This book is about the design of the facade of 51 of America's most extravagant early skyscrapers. Included are the biographies of noted architects and the aristocrats who financed America's first skyscrapers. This book discusses the influences of European aesthetic values in America--and scandals, rogues and class distinctions. Interpretations by contemporary critics are sprinkled throughout the text. Woven throughout the book are inquiries about the validity of Greek and Roman mythologies and their relationships to "modern" America and its spirit of invention and progress. Foreign traditions were challenged by some architects but then accepted by most. Why was it necessary for the long-dead hero of a faraway civilization to be included on the facade of a newly invented American skyscraper? This book tells why.

This book is about the design of the facade of 51 of America's most extravagant early skyscrapers. Included are the biographies of noted architects and the aristocrats who financed America's first skyscrapers. This book discusses the influences of European aesthetic values in America--and scandals, rogues and class distinctions. Interpretations by contemporary critics are sprinkled throughout the text. Woven throughout the book are inquiries about the validity of Greek and Roman mythologies and their relationships to "modern" America and its spirit of invention and progress. Foreign traditions were challenged by some architects but then accepted by most. Why was it necessary for the long-dead hero of a faraway civilization to be included on the facade of a newly invented American skyscraper? This book tells why.

The early skyscrapers were a range of tall commercial buildings built between 1884 and 1945, predominantly in the American cities of New York City and Chicago. ... Chicago initially led the way in skyscraper design, with many constructed in the center of the financial district during the late 1880s and early 1890s Packed with colorful tales of the powerful executives and self-made millionaires who commissioned the country's first skyscrapers, this book also traces the emergence of modern corporations in banking, media, transportation, insurance, manufacturing, entertainment, and other industries that fed the explosive growth of American cities at the start of the 20th century. Learn the surprising and inspiring stories of Gilded Age rags-to-riches risk-takers who invested in these so-called "machines that make the land pay" - soaring structures that proclaimed their owners' influence and remain as legacies of a fascinating, forgotten past.

The invention of the New York skyscraper is one of the most fascinating developments in the history of architecture. This authoritative book chronicles the history of New York's first skyscrapers, challenging conventional wisdom that it was in Chicago and not New York that the skyscraper was born. 206 illustrations.

This history of skyscrapers examines how these tall buildings affected the cityscape and the people who worked in, lived in, and visited them. Much of the focus is rightly on the architects who had the vision to design and build America's skyscrapers, but attention is also given to the steelworkers who built them, the financiers who put up the money, and the daredevils who attempt to "conquer" them in some inexplicable pursuit of fame. The impact of the skyscraper on popular culture, particularly film and literature, is also explored.