11/05/2026
10 AMAZING SKYSCRAPER FACTS | SKYSAVER RESCUE BACKPACKS
The Empire State Building. The Burj Khalifa. One World Trade Center. The Chrysler Building. Sears Tower. These are but some of the most famous skyscrapers in the world. They tower over everything, giving cities a larger than life feel. Just looking at one of these gigantic architectural wonders makes one feel small and insignificant. Sometimes it does the opposite and makes one want to achieve big things and reach new heights. We all know they’re enormous and we all know they cost quite a bit of money to build, but let’s learn something new about skyscrapers. What defines a building as a skyscraper? Which city has the most skyscrapers? What was the world’s first skyscraper? Check out these ten interesting skyscraper facts.
To be a skyscraper, the minimum number of floors is 40. A skyscraper may also be called a high-rise, however sometimes the term skyscraper is used to describe buildings over 150 meters or 492 feet.
There are terms for buildings above 300 meters or 984 feet and 600 meters or 1,969 feet. They are Supertall and Megatall respectively.
In the late 1800’s, a building had to be at least ten storeys tall to be a skyscraper. The world’s first skyscraper, built in 1885, was the Home Insurance Building in Chicago, Illinois, which stood at 42 meters or 138 feet and was 10 storeys.
The now under construction Kingdom Tower will beat out the Burj Khalifa to become the world’s tallest skyscraper when it opens in 2020 in Saudi Arabia. It will have a height of more than one kilometer or 3,307 feet and will have cost about $1.2 billion.
