THE MODERN SKYSCRAPER 



steel-frame construction in buildings. Be that as it 

 may, the work of the modern bridge-builder and high- 

 building construction have much in common. 



A transitional stage between the old-time masonry 

 construction, and the modern "skeleton" building, 

 was what is known as the "cage" construction. In 

 this type of building which is now practically obsolete 

 the walls are built of masonry and are self-sustaining, 

 but the interior construction is carried by steel frames. 

 This form of construction had scarcely been invented 

 before it was replaced by the present form of skeleton 

 construction, in which the steel frame forms a cage 

 which is surrounded by masonry. 



The first building constructed on this principle 

 was the Home Fire Insurance Company in Chicago, 

 designed by Mr. Jenny, in 1884, although Mr. Post, 

 in New York, had furnished an example of the "cage" 

 construction in the interior court of the Produce Ex- 

 change somewhat earlier. 



Just at this time the newly discovered Bessemer 

 process had placed cheap steel on the market another 

 product of necessity, and most timely. So that by 

 the opening years of the last decade of the nineteenth 

 century the architectural world had witnessed a rev- 

 elation in construction probably never equalled in 

 history certainly not in a corresponding length of time. 



In effect "cloud-scraping" buildings were manu- 

 factured in the steel mills, brick yards, cement factories, 

 and terra-cotta works, transported piece-meal to the 

 building site, and put together, each piece fitted into 

 the exact place designed for it. Nor did the order in 



