West Side Skyline

Chicago is known as the capital of modern architecture. A number of innovations in the late 1800s literally built Chicago's magnificent skyline. The safety elevator, a high-rise prerequisite, was invented in 1857, while fireproofing was a definite lesson learned from the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. Anchoring techniques gave taller structures the necessary stability. And the most important innovation essential to skyscraper technology was a skeletal frame of iron and steel, which took the strain of holding a building's weight off its walls. Today, Chicago's amazing skyline of jutting structures includes Willis Tower, one of the world's tallest buildings.