History of the world's tallest buildings
The tallest building in the world, as of 2022, is Burj Khalifa. The title of "world's tallest building" has been borne by various buildings, such as the Rouen Cathedral and the Empire State Building.
Empire State Building
According to "The New York Times", builders and real estate speculators predicted that the Empire State Building would be the world's tallest building "for many years", thus ending the great New York City skyscraper rivalry. At the time, most engineers agreed that it would be difficult to build a building taller than , even with the hardy Manhattan bedrock as a foundation. (Technically, it was believed possible to build a tower of up to , but it was deemed uneconomical to do so, especially during the Great Depression.) As the tallest building in the world, at that time, and the first one to exceed 100 floors, the Empire State Building became an icon of the city and, ultimately, of the nation.