and Chicago had 12).

The building and the tower were designed with elements of the Beaux-Arts style. When the tower was completed in 1908, its roof was 612 feet (187 m) high but with the addition of a 58-foot (18 m) flagpole, it had an overall height of 670 feet (200 m).

By 1958, its 50th anniversary, its magnificence was lost as it was surrounded by taller buildings. Singer sold the building and moved on. It was sold several times. The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission never considered designating it as a landmark, despite it was considered to be one of the most iconic buildings in New York. Because its tower occupied only one-sixth of the footprint of the building, this was considered wasteful and it was demolished between 1967-9 and replaced by the U.S. Steel building which was completed in 1974. It is 743 ft (226 m) tall and has 54 floors. with 2.3 million sq ft (210,000 m2) of office space.

Answer: Manhattan, New York City

F. W. Woolworth, the founder of a brand of popular five-and-ten-cent stores, planned the skyscraper in conjunction with the Irving National Exchange Bank to enable both companies to have their headquarters located within the building. The site is on Broadway in the Tribeca part of Manhattan in New York City. Completed in the neo-gothic style to resemble European cathedrals in 1913, only two years after commencement, at a height of 792 feet (241 m) It was the tallest building in the world between 1913-1930.

In 2012, the top 30 floors were converted into apartments but commercial tenants continued to use the rest of the building. The Building has been designated a National Historic Landmark since 1966, and a New York City landmark since 1983.

Answer: Art Deco

When the spire was added to the top of the newly constructed Chrysler Building in 1930, at the intersection of 42nd Street and Lexington Avenue in Manhattan, it was 1,046 ft (319 m) tall. This edged out 40 Wall Street which was being built at the same time, for the title of the tallest building.

The head of the Chrysler Corporation, Walter Chrysler constructed the building, While the Chrysler Building was built and designed specifically for Chrysler, the Chrysler Corporation did not contribute to the cost of its construction and never owned it; Walter Chrysler covered the entire cost from personal funds.

Uniquely, in the Art Deco style, over fifty metal ornaments adorned the building's corners on five specific floors. These resemble gargoyles on Gothic cathedrals. On the 31st floor, as well as gargoyles, there are replicas of the 1929 Chrysler model radiator caps. The 61st floor is decorated with eagles in the style of hood/bonnet ornaments. The use of stainless steel resembles the chrome used as decorative elements in automobiles of the era.

The American Institute of Architects ranked the building ninth on America's Favorite Architecture List in 2007. The building was designated a New York City landmark in 1978, and a National Historic Landmark in 1976.

Answer: Almost 40 Years

The Empire State Building became the tallest building in the world in 1931 11 months after the Chrysler Building held the title. It had a roof height of 1,250 feet (380 m) and, including its antennae stands at 1,454 feet (443.2 m) tall. It is a 102-story Art Deco skyscraper in Manhattan and was the first building to be more than 100 stories. It is named after the "Empire State", the nickname of the state of New York. It remained the world's tallest building until the World Trade Center's first tower was topped out in 1970.

A popular tourist attraction with observatories on the 80th, 86th and 102nd, floor the building has been seen in more than 250 television series and movies. It has been named one of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World by the American Society of Civil Engineers. In 2007, it was ranked first on the American Institute of Architects' List of America's Favorite Architecture.

Answer: A 362 foot (110 m) telecommunications antenna on the roof was needed to claim World's Tallest Building

Commonly called the Twin Towers, One World Trade Center and Two World Trade Center were the main buildings of the World Trade Center. When completed in 1972, 1 World Trade Center became the tallest building in the world passing the Empire State Building a 40-year reign. The North Tower was 1,368 feet (417 m) tall and had a 362-foot (110 m) telecommunications antenna or mast built on the roof in 1979. The highest point of the North Tower reached 1,730 feet (530 m). However, masts and antennae cannot be counted in the overall height of skyscrapers (but spires can be). The North Tower was six feet taller (1.8m) than the South Tower due to the bedrock on which the foundations rested being six feet lower on the South Tower site.

Minoru Yamasaki was chosen by the Port Authority (owners) and Emery Roth & Sons as associate architects. His first draft made the towers 80 stories tall, but to meet the owners' requirement for 10,000,000 square feet (930,000 m2) of office space, the buildings needed to be 110 stories tall which was indeed the final number of stories (and a world record surpassing the 102 of the Empire State Building). The buildings were designed with narrow office windows 18 inches (46 cm) wide, which was due to Yamasaki's fear of heights as he wanted to make building occupants feel secure.

An estimated 50,000 people worked in the Twin Towers and another 140,000 visitors were in the building on any given day. The World Trade Center was so expansive it was given its own ZIP Code of 10048. The towers had an observation deck on top of the South Tower and the Windows on the World restaurant on the top floor of the North Tower.

Answer: Sears Tower

By 1969, Sears Roebuck & Co. was the largest retailer in the world, with approximately 350,000 employees. In 1966, their Chicago offices were inadequate and they wanted a single building in Chicago to house its executive offices. Originally the required 4.2 million square feet (390,000 m2) split into either 70 stories with 60,000 square feet (5,600 m2) each or a building of 60 stories with 70,000 square feet (6,500 m2) each. The final height of the single building was 442 m (1,450 ft).

There was no agenda to build the world's tallest building at this stage. Ultimately a tapering design was chosen pushing the height of the building upward. Chicago had lax zoning laws (300 stories was possible!) but the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) restricted the height of structures in Chicago to protect air traffic. They denied that they had imposed a height limit on the proposed building However, the region's minimum safe altitude would need to be raised by 1,000 feet (300 m) if the building was a single foot (0.30 m) taller than the final plan.

Answer: The 88 stories was the most in any skyscraper when it was first opened.

In 1998, the title of the world's tallest building moved out of the US to Malaysia, perhaps a surprising location for some. Standing at 451.9 metres (1,483 feet), the two towers are identical in height and 10m (33 feet) higher than the Sears Tower which held the record for 25 years. Both towers are 88 stories which is well short of the World Trade Center's 110 stories and even a fair bit less than the Empire State Building's 103 stories.

The double-decker Sky Bridge connecting the two towers at the 41st and 42nd floors is 170 meters high from the ground, it was the highest two-story sky bridge in the world. The sky bridge is a safety device to assist in emergencies such as evacuations. It is not attached to the main structure but is designed to slide in and out of the towers to prevent the bridge from breaking, as the buildings sway to some degree. It also offers some degree of structural support for the towers. To obtain government funding the entire project had to be completed within six years. To meet this target, two building companies were contracted, one from Japan, and one from Korea who built a tower each. The deadline was met.

Over 35 years after they were built, the towers were still the most famous buildings in Malaysia but they are no longer the tallest in the country: in 2019, they were surpassed by the Exchange 106 which was 1.8 metres taller and, in turn, was surpassed in time by the Merdeka 118 which is a massive 678.9 m (2,227 ft) tall. When this building was topped out in 2022 it became the second-tallest building and structure in the world.

Answer: The number of floors in the skyscraper

When it opened in 2004, the Taipei 101 was declared the tallest building in the world at 508.2 m (1,667 ft) tall. (The first building in the world to pass the half-a-kilometre mark). The tower has an unusual facade evoking the traditional Asian architecture of the Chinese pagoda. The building has several observation decks but the open-air rooftop terrace on the 91st floor is notable for hosting rock concerts.

The design of Taipei 101 is heavily affected by Chinese culture and superstition including lucky numbers. The main portion of the building is composed of eight-floor modules that flare outward with each story. Each module of eight floors is stacked on top of another lower module. Number 8 is considered a lucky number in Chinese culture, representing prosperity and good fortune. Conversely, the number four is considered unlucky as it sounds like the word for 'death' so there is no 44th floor which is replaced by level 43, with level 42A, in turn, replacing the actual level 43 to account for the 'missing' floor number.

As the skyscraper is only 200 meters from a major fault line, a tuned mass damper is suspended from the 91st to the 87th floor of the tower which is actually a steel pendulum hung with several cables. As such the pendulum will swing in the opposite direction of the sway of the building affected by strong winds or earthquakes. In this manner, the sway of the building is reduced.

Answer: True

The decision to construct the world's tallest building was due to the UAE government's decision to reduce dependency on an oil-based economy, and for Dubai to gain international recognition to attract investors to the city and region. The skyscraper was named in honour of the former president of the United Arab Emirates, Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan who contributed funding to the project.

The skyscraper, at 828 m (2,717 ft), is a massive 320m (1040ft) taller than the building it surpassed, the Taipei 101. Some of the records the Barj Khalifa held when completed included:
- Tallest existing structure: replaced KVLY-TV mast, Blanchard North Dakota USA - 628.8 m 2,063 ft
- Tallest structure ever built: replaced Warsaw, Poland radio mast - 646.38 m or 2,121 ft (Collapsed 1991)
- Tallest freestanding structure: replaced CN Tower, Toronto - 553.3 m or 1,815 ft
- Building with most floors: 163 previously World Trade Center - 110

The building is used for residential, retail, commercial, and hotel purposes.