An 80-story dynamic shape-shifting skyscraper is the dream of the Israeli-Italian architect David Fisher and his company and if it becomes true, it will be the first 4D tower in the world as each of its floors will be able to rotate at command/will and independently. Despite the building being gone today, it has forever left its mark on Chicago’s skyscraper history. The proposed Dynamic Tower Hotel will have individually rotating units, allowing guests to swivel their rooms 360 degrees. While two additional stories were added to the Home Insurance Building in 1890, it was eventually demolished in 1931 to make way for the Field Building, now known as the LaSalle Bank Building. The frame was composed of wrought and cast iron alongside Bessemer rolled steel beams, leading the building to weigh in at a third of the mass of traditional masonry buildings of the time. All of these early skyscrapers are located in the United States, primarily in New York City and Chicago, and a few other major American cities. While that building no longer exists, many skyscrapers from that time period are still standing. It earned the title of the world’s first skyscraper thanks to the combination of its height and its revolutionary steel frame. The world’s first skyscraper was built in Chicago by William LeBaron Jenney in 1885. The Home Insurance Building, designed by William Le Baron Jenney, was located at the corner of Adam and LaSalle Street. A Closer Look at the Home Insurance Building Home Insurance Building, 1885, Published by Sprang Printing, Boston. The culmination of these factors led to the world’s first skyscraper in 1885: the Home Insurance Building, a ten-story, steel-frame fireproof building in downtown Chicago. Meanwhile, the Bessemer Converter of 1856 allowed for widespread, large-scale commercial production of steel.

While the top floor of buildings had once been inaccessible and undesirable, the elevator changed that forever. The worlds first skyscraper, built in 1885, was the Home Insurance. T he first was the safety elevator pioneered by Elisha Otis in 1854, which allowed for the safe transport of elevator passengers. In the late 1800s, a building had to be at least ten storeys tall to be a skyscraper. Luckily, two pivotal inventions from the mid-19th century made the introduction of soaring steel-framed buildings possible. And with the Great Fire as their lesson, architects also knew these structures had to be much more durable than those that had been so easily destroyed. Burj Khalifa, the tallest skyscraper in the world, in Dubai. With commerce and industry downtown exploding exponentially, these structures had to accommodate more residential space and more office space - leading to verticality as a solution. These materials were first used in the Crystal Palace by Ar. As the city looked to rebuild, architects pondered what the next generation of urban structures looked like. But it was a devastation that gave way to the opportunity to rebuild anew. How the World’s First Skyscraper Came to Be But did you know Chicago was also home to the world’s first ever skyscraper? Today we’re taking a look at the historic Home Insurance Building and how it came to be.

Chicago boasts many historical architectural feats - it was the host of the World’s Columbian Exposition in 1893 and the playground of greats including Frank Lloyd Wright and Louis Sullivan.

First skyscraper in the world