HEIGHT
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 click on text | Mural of the World's Tallest Towers |
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This room explains the two divergent concepts of height in skyscraper construction: engineering height and economic height. A wall mural 8 feet by 16 feet illustrates all the structures from 1890 to the present day that have been, successively, the world's tallest building. Nine of these were in Lower Manhattan: the World, Manhattan Life Insurance, St. Paul, and Park Row buildings, the Singer Tower, Woolworth Building, 40 Wall Street, and the World Trade Center twin towers. The west wall of the room reproduces at full scale the bays of the World Trade Center (i.e., a 22-inch column and 18 3/4-inch window) and examines the role of key technological and engineering innovations that made buildings of great height practicable. The images of the south wall illustrate the concept of economic height, including photographs, books, and promotional brochures of downtown buildings from the early 1900-1930s. | |
Visit the World's Tallest Towers!