Chicago lays claim to the world’s first skyscraper. The 138-foot-tall Home Insurance Building was built in 1888 and was the first building to use steel beams as support. Soon after, builders in Chicago and New York were competing with each other to build the world’s tallest building.

In the early years, the world’s highest building seemed to change from week to week as architects, engineers and business magnates raced to design, build or own the biggest, best and tallest building in their city’s skyline.

It was a race that started in the United States, where the Empire State Building won the race and held the title for more than 40 years after Depression called a halt to the building boom. The US picked up the ball again in the 1970s with the construction of the World Trade Center and the Sears Tower. But in recent years, Asia has thrown its heart and soul to the race: Taipei 101 in Taiwan is currently the world’s tallest building, but Dubai’s Burj Dubai will take the title later this year. And more buildings are in the works. Here’s a look at some of the more noteworthy skyscrapers of the last 100 years or so.

30 St. Mary Axe
London

photo credit: .Martin.

Known in London as “The Gherkin”–also as the Erotic Gherkin, the Towering Innuendo and the Crystal Phallus–this 2004 building is London’s first environmentally sustainable skyscraper. Atria between each floor link together vertically and spiral up the building. These spaces function as the building’s lungs, distributing fresh air drawn in through panels in the facade. This system allows the building to use half the energy needed to cool conventional air-conditioned office towers.

The building sits on the site of the Baltic Exchange, which was damaged by an IRA bomb in 1992. Headquarters for Swiss Re, an insurance company, the building is 591 feet tall and covers 516,100 square feet. The top level contains a private restaurant and lounge while the landscaped plaza on the ground features numerous shops and restaurants and is open to the public.

By the numbers:

• The elevators attain speeds of more than 19 feet per second and can accommodate 378 people.
• The building’s maximum circumference is just two meters less than its height.
• 21 miles of steel and 258,333.850 square feet of glass was used in its construction.
• Each floor rotates five degrees from the one below.

20 Exchange Place
New York

photo credit: C R

The fourth tallest building in the world when it was completed in 1931, architects Cross and Cross originally envisioned a pyramid sitting atop a 71-story structure, which would have made it the tallest building in the world–at least for a short time. But the Depression forced the builders to scale back to 56 floors and to eliminate the pyramid altogether. In June 2004, real estate developers Berman and Bruckner bought the building for $152 million. The firm is in the process of converting the top 41 floors into luxury apartments.

2 International Finance Center
Hong Kong

photo credit: laszlo-photo

Tower 2 in this four-building complex is the seventh tallest building in the world at 415 meters, or more than 1,361 feet. The complex consists of two skyscrapers, the IFC mall and the Four Seasons Hotel.

Fun facts:

• The complex includes three garage levels that can accommodate more than 1,800 vehicles.
• The tower is 56.960 meters wide at its base, and 39.148 meters wide at the main roof.
• The building is featured in a scene of the movie “The Dark Knight.”
• Officially, the building has 88 stories and 22 trading floors, numbers the Chinese believe to be lucky. However, two floors are missing: The 14th and the 24th, both of which are associated with death in Chinese culture.

2 Prudential Plaza
Chicago

photo credit: mrkathika

Its beveled roof makes “Two Pru” instantly recognizable in the Chicago skyline. The tallest reinforced concrete building in the city was built in 1990 and designed by Stephen T. Wright of Loebl, Schlossman & Hackl. The skyscraper has 64 floors and reaches 995 feet with its spire.

Al Faisaliah
Riyadh

photo credit: Snap?

Riyadh’s first skyscraper is part of a complex that includes a five-star hotel, a banquet hall/conference center, luxury apartments and a mall. The skyscraper is organized into three blocks that are nine, 10 and 11 stories high respectively and separated by cross beams that transfer the load of the columns onto the pillars. Offices take up the building’s first 30 floors. Inside the golden glass globe at the top of the building is a three-story restaurant. The globe is 24 meters at its diameter.

Below the plaza is a 50,000-square-foot conference and banquet center, which can be adjusted for size with removable panels. Prince Sultan’s Grand Hall, can accommodate 4,000 conference attendees or 2,800 diners.

American Radiator Building
New York

photo credit: Doonvas

Architect Raymond Hood had been designing the company’s radiator covers when he was chosen to design the its new showroom and office tower.

The black brickwork facade and gold-painted friezes were designed to make the building look like a glowing radiator coil when illuminated at night, at least that’s one theory. Others say the architect made the bricks black so that the windows would blend in with the facade to create the illusion of a solid mass. The bricks were dipped in manganese to make them black.

The base of the structure is clad in black granite and adorned with bronze carved allegories, symbolizing the transformation of matter into energy. The black motif continued into the lobby, which was decorated with black marble and mirrors.

After remaining vacant for years, the building opened as the Bryant Park Hotel in 2001. The interior was completely changed, with black tiles and red leather replacing the lobby’s marble and mirrors. but the exterior remains the same thanks to the building’s status as a national landmark.
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