Tall Office Buildings
A watershed in the development of the office building occurred in the early 1890’s. With advancing technology, it became apparent that steel, because of its structural strength and its ability to withstand fire, was a preferable structural material to cast or wrought iron. The development of steel frame construction (a skeleton of steel beams and columns that forms the structural support for the building) meant that exterior walls were no longer required to carry the building’s weight: they became “curtain” walls and could be made from a variety of materials and organized in a number of different ways. In addition, the steel frame allowed buildings of many more stories than masonry construction. Steel made possible the first truly new property type in centuries: the tall office building. Searching for an appropriate vocabulary to express these new buildings, a talented group of architects in Chicago succeeded in revolutionizing commercial design. (St. Louis, 1995)