Keeping up with world's tallest buildings

Whenever I visit a new place for the first time, I always gravitate to a high point of view. In addition to being the best way to get a sense of a city, a high view imparts a jolt of excitement and the odd sense of superiority that comes with being above it all.

In this feeling I am not alone.

Erecting ever taller structures is one of mankind's oldest pursuits. First we built towers to spot approaching enemies or demonstrate devotion to our deities. Over the last century, our buildings have reached new heights to accommodate our commerce and population and to promote civic pride.

It has been said of the welter of towering edifices that punctuate Chicago's pan flat panorama that men had to erect these artificial mountains because the natural landscape offered none.

When Daniel Burnham designed and erected the 22-story Masonic Temple Building in 1892, it reigned as the world's tallest building for two years. It was followed by such notable corporate standard bearers as the Montgomery Ward Building (1899 -- 23 stories), the Wrigley Building (1922 -- 27 stories), and the Chicago Board of Trade Building (1930 -- 44 stories). All were world wonders in their day.

But it wasn't until the 1960s that Chicago's edifice complex really got serious. The John Hancock Insurance Co. conceived of creating a monumental structure on property on Michigan Avenue's magnificent mile a few blocks in from the lake. It hired the architectural firm of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, whose chief structural engineer Fazlur Kahn conceived of a tubular, X-bracing exterior that allowed the square, tapering structure to rise to unprecedented heights. Incidentally, Ambridge Steel completed much of the metal work on these and newer Chicago structures.

When the John Hancock Center opened in 1970, the 100-story structure towered over the city at 1,127 feet, but "Big John's" reign as Chicago's tallest edifice was brief.

Standard Oil was already constructing a rectangular square monolith on East Randolph which, although only 83 stories, soared to 1,136 feet. When "Big Stan," as it was known before it became the Amoco Building, opened in 1974 it was completely clad in Carrara marble, but the creamy stone didn't wear well. Giant slabs began peeling off, and in the early 1990s, the entire structure was refaced in white granite. Now known as the Aon Center, it offers no public viewing.

But the serious surpasser of both buildings was also rising quickly.

In 1970 the Sears Roebuck Co. hired Skidmore, Owings and Merrill to create a taller structure along the Chicago River.

The design bundled nine square towers of different heights, two of which topped out at 110 occupied stories and soared to 1,451 feet. When the Sears Tower opened in 1974, it grabbed the title of world's tallest building, a distinction it held until 1998, when the Petronas Twin Towers opened in Kuala Lumpur Malaysia. Although the latter buildings have only 88 occupied floors, their spires count toward their overall height, while the antennas atop the Sears Tower do not.

In April 2004, both buildings were passed by Taipei 101 in Taiwan, at 1,671 feet.

When the Burj Dubai, a super tall tower going up in Dubai is completed next year, it will rank at the world's tallest building, peaking out at more than 2,600 feet to its tip-top, with at least 160 floors. It will be almost twice as tall as New York City's Empire State building.

When it comes to construction, it seems the sky is no longer any limit.