Plan for War Office, England, 1857

Except in lower Manhattan in New York City, until 1885 few U.S. office buildings exceeded five stories. In lower Manhattan, after 1865 some office buildings without elevators were taller than five stories, but apparently the top floors generally were not used for offices. In addition, some hotels were taller than five stories. Construction of seven to ten story office buildings with elevators began in the 1870s. 

British and Irish Telegraph Office, London, drawing 1859.

Public Ledger Newspaper Building, Philadelphia, PA, built 1867-68.

Buffalo German Insurance Co. Building, Buffalo, NY, built 1879.

By contrast, in New York City a 30 story office building was completed in 1899, a 47 story office building was completed in 1908, and a 60 story office building was completed in 1913.

Except to the extent they are constrained by zoning or building codes, owners of new office buildings chose building heights that produce the greatest profits. The incentive to build taller buildings is that they use less land per square foot of office space. One disincentive to building higher buildings is that the cost of construction per floor increases with the height of the building because the entire building structure, including foundations and vertical supports, must be stronger.  Another disincentive to building higher buildings relates to the cost of moving people up and down. Prior to the development of practical passenger elevators, the market value of office space declined with distance from the street because people had to walk up and down. After the development of passenger elevators, the cost of providing elevators increased faster than the height of a building, because more and more of the otherwise usable internal space on lower floors had to be turned over to elevator shafts needed to reach higher floors.

With that background, one can see why office buildings did not exceed five stories until the late 19th century.  First, central city land prices were comparatively low, so there was comparatively little incentive to bear additional construction costs in order to economize on land. Second, prior to the development of practical passenger elevators, no one would pay much for offices located above the fifth floor of a building. Thus, the incremental cost of adding a sixth or higher floor was greater than the incremental rental revenue one could earn from the extra space. Third, the cost of constructing higher floors was high, for either of two reasons. If one relied on stone or brick walls for structural support, the walls in the lower part of the building had to be made thicker, which increased construction costs and reduced usable internal space. One could avoid that by using iron or steel, but these metals were expensive.

        Central City Land Prices

All these things changed during the late 19th century, and it therefore became profitable to build taller buildings. First, central city land prices increased as urban employment grew and companies competed for central locations for offices and other purposes. The tallest office buildings were built in the largest urban areas--New York City and Chicago--because they had the highest central city land prices. Chicago Loop district land prices increased from $130,000 per quarter acre in 1880 to $900,000 per quarter acre in 1890. (Museum of Modern Art, Early Modern Architecture, 1870-1910, 1911, p. 10.) In discussing the high office buildings built in the late 19th century in lower Manhattan, Bolton reported that the "increase in the value of the land...rendered a large number of the old buildings, which were of four storeys to seven storeys in height, unprofitable." (R. P. Bolton, "The High Office-Buildings of New York," 1900.)

        Passenger Elevators

Second, passenger elevators were developed, and they traveled at increasing speeds. Elisha Otis invented the first successful elevator safety brake in 1852 and installed a passenger elevator with a safety brake in a five-story store in 1857. Early elevators were powered by steam. The three images below show the three components of an 1876 Otis steam passenger elevator. The machine to the left was installed in the attic.  The machine to the right was installed in the basement. 

                   
1876 Otis Passenger Steam Elevator

In 1872, C. W. Baldwin, who worked for Otis, invented the geared hydraulic elevator.  Hydraulic elevators were powered by water pressure supplied directly by city water pipes or by the weight of water pumped a storage tank located on top of the building. Otis began producing hydraulic elevators in 1874.  Once such elevators were installed in buildings, companies were willing to pay substantially more for space in higher stories than had previously been the case. Hogan reports that after 1875 "elevators became an essential part of office building construction. This new means of vertical transportation brought about a complete reversal of building operations and rental policies. The lower floors were no longer as desirable as they were in nonelevator buildings because the demand now shifted to the upper stories which were removed from the noise and dust of the street. The upper floors actually commanded higher rents." (William T. Hogan, Economic History of the Iron and Steel Industry in the United States, 1971, Vol. 1, p. 131.)

One type of hydraulic elevator used an hydraulic motor consisting of a piston inside a cylinder. The elevator cabin was suspended from wire ropes. The image to the left below shows an 1881 Otis elevator of this type. The operation of the hydraulic motor was controlled by pulling on the rope that passed through the elevator cabin. A second type of hydraulic elevator rested on top of a plunger rather than being suspended by wire ropes.  The shaft for the plunger was sunk in the ground as deep as the building was high. In the late 19th century direct plunger elevators were widely used for freight, and they were used in at least some passenger applications in hotels.  In 1902 Otis began using direct plunger elevators for passengers in buildings up to 25 stories high. The image to the right shows an Otis plunger freight elevator. 

             
Otis piston (left) and plunger (right) hydraulic elevators                  

Until 1904, hydraulic elevators were the dominant systems used in high-rise buildings. Still, Bolton (1900) reported that "elevator service to the upper floors of the very high buildings has proved insufficient, so that the present practice has settled down to the erection of buildings of 200 feet to 250 feet in height, containing fifteen to eighteen storeys." 

Electric geared elevators were introduced in the late 1880s and were installed in a number of office buildings of moderate height by 1900.  The image to the right shows an electric geared passenger elevator produced by Morse, Williams & Co. c. 1890.  Otis advertised a similar model in 1890-91.  However, electric geared drum elevators could not compete with hydraulic elevators in taller buildings, where high speed was required. The gearing was not suitable for high speeds, and the drums did not hold sufficient cable for high buildings. Nevertheless, around the turn of the century "arguments over the merits of different types of hydraulic elevators and the various new developments in electric elevators flew fast and furiously in magazines, newspapers and, as might be expected, in sales negotiations." (The Otis Bulletin, Nov. 1948)

In 1904, the Otis Elevator Co. installed the first electric gearless traction machines, which had first been used in 1903.  These machines immediately made hydraulic elevators obsolete.  Electric gearless traction machines were still the standard in 1948.

        Prices of Steel and the Technology of Steel Frame Construction

The third reason that it became profitable to built skycrapers is that, as a result of the development of the U.S. steel industry, the cost of steel and hence steel frame construction declined dramatically during the late 19th century, and with it the incremental cost of adding higher stories to buildings fell.  Bolton (1900) reported that the steel skeleton of a 15 to 18 story office building weighed 1,800 to 2,200 tons, out a of total building weight of 10,000 to 12,000 tons. The following table presents data from the 1896 Annual Statistical Report of the American Iron and Steel Association showing the decline in steel prices from 1867 to 1895.

Price of Bessemer Steel Rails at Pennsylvania Mills, 1867-95 ($/ton)

Technological developments in three additional areas were important in the development of tall office buildings in the late nineteenth century: fireproofing, foundations, and self-supporting metal frame construction. In a major fire, unprotected metal bends or melts. Beginning around 1880, it became standard practice to enclose metal supports in terra-cotta as a means of fireproofing. New techniques for construction of foundations to support heavy buildings were developed.

Until 1885, the weight of office buildings was transferred to the foundations by the stone or brick walls. Beginning around 1850, some office buildings were constructed with cast iron facades and cast iron interior vertical supports. However, these cast iron buildings also had brick load-bearing walls. Donald A. MacKay writes that "Many office buildings of the late 1800's still had masonry walls in addition to inner metal supports, for the skeleton frames of these earliest forerunners of today's skyscrapers could not have stood without the support they received from their masonry walls." (The Building of Manhattan, 1987, p.32.) Chicago's Home Insurance Building, completed in 1885, had cast iron columns embedded in the masonry walls to carry some of the building's weight. New York City's Tower Building, completed in 1889, was the first office building to rely entirely on a metal skeleton to carry its weight. 

To support the floors, around 1850 buildings used wood or cast iron beams. In the mid-1850s, wrought iron beams were introduced. In 1885, steel beams were introduced. Steel was too expensive for general architectural use until after 1890. (William H. Jordy, American Buildings and Their Architects, 1972, Vol. 3, p. 21.) After 1890, steel was used for both vertical supports and horizontal beams, and buildings therefore had steel skeletons. Bolton (1900) reported that "Before the development of the method of steel skeleton construction, extreme height was impractical, but after its success was demonstrated in 1889, in the Tower building of ten storeys, a great impetus was given to increase of height."

The L.C. Smith Building, also known as the Smith Tower, was Seattle's first skyscraper.  The photograph to the right shows this 42-story steel skeleton building under construction in 1913.  The photograph to the left shows the completed building.

Hogan (1971) reports that about 50 steel buildings were constructed in Chicago between 1885 and 1895. Nash reported that in 1890 there were only 6 buildings (including but not limited to office buildings) taller than 10 stories in New York City. (Eric P. Nash, Manhattan Skyscrapers, 1999) Bolton (1900) reported that "In lower New York City there are sixty-five buildings, each exceeding 200 feet in height, devoted exclusively to office accommodation." The following table from Bolton provides a partial list of tall office buildings in lower Manhattan in 1900. According to Bolton, there were between 1,000 and 4,000 workers in each of these buildings. All of these buildings appear to have been constructed during the 1890s.  Nash reported that in 1908 there were 538 buildings (including but not limited to office buildings) taller than 10 stories in New York City.

Selected Tall Steel Skeleton Office Buildings in Lower Manhattan, 1900

Early Office Skyscrapers

Click on images to enlarge	Click on building names for more photographs. Then click on the Back button on your browser to return here.	Height (feet)	Stories
Library of Congress, P&P Div.	Equitable Life Assurance Building, NY, NY, 1870. The first office building with passenger elevators. The hydraulic elevators were made by Otis. Destroyed by fire in 1912.	130	7
Image by Hermann Claussen, 1873. Lib. of Congress, P&P Div.	New York Tribune Building, NY, NY, 1875. Described at the time as "the highest building on Manhattan Island," but the spire was shorter than that on Trinity Church (285 feet). While metal columns and beams supported interior floors, the exterior walls were masonry.	260 to top of spire	9
Click on building name for photos.	Western Union Building, NY, NY, 1875. While metal columns and beams supported interior floors, the exterior walls were masonry. Destroyed by fire in 1890.	230	10.5
Click on building name for photos.	Washington Building, NY, NY, 1882-85. The tallest office building in the world.	258	.
Click on building name for photos. Then click on the " Back" button on your browser to return here.	Home Insurance Building, Chicago, IL, 1885. Cast iron columns were embedded in the brick walls. The first six stories had wrought iron beams while the remaining stories had Bessemer steel beams. In 1890, the height was increased from 10 to 12 stories. Demolished in 1931.	180	10
Museum of the City of New York	Tower Building, NY, NY, 1889. "The earliest example of skeleton construction in which the entire weight of the walls and floors is borne and transmitted to the foundation by a framework of metallic posts and beams." The building site was only 21.5 feet wide. Demolished in 1914.	160	10-13
Click on building name for photos.	Tacoma Building, Chicago, IL, 1888 or 1889. Walls supported entirely by its steel frame.  Five Otis Brothers hydraulic passenger elevators. Demolished 1929.	.	14 (12  + attic)
Harper's Weekly, Oct. 27, 1888.	Times Building, NY, NY, 1889.	.	.
	World Building, NY, NY, 1889 or 1890. Also known as the Pulitzer Building. Tallest office building in the world. Steel columns. The weight of the building was supported by masonry walls as thick as 9 feet. Ten Otis Brothers hydraulic elevators, one of which traveled to the observation platform in the dome. Demolished 1955.	309-349	18-26
	Monadnock Building, Chicago, 1891. The building was described on the 1904 postcard to the left as the "largest office building in the world." It is the tallest building in the world that is supported primarily by brick load bearing walls. The masonry walls are 6 feet thick at ground level and gradually narrow at higher levels. Cast and wrought iron columns and beams support the interior.	197	16
	Masonic Temple, Chicago, IL, 1892. Destroyed 1939. It was the "highest office building in the world" in 1892-1896 and probably until 1898. (It may have been considered higher than the World Building because the highest occupied floor was higher.)  To the right is an 1894 photograph of Chicago with the Masonic Temple at the far right. The tall building to the left of the Masonic Temple is the Unity (16 stories). The next two are the Title & Trust and the Schiller. The one at the far left is the Ashland Block (1892).	302	20
Click on building name for photos.	Old Colony Building, Chicago, IL, 1894. Iron and steel frame construction. Hydraulic elevators.	215	17
	Manhattan Life Insurance Building, NY, NY, 1894. In 1894, this was the tallest building in the U.S. Demolished in the 1960s.	348	17
Click on building name for photos.	Postal Telegraph Building, NY, NY, c. 1894. First electric elevators in a lower Manhattan office building.	.	14
	New York Life Insurance Building, NY, NY. Drawing dates from 1897.	220	16
	Bowling Green Building, NY, NY. Image dates from 1898.	240	16
.	American Tract Society Building, NY, NY, 1896.	291	23
	Gillender Building, NY, NY, 1897. Demolished in 1910 to make way for the 37 story Bankers' Trust Building.	273	19
	St. Paul Building, NY, NY, 1898. Tallest building in the US when it was completed. The early 1900s photograph to the left shows the Park Row Building (on left in photograph) and the St. Paul Building.	315-325	25-26
Detroit Publishing Co. Lib. of Congress, P&P Div., LC-USZC4-5091.	Park Row Building, NY, NY, 1899. Also known as the Syndicate Building. The Park Row Building (on right in photograph) was the tallest building in the world until 1908. It had electric elevators. When this photograph was taken, c. 1901, the St. Paul Building (center in photograph) was the second tallest.	338-391	30
	Queen Building, probably NY, NY, before 1900.	.	15
	Flat Iron Building, NY, NY, 1902. Also known as the Fuller Building. Built with a steel skeleton and six Otis Brothers hydraulic elevators with a speed of 600 feet per minute.	285-307	20-21
	Times Building, NY, NY, 1905.	476 to top of flag pole	25
	Dayton, OH, 1906.	.	13
	Downtown, Cincinatti, OH, 1906.	.	15-16
	Singer Building, NY, NY, 1908. The Singer Tower, in the background in this picture, was the tallest building in the world prior to completion of the Metropolitan Life Building in 1909. It was build with Otis electric gearless traction elevators. Demolished in 1968.	612	47
	Metropolitan Life Insurance Tower, NY, NY, 1909. This succeeded the Singer Building as the tallest building in the world. It was build with Otis electric gearless traction elevators.	700	48-51
	Woolworth Building, NY, NY, 1913. Tallest building in the world until completion of the Chrysler Building. 3,000 offices occupied by 12,000 people. Built with 26 Otis electric gearless traction elevators.	792	59-60 (or 30 base  plus 25 tower)
	Equitable Building, NY, NY, 1915. "Largest business building in the world. It is 38 stories with a floor space of 45 acres. It houses 15,000 people." It was build with electric gearless traction elevators.  This building was built on the site of the 1870 Equitable Building after the latter was destroyed by fire.	538-544	38
	Chrysler Building, NY, NY, 1930. Occupied by 15,000 people. Build with Otis Signal Control electric traction elevators.	1,046	77
	Empire State Building, NY, NY, 1931. Long the world's tallest building. Occupied by 15,000 people. Built with 58 Otis Signal Control electric traction elevators.	1,250	102

By comparison, the World Trade Center (1971-2001) was 1,368 feet tall, the Sears Tower (1974) is 1,454 feet tall, 
and the Petronas Towers (1998) are 1,483 feet tall.