The 1880s were a busy time for architecture, to say the least. Never again would a cathedral be the tallest structure on Earth.
However, the true successor of the cathedral was yet to emerge when the Kolner Dom (Cologne Cathedral) was topped off in 1880.
At the time, nobody could conceive of a built form that owed nothing to the Ancients or ideas conceived in the Middle Ages. Indeed, the large-scale architecture from the 18th Century up to the early 20th Century tended to incorporate concepts that had been around for untold centuries.
The Parthenon in Athens is imitated by hundreds of banks and libraries, and the Roman Forum, the Pantheon and the Hagia Sofia are imitated by state capitol buildings in the USA and Australia and basilicas such as St. Peter's Basilica in Rome and St. Paul's Cathedral in London.
It is perhaps fitting then that the most ancient type of structure of them all had a "last hurrah" before the techniques of the industrial world kicked in and changed the very concept of what a building could be.
In 1884, the world's tallest building — a cathedral — gave up its title to a
pyramid.
Washington Monument
Year completed: 1884 (construction began in 1848)
Height: 555 feet
Claim to fame: The Washington Monument is a stone obelisk (an elongated pyramid) topped by an aluminum cap that sometimes reflects light, but usually blends right in with the granite and marble that the rest of the structure is made of. It was the first structure in this list since the Great Pyramid to have had a "final design," unlike the ever-changing configurations of Midieval cathedrals. It was also the first structure on this list never to become shorter over time due to erosion or disaster.
It is alsothe first structure on this list to surpass all of its predecessors in height from day one. Most notably, it surpassed the height of the famed spires of Lincoln Cathedral (destroyed in 1549) by thirty feet — and perhaps more if the scholars are wrong about how high those were.
Having been completed in "just" 36 years despite numerous delays (including the builders running out of money and the US Civil War causing work to be suspended), the Washington Monument required considerably less time to build than any cathedral.
Also, like the Great Pyramid, the Washington Monument commerates a specific person. Thankfully, George Washington was not disinterred and reburied under the obelisk as some suggested at the time.
Status: The Washington Monument remains the tallest obelisk in the world, and the laws in Washington DC that limit the height of buildings to the width of the street they are on, plus 20 feet, likely mean that this monument will remain the tallest building in the US capital.
The Washington Monument is the last of the historic tallest structures that supports its weight with masonry walls as all ancient buildings did.