New York is defined by its skyscrapers; it has more tall buildings than any other city in the world, and pioneered many of the construction techniques necessary to build them.
The most important period in skyscraper construction in New York was the building boom of the late 1920s, which produced many buildings (including the Chrylser and Empire State buildings) that vied for the title of “the tallest in the world.” The shape of these buildings was influenced by a zoning law, passed in 1916, which said that the upper floors of buildings had to be stepped back so that sunlight could get to the street (sunlight accessibility was very important in the early 20th century because electric lights were still too weak to provide adequate illumination). This zoning law led to the “set–back” building styles and slender towers which defined the New York skyline for many years.
Three factors changed the shape of skyscrapers at mid–century: the trend toward modern architecture, the use of fluorescent lights, and a zoning law, passed in 1961, that encouraged the creation of plazas at the sidewalk level, allowing skyscrapers to grow much taller and bulkier in exchange for this space. Many of the skyscrapers from the past four decades are built as square towers set in a plaza, a style typified by the Citigroup Center and the now–destroyed World Trade Center.
The fifteen skyscrapers in this section are the tallest buildings that New York City has produced, and all of them are, or were, among the hundred tallest buildings in the world.
