History of the world's tallest structures

This is the history of the world's tallest structures.

Overall

Below is a list of the tallest structures supported by land. For most of the period from around 2650 BC to 1240 AD, the Egyptian pyramids were the tallest structures in the world. From 1240-1884 the records were held by European churches, and from 1954-2008 they were held by guyed radio or TV masts.
Since 2008, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai has been the tallest structure supported by land, at 829.8 metres. There are oil platforms supported by the sea which have been of greater length since about 1980, with some examples up to 2,934 metres. In addition, some countries monitor their borders with tethered aerostats which can rise to 6,096 metres.

Record from	Record held	Name and location	Constructed	Height	Height	Coordinates	Notes
c. 9500 BC	1,500	Göbekli Tepe, Turkey	c. 9500 BC	5-6	18		Possibly one of the earliest known temples.
c. 8000 BC	4,000	Tower of Jericho, West Bank, Palestine	c. 8000 BC	8.5	27.9		One of the earliest ever stone monuments.
c. 4000 BC	1,350	Anu ziggurat, Uruk, Iraq	c. 4000 BC	13	40
c. 2650 BC	40	Pyramid of Djoser, Saqqara, Egypt	c. 2650 BC	62.5	205		First Egyptian pyramid, formed of six stacked mastabas.
c. 2610 BC	5	Meidum Pyramid, Egypt	c. 2610 BC	91.65	301		Shortly after completion Meidum Pyramid collapsed due to bad design/instability and is now.
c. 2605 BC	5	Bent Pyramid, Dashur, Egypt	c. 2605 BC	104.71	343.5		Angle of slope decreased during construction to avoid collapse.
c. 2600 BC	30	Red Pyramid of Sneferu, Egypt	c. 2600 BC	105	344.5
c. 2570 BC	3,086	Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt	c. 2570 BC	146.6	481		See also 516-534 and 534-1240.
516	18	Yongning Pagoda in Luoyang, China	516	147	482		It was destroyed by a lightning strike in 534. Its exact height is unknown, and estimates range from 137 m to 240 m.
534	3,792	Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt	c. 2570 BC	146.6	481		See also 2570 BC - 516 and 516 - 534. By 1647, the Great Pyramid's height had decreased to after its top was removed.
1240	71	Old St Paul's Cathedral in London, England	1087–1666	149	489		The spire was destroyed by a lightning strike in 1561. Its height is disputed, for example by Christopher Wren, who suggested a height of.
1311	237	Lincoln Cathedral in England	1092–1311	160	525		The central spire was destroyed in a storm in 1549. While the reputed height of is accepted by most sources, others consider it doubtful
1549	20	St. Mary's Church in Stralsund, Germany	1384–1478	151	495		See also resumption 1573–1647.
1569	4	Beauvais Cathedral in France	1272–1569	153	502		Spire collapsed in 1573; today, the church stands at a height of 67.2 metres.
1573	94	St. Mary's Church in Stralsund, Germany	1384–1478	151	495		See also 1549–1569. The church tower's spire burnt down after a lightning strike in 1647. Today the tower has a dome and stands at a height of.
1647	227	Strasbourg Cathedral in France	1439	142	466		By 1647, the Pyramid of Khafre's height had decreased from to after its top was removed.
1874	2	St. Nikolai in Hamburg, Germany	1846–1874	147	483		The nave was demolished by aerial bombing during World War II; only the spire remains.
1876	4	Cathédrale Notre Dame in Rouen, France	1202–1876	151	495
1880	4	Cologne Cathedral in Germany	1248–1880	157.38	516	;
1884	5	Washington Monument in Washington, D.C., United States	1848–1888	169.29	555		The world's tallest all-stone structure, as well as the tallest obelisk-form structure.
1889	42	Eiffel Tower in Paris, France	1887–1889	312	1,024		The addition of a new telecommunications tower in 2022 brought the overall height to 330 m.
1930	1	Chrysler Building in New York City, United States	1928–1930	319	1,046
1931	23	Empire State Building in New York City, United States	1930–1931	381	1,250		First building with 100+ stories. The addition of a pinnacle and antennas later increased its overall height to. This was subsequently lowered to.
1954	2	Griffin Television Tower Oklahoma, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States	1954	480.5	1,576
1956	3	KOBR-TV Tower, Caprock, New Mexico, United States	1956	490.7	1,610		Collapsed in 1960; rebuilt
1959	1	WGME TV Tower, Raymond, Maine, United States	1959	495	1,624
1960	2	KFVS TV Mast, Cape Girardeau County, Missouri, United States	1960	511.1	1,677
1962	1	WTVM/WRBL-TV & WVRK-FM Tower, Cusseta, Georgia, United States	1962	533	1,749
1963	0	WIMZ-FM-Tower, Knoxville, Tennessee, United States	1963	534.01	1,752
1963	11	KVLY-TV mast, Blanchard, North Dakota, United States	1963	628.8	2,063		See also resumption 1991–1998 and 1998-2008.
1974	17	Warsaw Radio Mast, Gąbin, Poland	1974	646.4	2,121		Mast radiator insulated against ground, collapsed in 1991
1991	18	KVLY-TV mast, Blanchard, North Dakota, United States	1963	628.8	2,063		See also 1963–1974 and 1998-2008.
1998	0	KRDK-TV mast, Galesburg, North Dakota, United States	1966	629.1	2,064		Height includes the 1998 addition of a short flagpole, which was later removed.
1998	28	KVLY-TV mast, Blanchard, North Dakota, United States	1963	628.8	2,063		See also 1963–1974 and 1991-1998. 75-foot analog antenna was removed from the top of the structure in 2018 in digital repack construction
2008		Burj Khalifa in Dubai, United Arab Emirates	2004–2009	829.8	2,722

Image:Maszt radiowy w Konstantynowie.jpg|thumb|upright|Warsaw radio mast, the height record holder from 1974 to 1991
The Kanishka Stupa near Peshawar, Pakistan was built c. 151 and rebuilt in the 4th century. Ancient travelers claimed it was up to 171 metres tall, which would have been a record at the time. Modern estimates suggest a height of 122 metres, which would not have been a record. It was destroyed by lightning.

Guyed structures

Many large guyed masts were destroyed at the end of World War II, so the dates for the years between 1945 and 1950 may be incorrect. If Wusung Radio Tower in China survived World War II, it would have been the tallest guyed structure shortly after World War II.

Freestanding structures

Freestanding structures must not be supported by guy wires, or built underground or on the seabed and supported by the sea. They include towers, chimneys, and skyscrapers. Until 1954, freestanding structures held the record for tallest structures overall, as seen in the Overall table above. Here are the records for freestanding structures after that point:

Record from	Record held	Name and location	Constructed	Height	Height	Coordinates	Notes
1931	36	Empire State Building in New York City, United States	1930–1931	381	1,250		First building with 100+ stories. The addition of a pinnacle and antennas later increased its overall height to. This was subsequently lowered to.
1967	8	Ostankino Tower in Moscow, Soviet Union	1963–1967	540	1,762		Remains the tallest in Europe. Fire in 2000 led to extensive renovation.
1975	32	CN Tower in Toronto, Canada	1973–1976	553.33	1,815.39		The tallest in the Western Hemisphere.
2007		Burj Khalifa in Dubai, United Arab Emirates	2004–2009	829.8	2,722		Holder of world's tallest freestanding structure. Topped out at in 2009.

[Image:Worlds tallest buildings, 1884.jpg|thumb|upright=2|right|Diagram of the principal high buildings of the Old World, 1884]
Notable mentions include the Pharos (lighthouse) of Alexandria, built in the third century BC and estimated between. It was the world's tallest non-pyramidal structure for many centuries. Another notable mention includes the Jetavanaramaya stupa in Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka, which was built in the third century, and was similarly tall at. These were both the world's tallest or second-tallest non-pyramidal structure for over a thousand years.
The tallest secular building between the collapse of the Pharos and the erection of the Washington Monument may have been the Torre del Mangia in Siena, Italy, which is tall, and was constructed in the first half of the fourteenth century; and the Torre degli Asinelli in Bologna, Italy, built between 1109 and 1119.

Freestanding towers

Towers include observation towers, monuments and other structures not generally considered to be "habitable buildings", they are meant for "regular access by humans, but not for living in or office work", meaning it excludes from this list of continuously habitable buildings and skyscrapers. Radio and TV masts with guy-wires for support are also excluded, since they aren't freestanding.
Bridge towers or pylons, chimneys, transmission towers, and most large statues allow human access for maintenance, but not as part of their normal operation, and are therefore not considered to be towers.
The following is a list of structures that have historically held the title as the tallest towers in the world.

Buildings

The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat, an organization that certifies buildings as the "World's Tallest", recognizes a building only if at least 50% of its height is made up of floor plates containing habitable floor area. Structures that do not meet this criterion, such as the CN Tower, are defined as "towers".
Up until the late 1990s, the definition of "tallest building" was not altogether clear. It was generally understood to be the height of the building to the top of its architectural elements including spires, but not including "temporary" structures, which could be added or changed relatively easily without requiring major changes to the building's design. Varying standards have been used by different organizations, so the accepted height of these structures or buildings depends on which standards are accepted. The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat has changed its definitions over time. Some of the controversy regarding the definitions and assessment of tall structures and buildings has included the following:

the definition of a structure, a building and a tower.
whether a structure, building or tower under construction should be included in any assessment.
whether a structure, building or tower has to be officially opened before it is assessed.
whether structures built in and rising above water should have their below-water height included in any assessment.
whether a structure, building or tower that is guyed is assessed in the same category as self-supporting structures.

Within an accepted definition of a building further controversy has included the following factors:

whether only habitable height of the building is considered
whether communication towers with observation galleries should be considered "habitable" in this sense
whether rooftop antennas, viewing platforms or any other architecture that does not form a habitable floor should be included in the assessment
whether a floor built at a high level of a telecommunications or viewing tower should change the tower's definition to that of a "building"

One historic case involved the building now famous for the Times Square Ball. Known as One Times Square, it was the headquarters for The New York Times, which gave Times Square its name. Completed in 1905, it reached a height of to its roof, or including its rooftop flagpole, which the Times hoped would give it a record high status but because a flagpole is not an integral architectural part of a building, One Times Square was not generally considered to be taller than the Park Row Building in Lower Manhattan, which was therefore still New York's tallest.
A bigger controversy was the rivalry between two New York City skyscrapers built in the Roaring Twenties—the Chrysler Building and 40 Wall Street. The latter was tall, had a shorter pinnacle, and had a much higher top occupied floor. In contrast, the Chrysler Building employed a very long spire secretly assembled inside the building to claim the title of world's tallest building with a total height of, despite having a lower top occupied floor and a shorter height when both buildings' spires are not counted in their heights. Although the architects of record for 40 Wall were H. Craig Severance and Yasuo Matsui, the firm of Shreve & Lamb served as consulting architects. They wrote a newspaper article claiming that 40 Wall was actually the tallest, since it contained the world's highest usable floor. They pointed out that the observation deck of 40 Wall was nearly higher than the top floor of the Chrysler, whose surpassing spire was strictly ornamental and essentially inaccessible. Despite the protest, the Chrysler Building was generally accepted as the tallest building in the world for almost a year, until it was surpassed by the Empire State Building's in 1931.
That was in turn surpassed by the Twin Towers of New York's original World Trade Center in 1972, which were in turn surpassed by the Sears Tower in Chicago in 1974. Now called the Willis Tower since 2009, it was to its flat rooftop, or including its original antennas. But in 1978 One World Trade Center attained a taller absolute height when it added its new broadcasting antenna, for a total height of. The WTC North Tower maintained this height record from 1978 until 2000, when the owners of the Willis Tower extended its broadcasting antennae for a total height of. Thus the status of the Willis Tower as the "totally" tallest was restored in the face of a new threat looming in the Far East—the "Siamese Twins".
A major controversy erupted upon completion of the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in 1998. These Twin Towers, at, had a higher architectural height, but a lower absolute pinnacle height and a lower top occupied floor than the Willis Tower in Chicago. Counting buildings as structures with floors throughout, and with antenna masts excluded, the Willis was still considered the tallest at that time. Excluding their spires, which are higher than the flat roof of Willis, the Petronas Towers are not taller than Willis. At their convention in Chicago, the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat found the Willis Tower to be the third-tallest building, and the Petronas Towers to be the world's two tallest buildings.
Responding to the ensuing controversy, the CTBUH then revised their criteria and defined four categories in which the world's tallest building can be measured, retaining the old criterion of height to architectural top, and adding three new categories:

Highest occupied floor
Height to top of roof
Height to architectural top. This measurement is the most widely used and is used to define the rankings of the 100 Tallest Buildings in the World.
Height to tip

The height-to-roof criterion was discontinued because relatively few modern tall buildings possess flat rooftops, making this criterion difficult to determine and measure. The CTBUH has further clarified their definitions of building height, including specific criteria concerning subbasements and ground level entrances, building completion, condition of the highest occupied floor and other aspects of tall buildings. The height is measured from the level of the lowest, significant, open-air, pedestrian entrance.
A different superlative for skyscrapers is their number of floors. The original World Trade Center set that record at 110 in the early 1970s, and this was not surpassed until the Burj Khalifa opened in 2010.
Tall freestanding structures such as the CN Tower, the Ostankino Tower and the Oriental Pearl Tower are excluded from these categories because they are not "habitable buildings", which are defined as frame structures made with floors and walls throughout.
Here are the world records by category since the CTBUH defined them in 1996:

Observation decks

Timeline of development of world's highest observation deck since opening of the Washington Monument in 1888.
Higher observation decks have existed on mountain tops or cliffs, rather than on tall structures. The Grand Canyon Skywalk, constructed in 2007, protrudes over the west rim of the Grand Canyon and is approximately above the Colorado River, making it the highest of these types of structures.