Department of History

The Fieldston School

Inventing Gotham

Skyscraper Timeline

1848

Bogardus and Badger introduce cast-iron front, lightweight and quick construction of commercial space (light)

1851

Singer patents sewing machine. Not the first, but Singer Co. takes the lead through pooling

1853

Elisha Otis shows elevator at Crystal Palace (height)

1863

Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. formed

1863-89

Rise of the corporation: Rockefeller builds Standard OIl monopoly, first through “pooling” (1863), then “trust” (1882), then “holding company” (1889): Vertical integration permits efficiency and innovation, combination and consolidation, as well as the destruction of competition through illegal or unfair practices: RR rebates, price cutting, etc.

1867

Commodore Vanderbilt builds NY Central trunk line from NYC to Chicago. RRs become earliest corporations as a result of the need for capital, organizational hierarchy, bureaucracy

1873

Carnegie begins building Carnegie Steel which becomes US Steel when Morgan buys for $250 mill.

1883

William LeBaron Jenney introduces steel frame construction in Home Life Insurance Bldg. (weight)

1891

Journalist introduces the term “skyscraper”

1893

Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. moves to #1 Madison Ave. (Madison Square). First building in “Chicago style” of courtyard, palazzo block (LeBrun)

1901

Flatiron Building (Daniel Burnham): 22 stories

1908

Singer Building (Ernest Flagg): 36 stories
Metropolitan Life Insurance Building (Napoleon LeBrun): 39 stories (world’s tallest until 1913)

1911

Woolworth Co. incorporated (begun in 1879)

1913

Woolworth Building (Cass Gilbert): 792 feet, 60 stories- tallest in the world from 1913- 1929 (Chrysler) . “Cathedral of Commerce”

1915

Equitable Building (E.R. Graham): 39 stories straight up from lot lines

1916

Zoning Ordinance establishes “setback” guidelines (unrestricted for 1/4 of lot) and use zones (commercial, residential, industrial) to provide access to light on the street and rationalize/ segregate uses in the city

1922

Standard Oil Building (now 26 Broadway- Carrere and Hastings)

1929

Chanin Building (Sloane and Robertson)
Chrysler Building (William Van Alen): stories, 1,048 feet (world’s tallest until 1931)
Bank of the Manhattan Company Building- 40 Wall (H. Craig Severance)

1930

Daily News (Raymond Hood)

1931

Empire State Building (Shreve, Lamb and Harmon): 85/102 stories, 1,250 feet. First proposed as a 50 story building filling zoning envelope, the financial calculus of “class A” office space (28’ deep), the cost of construction and land, and the retail value of being the “world’s tallest building” produces a taller building that does not fill the envelope. (world’s tallest until 1970)

1932

Irving Trust Building (Voorhees and Walker): “art deco” setback skyscraper (addtn. 1965)
RCA Building and Rockefeller Center(Hood, Corbett, etc.)

1938

First practical, low-voltage florescent lamp marketed (air-conditioning first used for offices in the late 1920s)

1952

Lever House (Gordon Bunschaft/ Skidmore, Owings and Merrill) “International Style” or “glass box”

1955

Revision of zoning law to increase “FAR” (floor area ratio)

1958

Seagram Building (Ludwig Mise van der Rohe, Philip Johnson

1960

One Chase Manhattan Plaza (SOM) descended from Burr’s Bank of the Manhattan Water Company and Chase National (Salmon Chase, Sec of Treas. under Lincoln). Run by David Rockefeller from 1961-81)

1961

Revision of zoning law provides for “plaza bonuses” and ends unrestricted height for 1/4 of lot. Encourages tower-in plaza schemes

1970

World Trade Center (Minoru Yamasaki and Emery Roth and Sons): 110 stories, 1,350 feet. (world’s tallest until Sears Tower, 1974)

1974

One Liberty Plaza (SOM