The Lost Decades
It may seem odd that the most massive buildings ever created opened just in time for the Great Depression.
Thing is, few people in 1929 and 1930 thought that the Depression was going to go as deep, or last as long as it did. Many believed the worst had passed in 1930 and early 1931. Between 1930 and 1933, Cleveland built the 771-foot Terminal Tower (tallest building outside New York), and in New York City the 952-foot American International opened in 1932 and the 850-foot General Electric Building opened in 1933 — pushing the Woolworth Building from first place in NYC in early 1930 to sixth just three years later.
But it became clear in 1933 that the good times of the 1920s boom were not returning anytime soon. Office vacancy rates shot up as companies let go of workers or went bankrupt altogether. Architects and engineers planned new towers, some of which if they had been built would have rivaled or surpassed the Empire State Building.
Very few new buildings of any size where built in the Western World after 1933, and then World War II intervened as well.
The Woolworth Building held the title of World's tallest skyscraper for 17 years. The Empire State Building safely cruised the 30s, 40s and the 1950s without much risk of being surpassed.
Meanwhile, many of the great cathedrals of Europe were damaged (and some were destroyed) during the Second World War. So not only was construction of the "new" skyscrapers largely halted, but the historic tall buildings of the Middle Ages were in rough shape too.
The five tallest structures completed between 1932 and 1960.
The 1,092-foot Tokyo Tower was completed in 1958, the GE Building opened in 1933, the American International Building opened in 1932, the JP Morgan Chase Building opened in 1960 and the Bank of New York was finished in 1932.
If that list seems short, think how short it would be if I hadn't made the time period 28 years!