JF Ptak Science Books Quick Post
I've lost track of the count of the sub-series on "Ships in the Skyline" in which new buildings etc. are measured against commonly-known objects, including large ocean liners. The enormous ship as measuring stick is interesting, and the appearance of the ship amidst buildings is very attractive in a Dadaist sort of way, as an artistic non sequitur. That said, here's another example, this from the Scientific American for 25 July 1908, showing what was estimated to be the maximum height (based on foundation and framing) of the still relatively-new architectural ideal of the skyscraper.
I guess I should identify what "new" means--here I'm talking about the third decade of the building, the first of which (for all intents and purposes) could be identified as William Jenney's Home Insurance Building in Chicago in 1885, which was 10 stories and 138' high. (There are couple of other earlier and qualified contenders for "first skyscraper", but for here the Jenney building will work fine.) There was a boomlet of skyscrapers in Chicago beginning in the 1890's, and the beginning of the Golden Age/Building Boom around 1900, so by 1908 the building style was well established, though "skyscraper" as a word applied to buildings was only 20 years old. (According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the first use of the word for a building was preceded by its usage for a tall horse (1788), a tall bonnet (1800), a ship's sail (1801), an exaggerated story (1840), and a high-hit ball (1842), before it came to rest on a building in 1884 and 1889.) The secular buildings were not taller than the non-secular ones (like the Rouen and Cologne cathedrals) until the early nineteen-oughts.
Anyway, here's the image with a Beaux-Arts superbuilding:
Comments