FIRST SKYSCRAPERS
TRANSFORM CITY SKIES

Did you know that the first skyscrapers were just 10 stories tall? William LeBaron Jenney built the first building to “scrape the sky” in 1885. The development of the steel frame and elevators made skyscrapers possible. The first building to reach 100 stories (1,250 feet) was the Empire State Building, which was built by the architectural firm Shreve, Lamb and Harmon in 1931. See how its height compares to the height of a person!

PHOTO: Creative Commons
BY-SA 3.0

TALLEST BUILDING
REACHES NEW HEIGHTS

Think about this: The height of the world's first skyscraper equals 30 people, each six feet tall, stacked head to toe. The height of the Empire State Building equals 208 people stacked head to toe. It would take 453 people to reach the top of today’s tallest skyscraper, the Burj-Khalifa in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Designed by American architect Adrian Smith, the structure is a whopping half-mile tall! See how it compares to other towers.

PHOTO: Creative Commons
BY-SA 2.0

DESIGN
TOOLS

9.11
The 9.11 Memorial opened on Sept. 11, 2011. Read about the winning design — Reflecting Absence.

LEGO
Lego Architecture: Towering Ambition showcases feats of architecture built entirely of Lego bricks. It runs through Sept. 3 at Washington D.C.'s National Building Museum.

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