construction of a modern skyscraper would have been 

 quite beyond the possibilities of any architect who lived 

 prior to the present age of cheap steels. The Roman 

 architect might have been able to raise a structure 

 as high as the Singer Building in New York city, but he 

 would have had to sacrifice all interior space for its 

 support, just as in the case of the pyramids along the 

 Nile. The greatness of the achievement of the late 

 nineteenth-century architect does not lie in the fact 

 that he can build so high, but that he can leave so 

 much space in the interiors of his high buildings. The 

 practical revolution in architectural plans and results 

 made possible by the new methods will receive de- 

 tailed consideration in succeeding chapters. 



VOL. IX II 



[161] 



