A look at the tallest buildings in the world
New York City is where the sky scraper found its place to shine. It was custom made for the task; Manhattan Island is many rocks placed down in the Upper New York Bay, at the mouth of the Hudson River by melting glaciers. These are ideal counterweights for anchoring down tall structures.
350 Fifth Ave, New York, New York., that’s the street address for the most famous tall building in the world. It was choice Manhattan real estate owned by the Astor’s, and later the site of the original Waldorf- Astoria hotel, “operator, can you ring MUrrayhill5-1212 please?” ” I’m sorry” the operator says “that number is no longer in service”. It was sold to a corporation, backed by GM and DuPont in 1929. The Empire State Building standing as the tallest building in the world for 39 years from 1931 to 1970 is 1,252 feet above midtown with 102 stories. It sits where some massive rocks settled down, delivered by the glaciers. The developing corporation for The Empire State Building was headed by Alfred E. Smith former New York Governor, and was in direct competition with the builders of the Chrysler building on Lexington Ave, briefly the world’s tallest building in 1930, at 77 stories, 1048 feet. These two building capped an era of competition reaching for the sky starting with the Singer Building 1909 at 41 stories, at 612 ft.
Other notable building of the era were The Park Row Building downtown Manhattan, in the maze of streets surrounding the financial district and city hall in NYC reigned as the tallest build in the world, 30 floors at 391 ft from 1899-1908. The Singer Buildings’ hold on the title was short lived, when the Metropolitan Life Building rose to 700 ft in 1909. In 1913 another corporate giant, Woolworth, entered the game and with its corporate headquarters at 233 Broadway. It rose792 ft with 55 stories and held the title until 1930 when the Bank of Manhattan (known today as the Trump Building) raised the bar to 927 ft and 72 stories. It was the dominate structure downtown until the completion of the Twin Towers, 1353 ft 110 stories in 1970, the next era in sky scraping.
In 1973 the Sears Tower of Chicago Illinois soaring 1450 ft, grabbed the title from the big apple and ran with it for the next for 25 years when the title left the United States, and headed for Malaysia. The Petronas Tower’s I & II in Kuala Lumpur captured the honors in 1998 engaging in the world wide stretch toward the sky.
Shanghai, China has two buildings over 1000 ft, the Jin Mao Building and the Shimao International Plaza. Hong Kong has four skyscrapers over the 1000ft mark, The Centre, Bank of China, Central Plaza, and #2 International Financial Centre, making China a formidable competitor in the race to the sky.
And the tallest building in the world, as of 2004 is; the Taipei Financial Center, Taipei, Taiwan, at 1671 ft. and 101 stories, but for how much longer?
It’s only a matter of time before the next taller project pierces the sky. On the drawing board/and nearing completion are, a number of projects in China, a 2200+ft 160 story sky scraper in Dubai, UAE, and of course the Freedom Tower proposed to reach 1776 ft at the former site of The World Trade Center New York, USA.
Nothing could ever replace the lives and the beloved landmark that met a premature and senseless end on September 11, 2001, but it’s human nature to carry on. And carry on we will! Record or no record let the Freedom Tower soar, and bring honor to the victims of the tragedy, and to the United States, and to New York were the desire to reach to the heavens, met modern technology, a little over a century ago.
