Historically, the architectural use of glass siding can probably be said to have its start with the very large stained glass windows found in cathedrals (the tallest skyscrapers of the period) starting back in medieval times around 1000 AD, with the windows covering more and more of the wall area as the Renaissance progressed, climaxing in the Perpendicular Gothic style where on some of the tallest cathedral walls the glass covers the majority of the wall area.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perpend...dicular_Gothic
Full glass cladding appears in the mid-19th century in the Crystal Palace type of buildings, usually at the Great Exhibitions staged in large cities.
Crystal Palace, London, built in 1851 of cast iron, wood, and glass in Hyde Park, it was moved in 1854 to Sydenham (photo). It was designed by Joseph Paxton, a gardener/architect who had built glass garden conservatories, and devised the glass curtain wall for the Chatsworth Lily House circa mid-1840s .
http://openbuildings.com/buildings/t...e-profile-6477
Palacio de Cristal, Madrid, 1888.
http://www.imagejuicy.com/images/fam...rid,-spain/65/
http://home.comcast.net/~hadleyives/...in_2008_3.html