Race To The Sky
Manhattan's glittering towers were erected in a frenzy of speculation and self-promotion
Raskob and Smith hired Starrett, who embarked on a second all-out construction push. Another rental deadline loomed, 11 months away. To finish by May 1, 1931, he couldn't afford to let his 3,500 men come down from the higher floors for lunch, so he built them restaurants in the unfinished building. The Empire State Building opened on time in 1931, at less than half the projected $50 million cost.
It hardly mattered: By then the nation was mired in the Great Depression. With a 77 percent vacancy rate, critics began to call the world's tallest building the Empty State. One half-seriously suggested turning it into a hotel for New York's 1 million homeless. Starrett suffered a nervous breakdown, Ohrstrom lost his stake in 40 Wall Street, and Van Alen never worked on another big commission. "Another Louisiana Bubble had burst, but at least something more than paper and forlorn dreams were left," Starrett later wrote in his autobiography. "The tall buildings remained. They would stand for a long time."
Standing Tall
The Home Insurance Building, erected in Chicago in 1885, was the father of the modern skyscraper. The race for the tallest building continues despite the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
Home Insurance Building
138 feet
Chicago
1885
Woolworth Building
761 feet
New York
1913
40 Wall Street
925 feet
New York
1930
Chrysler Building
1,046 feet
New York
1930
Empire State Building
1,250 feet
New York
1931
John Hancock Center
1,127 feet
Chicago
1970
World Trade Center (Destroyed 2001)
South Tower
1,362 feet
North Tower
1,368 feet
New York
1972 (North Tower), 1973 (South Tower)
Sears Tower
1,450 feet
Chicago
1976
Petronas Twin Towers
1,483 feet
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
1998
Shanghai World Financial Center
1,509 feet
Shanghai
2007 (Under construction)
World Trade Center Memorial
1,775 feet
New York
Proposed
Sources: Greatbuildings.com; PBS.org; Skyscraperpage.com
Graphic by Stephen Rountree--USN&WR
DRAWING BOARD
SKY HIGH
In 1956, at 89, visionary architect Frank Lloyd Wright designed what was to be his final masterpiece: a mile-high skyscraper on the Chicago lakefront. Dubbed "Illinois Sky City," the 528-story building was to accommodate 112,000 tenants, sped aloft by atomic-powered elevators. Residents of lower floors might see rain falling while those at the top saw snow. Technologically feasible, the building was grounded by economic and safety considerations. -David Grimm
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