TALLEST BUILDING IN THE WORLD.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXIX, Issue 12282, 8 July 1914, Page 7

TALLEST BUILDING IN THE WORLD.

There has been recently completed in New York a skyscraper which can claim the distinction of being the tallest, habitable edifice on the' face of the ' globe, towering 785 ft above the pavement, and boasting of some fifty-seven storeys, the erection of which has demanded all the skiil and daring of the builder and engineer. mien it is stated that this new structure has demanded an ; expenditure of £2.400,000, and is virtually a town in itself, it will be seen that it is no ordinary building. We get some idea of the wonders »f this remarkable edifice-when it is stated that it is more than twice the height of St. Paul's Cathedral, and some 200 ft higher than the Great Pyramid of Cheops. London's tallest, building, Queen Anne's Mansions, in Westminster, is a pigmy compared to it, being but a beggarly 180 ft. And the Woolworth building, the name by which the new structure is known, is greater than it looks, its foundations going- down to a depth of 120 ft beneath the pavement, thus making the total heightof the building from foundation to summit 905 ft.

The main reason why these buildings have grown in height, as the Atlantic liners have developed in length, is because the business districts of New York and Chicago, where they reach enormous heights, are so situated geographically, being virtually built on islands, that it is impossible to expand along the ground in these narrow districts: hence the necessity of growing skywards. Indeed, land is now so expensive in New York that it would not }kiv«u> run up an ordinary edifice.— "Millgite Monthly "