A “Radical Departure”? How the Home Insurance Building Won the “First Skyscraper” Debate

Today, most architectural and engineering historians no longer consider the Home Insurance Building to be the first skyscraper. Despite this, the popular belief remains that William Le Baron Jenny invented the first skyscraper when he designed the Home Insurance Building in 1884. This paper recounts the history of how Jenney won the public debate starting in 1896, despite his building being only a small evolutionary step forward. In that year, a series of letters in The Engineering Record allowed Jenney and his colleagues to engage in a public relations campaign to recast the debate about the first skyscraper to place the Home Insurance Building as the pivotal structure in skyscraper history.