A skyscraper is defined as a continuously habitable tall building, though there is no official height threshold. The first skyscraper was the 10-story Home Insurance Building in Chicago completed in 1885. Some of the tallest skyscrapers ever built include the Burj Khalifa in Dubai at 2,717 feet tall, the Makkah Royal Clock Tower Hotel in Mecca at 1,972 feet, and the Shanghai Tower in Shanghai at 2,073 feet.

2. 


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A skyscraper is a
tall, continuously habitable
building.
There is no official definition
nor height above which a
building may clearly be
classified as a skyscraper.
Most cities consider even a
building of 262 feet a
skyscraper if it projects above
its built environment and
changes the overall skyline.
The first skyscraper was the
ten-storey Home Insurance
Building in Chicago, built in
1884–1885.

3. 
Location:
Paris, France
Completion Date:
1889
Cost: $1.5 million
Height: 986 feet
Materials: Wrought
iron
Engineer(s):
Gustave Eiffel

4. 
Location: New York,
New York, USA
Completion Date:
1930
Cost: $20 million
Height: 1,046 feet
Stories: 77
Materials: Steel
Facing Materials:
Brick
Engineer(s): Ralph
Squire & Sons

5. 
Location: New York, New
York, USA
Completion Date: 1977
Cost: $175 million
Height: 915 feet
Stories: 59
Materials: Steel
Facing Materials:
Aluminum, reflective glass
Engineer(s): William
LeMessurier and
Associates

6. 
Location: New York,
New York, USA
Completion Date:
1931
Cost: $41 million
Height: 1,250 feet
Stories: 102
Materials: Steel
Facing Materials:
Limestone, granite,
brick
Engineer(s): H.G.
Balcom

7. 
Location: Los
Angeles, California, USA
Completion Date: 1990
Cost: $350 million
Height: 1,018 feet
Stories: 75
Materials: Concrete, steel
Facing Materials:
Granite, glass
Engineer(s): CBM
Engineers

8. 
Location: Chicago,
Illinois, USA
Completion Date:
1885 (demolished in
1931)
Height: 138 feet
Stories: 10
Materials: Steel
Facing Materials: Brick
Engineer(s): William
LeBaron Jenney

9. 
Location:
Chicago, Illinois, USA
Completion Date: 1969
Height: 1,127 feet
Stories: 100
Materials: Steel
Facing Materials:
Aluminum, glass
Engineer(s):
Skidmore, Owings &
Merrill

10. 
Location: Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia
Completion Date: 1998
Cost: $1.6 billion
Height: 1,483 feet
Stories: 88
Materials: Concrete, Steel
Facing Materials:
Aluminum, Stainless Steel
Engineer(s): ThorntonTomasetti and Ranhill
Bersekutu

11. 
Location: Chicago, Illinois
Completion Date: 1973
Cost: $150 million
Height: 1,454 feet
Stories: 110
Materials: Steel
Facing Materials: Black aluminum
Engineer(s): Skidmore, Owings &
Merrill

12. 
Location: New York, New
York, USA
Completion Date: 1972
(Tower One), 1973 (Tower
Two)
Cost: $400 million
Height: 1,368 feet (Tower
One), 1,362 feet (Tower Two)
Stories: 110
Materials: Steel
Facing Materials: Aluminum,
steel
Engineer(s): Skilling, Helle,
Christiansen & Robertson