Ever wondered where the world's oldest skyscraper is? Chicago and New York were the first to develop skyscraper cities and served as a precedent (and inspiration) for countless others around the world. But some of the other entries on this list are bound to surprise you. From humble beginnings to cloud-piercing pinnacles, this gallery showcases the world's most venerable skyscrapers.
Click through this list to see the most historic skyscrapers in the world – ranked youngest to oldest...
It’s hard to imagine Dubai pre-skyscrapers but in 1979 the city welcomed the Dubai World Trade Centre as its first. Queen Elizabeth II inaugurated the glittering tower which stands at a height of 488 feet (149m) and covers 39 storeys. It was also the first (and tallest) in the country until 1999 when the Burj Al Arab pipped it to the post at 1,053 feet (321m). Today it’s used as an events and exhibitions complex.
This post-war modern structure was a bold move for architecture firm Bates, Smart & McCutcheon. At 265 feet (80m), it soared past Victoria’s 132-foot (40m) height restrictions to create the first skyscraper in Melbourne. The former headquarters of the Imperial Chemical Industries of Australia and New Zealand (ICIANZ), the skyscraper features a glass 'curtain wall' facade that earned it the nickname Glass House. It’s now registered on Australia’s National Heritage List and operates as an office unit under the name Orica House.
The Torre Latinoamericana may not be the oldest skyscraper on this list but it’s done well to stand the test of time. Constructed between 1948 and 1956, its deep-seated pylons have allowed it to withstand major earthquakes as recently as 2017. Because of this, it’s believed to be the first major skyscraper constructed on active seismic land. Also known as Latin America Tower, Mexico’s 597-foot-tall (182m) skyscraper still stands undefeated in downtown Mexico City.
At 1,472 feet (448m) tall, the Empire State Building glitters above the rest of Manhattan. Designed by Shreve, Lamb and Harmon Associates, it took an impressive 20 months to construct this instantly famous city landmark. The tower then reigned supreme as the world's tallest building for a staggering 40 years. It was modelled after two Art Deco buildings in North Carolina and Ohio, but is perhaps best known (and most photographed) for its 200-foot (60m) crowning spire.
Germany doesn’t have many skyscrapers. Instead, most cities focus on preserving their historic skylines, with churches and cathedrals often their tallest buildings (Frankfurt is an exception to this unofficial rule). Arguably the country's first skyscraper was Dusseldorf's Wilhelm-Marx-Haus, constructed between 1922 and 1924. At 187 feet (57m) tall, it spans 12 storeys with six storey-wide wings and a limestone and red-brick facade. But its title is contentious – could you class Frankfurt’s 1924 Mousonturm (Mouson Tower) as the first skyscraper instead? Pay these German cities a visit to decide for yourself.
Nicknamed 'the cathedral of commerce', the elegant Woolworth Building was named after the millionaire store owner who commissioned the project, Frank W Woolworth. It resembles a European church built in the Gothic style, and at a height of 792 feet (241m) showcased modern technology of the time. Designed by Cass Gilbert, it features a terracotta facade and pointed turrets, and could easily fit in alongside Westminster Abbey if it weren't for the rows of windows lining its 60 storeys. It was the tallest building in the world until 1930.
A close contender for Europe’s oldest skyscraper is the Royal Liver Building. Overlooking the River Mersey, this iconic structure was designed by Walter Aubrey Thomas and stands 300 feet (90m) tall. It has the largest clock face in Britain, which started ticking for the first time on 22 June 1911, on the day of King George V’s coronation. The building was the purpose-built home of the Royal Liver Assurance head office.
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This early skyscraper was designed by Napoleon LeBruen and was a later addition to an existing office block. The facade was replaced with limestone and was styled similarly to Venice’s Campanile di San Marco. Constructed between 1905 and 1909, the MetLife Building was the world’s tallest at 698 feet (213m) until the Woolworth Building surpassed it in 1913. It underwent heavy renovations in the 1960s, causing it to lose much of its original detail, and today the tower is best-known for the beautiful clock faces on each side of the tower.
Now called Consultancy House, the New Zealand Express Company Building is the oldest skyscraper in the country. At 133 feet (41m) high, it opened in 1909 as the headquarters for the national road carrier and was designed by Alfred and Sydney Luttrell in a Chicago Romanesque style (although the Corinthian columns marked the only real difference from the classic Chicago style). Today it’s home to an osteopathic clinic. Look closely and you’ll spot the old New Zealand Express logo on the building's southern face.
The PAST (or PASTa) Building is the oldest 'skyscraper' in Warsaw and was the tallest until 1933 when the Art Deco Prudential House took its spot. Finished in 1910, it drew inspiration from medieval towers (more noticeable in older photographs). PAST (a Polish telephone operator) used the building as its main switchboard for domestic and international calls. Sadly, it was bombed during the Second World War, and the building you see today was reconstructed in the 1950s.
Built between 1903 and 1904, Winnipeg’s Union Bank was the first skyscraper in Canada. It was constructed during Winnipeg’s Wheat Boom using a lightweight steel framework and a 'curtain wall' which allowed the building to reach a height of 156 feet (48m). Designed in the Chicago style with decorative window keystones and elegant lower arches in a fortress-like structure, you can still see a ghost sign of the Royal Bank of Canada. Today it’s home to Red River College’s culinary institute.
The oldest skyscraper in Europe is Witte Huis in Rotterdam. At 141 feet (43m) tall, the Art Nouveau-style building was the tallest in Europe at the time of its construction, and while other buildings still prioritised wood, Witte Huis was more groundbreaking. Inspired by American office blocks, iron, steel and cement were used in its construction, as well as thick interior walls to increase its strength. This allowed it to stand the test of time and, unlike many other buildings, it survived bombings during the Second World War.
Boston’s first skyscraper was named after Frederick L Ames, who commissioned the building. It first served as the headquarters for Ames's family agricultural tool company and the offices of the building’s architects Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge. In 2007 it became a luxury Hilton hotel but in 2019 the swish spot was converted into student accommodation for Suffolk University. Still, at 196 feet (60m) and 14 storeys high, it’s one of the tallest masonry buildings in the US.
At 170 feet (52m) tall, the Manhattan Building is both on the National Register of Historic Places and a designated Chicago Landmark. The commercial office space was created by William LeBaron Jenney (of Home Insurance Building fame) in the late 19th century, and features a granite facade on the lower levels and brick on the upper levels. Rather than focusing on height, its horizontal size reflects the concerns the public had about the safety of tall buildings. We wonder what they’d make of the city’s skyline today...
One of the last survivors of Newspaper Row, the New York Times Building (or 41 Park Row) served as the eponymous newspaper’s headquarters from 1889 until 1903. Designed in Romanesque Revival style, the property has been owned by Pace University since 1951, and modern renovations include a new gallery and a student centre. The Manhattan landmark was designed by George B Post and reaches 212 feet (65m), spanning 16 storeys.
Now operating as the Ritz-Carlton Club and Residences, the Old Chronicle Building started life as the San Francisco Chronicle’s headquarters in 1889. It originally stood at 218 feet (66m) and 10 storeys, whereas now it reaches 312 feet (95m) and 24 storeys. From 1924 until 2007 it was used for both offices and residential space, and, although it found new life as a snazzy hotel, a few of its original features – like the facade and concrete-panelled towers – have been restored.
Many consider Montreal’s New York Life Insurance Building to have been Canada’s first skyscraper. At an estimated 132 feet (40m), this Romanesque Revival building was built between 1887 and 1888 by Babb, Cook & Willard. Law and financial firms made up the bulk of the tenants of this 10-storey office space, which also features a clock tower. Whether it’s a skyscraper or just a tall building – we’ll leave that for you to decide.
The oldest standing skyscraper in Chicago, the Rookery Building housed the offices of its architects, Burnham and Root. Located in the financial district of the city, this stately-looking building has a dark brick facade and stands at 181 feet (55m). Over the years it’s had modern renovations – including Art Deco touches in the 1930s – and still stands proud as a historic building in the heart of Chicago.
Rochester’s Wilder Building was the first skyscraper in the city at 167 feet (51m) tall. Its Romanesque Revival style uses decorated red brick, multiple arched windows and decorative turrets and spires. The red-brick building’s main claim to fame is being home to the oldest surviving mail chute. Mail chutes were invented in 1883 to make mail collection in skyscrapers easier, and this office block was one of the first buildings to have one.
At the time of its completion in 1887, the Sun Building was hailed as "the most imposing private structure at the national capital". Today you can still walk past and admire its symmetrical facade. Standing at 116 feet (35m), it was the tallest building in Washington DC when it was completed, and the Baltimore Sun newspaper operated from its ground floor. Designed by Alfred B Mullett, other tenants in the seven-storey building (as well as the two-storey ground floor and mezzanine) included future-president Woodrow Wilson’s law firm.
New York may be the city of skyscrapers today, but Chicago was the skyscraper's birthplace. The Home Insurance Building in Illinois was built in 1885 and is hailed as the world’s first modern skyscraper. By 1890 it stood at 180 feet (55m) with 12 storeys. Its steel frame moved away from traditional masonry construction and marked a new era of design and engineering. Sadly, it was demolished in 1931 to make way for the Art Deco LaSelle Bank Building, which still stands at 535 feet (163m) high.
In 1885 The Osborne was unveiled as one of the first major luxury apartment buildings. Its proximity to Carnegie Hall has made it a long-standing favourite for the artistically minded, and it was where Leonard Bernstein wrote West Side Story. At 162 feet (49m), the brown-stone building features 14-foot-high (4m) ceilings and lavish interiors. Along with its Billionaires Row location, it may not come as a surprise that apartments can go for millions of dollars.
Possibly Manhattan’s – if not all of New York’s – most famous hotel stands 144 feet (44m) tall and was completed in 1884. Using Queen Anne Revival and Victorian Gothic architecture, the 12-storey Hotel Chelsea counted a list of long-term residents that included Jack Kerouac, Mark Twain, Patti Smith and Bob Dylan. Andy Warhol shot his Chelsea Girls film here in 1966 (featuring a few residents) and the hotel is often referenced in popular television shows, songs and movies.
Built between 1881 and 1883, the Temple Court Building (also known as 5 Beekman Street) is often called the oldest skyscraper still standing today. Constructed from red Philadelphia brick, tan Dorchester stone and terracotta, it was also the first high-rise in New York at a height of 150 feet (46m). This former lawyer’s office spans 10 storeys and now forms part of the luxury Beekman Hotel. The architects, Silliman & Farnsworth, incorporated Queen Anne, Neo-Grec and Renaissance Revival styles into the designs and an annexe was added in 1890.
You might not think a desert would house the oldest skyscraper city in the world (as recorded by Guinness World Records) but the 1,700-year-old town of Shibam proves otherwise. Nicknamed 'the Manhattan of the desert', some 500 mud-brick towers were built in the 16th century to protect residents from flooding and incoming attackers. While many have had to be rebuilt, Shibam shows some of the earliest examples of multi-storey structures in the world. Buildings span between five and 11 storeys, with some reaching 100 feet (30m) tall.