What are some of the essential elements of the skyscraper?

Steel and Elevators

Explanation:

  Two advances made in the mid-nineteenth century made the construction of modern skyscrapers possible. The first was the production of steel in large quantities. The second was the invention of the passenger elevator.

    Before steel, the weight of the upper floors was supported by brick or stone walls. The sheer weight of each floor made it impossible to lift many floors. Some architects (building designers) used an iron structure to support taller buildings, but even these were no more than four or five stories high.

    In the 1860s, steel production and supply were greatly expanded. Steel is stronger and also lighter than iron. To support very tall buildings, architects began designing a steel skeleton. The Home Insurance Company building in Chicago, United States, was the first skyscraper to be built like this. It was erected between 1884 and 1885 and had ten floors.

    The skyscrapers would not have been used without elevators. People usually couldn't go up and down more than five or six flights of stairs. In 1853, an American inventor named Elisha Graves Otis created a safe elevator to carry passengers.