Louis Sullivan
A Milestone Documents E-text
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Abstract

During the late nineteenth century more Americans than ever before moved into cities. As a result, what builders required from architecture gradually shifted. This shift explains why skyscrapers came into being during the 1880s. Although they were diminutive by today's standards, these baby behemoths posed new design challenges. Early skyscrapers were clumsy affairs, as architects tried to place facades and columns used in the ancient world in a context that no longer existed. These designs did not reflect the fact that the steel beams of skyscrapers carry the load of the suspended floors—very different from conventional buildings, in which the walls carry a building's weight.

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