William LeBaron Jenney’s Home Insurance Building in Chicago was the first tall building anywhere in the world to be supported, both inside and outside, by a fireproof metal frame, making it the world’s first skyscraper.
When it was built in 1884 large buildings up until then had been supported by nothing but their own masonry walls. Because of its metal frame the Home Insurance Building wouldn’t get thicker, darker, stuffier and heavier the taller it got. It weighed only a third as much as it would have if it had been built in stone.
The building stood for less than 50 years when it was demolished in 1931. A group of architects, including Andrew Rebori, examined the structure as it came down.
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