The status of the world’s tallest building has been a subject of fascination for almost as long as humankind has been able to gaze upwards. And it is likely to be a topic of conversation again in the next couple of years – as the Jeddah Tower nears completion.
Said architectural project, currently rising above Saudi Arabia’s second city, will be the latest building to become the world’s tallest when it reaches its full height. It is inching closer to this goal. April saw the construction work pass the 100th floor. Once finished (probably in 2028), it will be the planet’s first kilometre-tall skyscraper (1,000m/3,300ft).
Of course, in hitting the heights, it will merely be joining a fabled family of super-sized towers, churches and other edifices, all of which have worn this crown in prior centuries.
But which buildings have held this celebrated title? All is revealed below…
1. Old St Paul’s Cathedral
Height: 489ft (149m)
Record holder: 1221-1311
Record duration: 90 years
You could, perhaps, trace this particular timeline all the way back to the Göbekli Tepe temple, which stood in Mesopotamia (modern-day Turkey) during the 10th millennium BC. However, the easiest starting point is 1221. This was the year when a building finally surpassed the structure – ie. a landmark not designed for ongoing human occupation – that had stood as the tallest piece of man-made masonry on the planet for more than 3,000 years. That architectural titan was, of course, the Great Pyramid of Giza – which, erected in 2570 BC, came to a head at 481ft (147m). It has since shrunk to 454ft (139m).
Its statistical conqueror had been around since 1087, when, in what is considered to have been his final act before his death in the September, William the Conqueror donated a foundation stone to the construction of a new St Paul’s Cathedral in London, the previous church having just burnt down. The work took two centuries, but reached a crucial moment after 134 years, when the raising of its steeple eclipsed Ancient Egypt.
Can I visit it?
No. In 1666, the Great Fire of London did to the fourth incarnation of St Paul’s what the blaze of 1087 had done to the third. But you can visit the fifth version – as crafted by Sir Christopher Wren almost as soon as the flames had died.
2. Lincoln Cathedral
Height: 525ft (160m)
Record holder: 1311-1548
Record duration: 237 years
The story of the world’s tallest building during the Middle Ages is effectively a timeline of increasingly lofty churches. And in 1311, Lincoln Cathedral took a great leap forward with an addition that, in some senses, would not be eclipsed for six centuries. Although the church’s first stones were laid in 1072, the raising of its central tower to 271ft (83m) between 1307 and 1311 added a new elevation to its Gothic magnificence.
This alone was not enough to make it the world’s tallest building – but the planting of a 254ft (77m) wooden steeple on top of the tower was. Was this the sort of vanity that divine forces are deemed to dislike? In 1548, a storm sent the spire crashing down, and the cathedral lost its crown. However, the record it had set would not be broken until the late 19th century.
Can I visit it?
Absolutely. Even minus its spire, Lincoln is one of Britain’s foremost cathedrals – home to one of the four surviving copies of Magna Carta.
3. St Mary’s Church, Stralsund
Height: 495ft (151m)
Record holder: 1548-1569; 1573-1647
Record duration: (21 years; 74 years; 95 years in total)
With Lincoln Cathedral’s decapitation, the title of the world’s tallest building was inherited by a German. Sort of. Stralsund is now a small city on Germany’s Baltic coast – but between 1325 and 1648, it was a thriving port in the Duchy of Pomerania. And like Lincoln, it had (and has) a religious landmark of considerable heft.
A Gothic giant in red brick, the Marienkirche (St Mary’s) had been founded in the 14th century. But by 1548, its bell tower (495ft/151m) had attained enough height to rise above the rest of the planet by default. St Mary’s would hold the record for 95 years – not including a short spell when St Pierre’s Cathedral in Beauvais (in northern France) gained an even taller tower. Finished in 1569, it ascended to 502ft (153m). Icarus-esque, it collapsed four years later.
Can I visit it?
Yes – see here. Perhaps via “Berlin to the Baltic Sea” – a seven-night group trip, part cruise, part cycling tour – sold by Freedom Treks. From £1,063 per person – not including flights.
4. Our Lady of Strasbourg
Height: 466ft (142m)
Record holder: 1647-1874
Record duration: 227 years
Like Lincoln Cathedral, the Marienkirche lost the title due to misfortune. Its bell tower was struck by lightning in 1647. Strasbourg Cathedral duly scooped up the crown, even though its spire was shorter, at 466ft (142m), than the record-breaker that had just been destroyed.
The spire does at least still exist, having survived a plan to tear it down during the French Revolution – and despite its giving the church a lop-sided appearance. It rises at the building’s north-west corner, but the plan for a second spire, symmetrically placed at the south-west, was never realised. The cathedral was nonetheless added to the Unesco World Heritage list in 1988. Victor Hugo described it as “a gigantic and delicate marvel”.
Can I visit it?
It remains one of the highlights of a lovely city. Kirker Holidays offers three-night stays at the four-star Cour du Courbeau hotel from £859 per person (including breakfast and travel).
5. Ulm Minster
Height: 530ft (162m)
Record holder: 1890-1894
Record duration: Four years
The late 19th century was a frantic time for architectural one-upmanship, with the identity of the world’s tallest building changing four times in 16 years. St Nicholas in Hamburg (482ft/147m) replaced Strasbourg on the plinth – for just two years (1874-1876). Bombed during the war, the church is now a memorial. Rouen Cathedral (495ft/151m; 1876-1880) and Cologne Cathedral (516ft/157m; 1880-1890) also took turns – but Ulm Minster, in the southern German state of Baden-Württemberg, merits special mention.
When its 530ft (162m) steeple was completed on May 31, 1890, Lincoln’s lost spire was finally eclipsed by a new building. That said, two structures – the Washington Monument (555ft/169m; finished in 1884) and the Eiffel Tower (1,024ft/312m; opened in 1889) – had already climbed above both.
Can I visit it?
You can. A three-night dash to the Maritim Hotel Ulm, flying from Heathrow to Stuttgart on July 23, starts at £364 per person, via Expedia. Remarkably, Ulm Minster was the tallest church in the world until October 30 last year, when it was overtaken by Barcelona’s Sagrada Familia.
6. Philadelphia City Hall
Height: 548ft (167m)
Record holder: 1894-1908
Record duration: 14 years
November 28, 1894 drew a line across human history. In the moment that a statue of the quaker theologian William Penn was fully fixed into position at the heart of Philadelphia, the title of the planet’s tallest building leapt the Atlantic, swapping Old World for New. But if this was a red-letter date, it was also a halfway house.
Philadelphia City Hall is the most unlikely entry on this list – neither one of the great European churches that had set all prior records, nor one of the American skyscrapers that would define the 20th century. But it remains a fine sight, still active as the seat of local government in Pennsylvania’s biggest city, and still tall – not least because the Penn bronze adds 37ft (11m) all by itself.
Can I visit it?
Yes. And it has an observation deck. Philadelphia is part of the “Highlights of Pennsylvania & Washington DC” road-trip sold by Bon Voyage, from £2,359 per person, with flights.
7. Chrysler Building
Height: 1,046ft (319m)
Record holder: 1930-1931
Record duration: One year
The 20th century had scarcely wiped its feet before the skyscraper era walked in – and New York was its playground. Five soaring feats of ambition stood on the “world’s tallest” pantheon between 1908 and 1930, all in Manhattan. The fleeting significance of the first four – the Singer Building (630ft/192m; record holder between 1908 and 1909, but demolished in 1967); the Metropolitan Life Tower (699ft/213m; 1909-1913); the Woolworth Building (791ft/241m; 1913-1930); 40 Wall Street (928ft/283m; 1930 alone) – has been partially forgotten.
The elegance of the fifth certainly has not. The Chrysler Building only topped the charts for 11 months (May 27, 1930-May 1, 1931), but it was the first building to break the 1,000ft barrier. And in its chic Art-Deco design and “steeple” of stainless steel, it became the aesthetic standard to which all other skyscrapers are held.
Can I visit it?
On a limited basis. The Chrysler is still an office building, but while there is no observation deck, its lobby is accessible on working days. A seven-night stay at the next-door Hyatt Grand, flying from Heathrow on September 5, starts at £1,496 a head with British Airways Holidays.
8. Empire State Building
Height: 1,250ft (381m)
Record holder: 1931-1970
Record duration: 39 years
Only a skyscraper of vast cultural importance could possibly have replaced the Chrysler as the world’s tallest. Luckily, New York had just the thing, 11 blocks away on Fifth Avenue. Utterly iconic in its 102 floors of tapering symmetry, the Empire State Building is forever embedded in the image of the city at its feet – and is as famous a film star as any actor from the Big Apple. Its list of silver-screen appearances includes King Kong (1933), An Affair To Remember (1957), Superman II (1980) and Sleepless in Seattle (1993).
Can I visit it?
No trip to New York can be complete without a visit to the 86th-floor and rooftop observation decks. Four million people take the lifts every year.
9. World Trade Center (North Tower)
Height: 1,368ft (417m)
Record holder: 1970-1973
Record duration: Three years
From the pinnacle of New York’s architectural glamour to its deepest sorrow. The World Trade Center was the globe’s tallest building for just three years, but it remains etched in memory for reasons more sombre than height. Strangely, in a note of trivia that has been buried in tragedy, only one of the “twin towers” – the North Tower (One World Trade Center) – held the record. At 1,368ft (417m), it was six feet (1.8m) taller than its sibling (Two World Trade Center) – thanks to slightly raised ceilings on its 43rd and 67th floors.
Can I visit it?
The towers’ footprints are preserved as the 9/11 Memorial & Museum. Their spiritual replacement, One World Trade Center, opened in 2014 – and is taller than both its predecessors (at 1,776ft/541m). The view from its observation deck – on floors 100-102 – is inevitably epic.
10. Sears Tower
Height: 1,450ft (442m)
Record holder: 1973-1998
Record duration: 25 years
You know a building has achieved a certain celebrity when it is still known by its former name 17 years after it was rebranded. But whether you call it the “Sears Tower” (as it was titled between 1973 and 2009), or the “Willis Tower” (as it is today), this superstar of the Chicago skyline is immediately recognisable – its random clusters of glassy blocks, seemingly put together like a very expensive Lego set, standing in modern contrast to the blue serenity of Lake Michigan below.
You can argue as to whether it was knocked off its perch after two years by Toronto’s CN Tower (which, topped out in 1975, rears to 1,815ft/553m, but is regarded as a structure), but the Sears-Willis is undoubtedly striking.
Can I visit it?
Its observation deck, the highest in the US, sits on the 103rd floor, 1,353ft (412m) up. Film buffs may recall that it is one of the locations visited in 1986 truancy classic Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. A seven-night stay at the four-star Royal Sonesta Chicago River North, flying from Heathrow on September 5, starts at £1,678 per person – through Virgin Atlantic Holidays.
11. Petronas Towers
Height: 1,483ft (452m)
Record holder: 1998-2004
Record duration: Six years
Much as the end of the 19th century saw the demise of Europe’s reign as the continent of the world’s tallest building, so the fading of the 20th signalled the death of the American era. Designed by the Argentinian architect César Pelli, the Petronas Towers announced the arrival of a new millennium in matching spires of concrete, steel and glass. Unlike the World Trade Center, the towers are identical in height, and have brought a contemporary gleam to Kuala Lumpur. Time moves fast, though. The Petronas Towers were the world’s tallest building for six years – but as of 2023, they are only the third highest in Malaysia.
Can I visit them?
Yes, although the most feted spot is not the 86th-floor observation deck, but the “Skybridge” between the towers (on the 41st and 42nd floors). The 16-day “Marvellous Malaysia” tour sold by Bamboo Travel spends two days in KL. From £4,040 per person, with flights.
12. Taipei 101
Height: 1,670ft (510m)
Record holder: 2004-2010
Record duration: Six years
Asia tightened its grip on the “world’s tallest building” title when this behemoth in blue-green glass emerged in Taiwan. Indeed, the “Taipei World Financial Center”, as it was once known, is a symbol of Asian modernity. It is home to several Taiwanese banks, its lifts – built in Japan – were the planet’s fastest at the time of completion (racing to the 89th floor in 37 seconds), and its structure is reputedly able to withstand any earthquake the Pacific’s “Ring of Fire” can throw at it. But as with the Petronas Towers, tomorrow came quickly. The world’s tallest building in 2004, Taipei 101 is only ranked 11th today.
Can I visit it?
Of course. There are indoor and outdoor observation decks (the highest on the 101st floor). Cox & Kings offers “Taiwan: The Beautiful Island”, an 11-day tour, from £3,695 a head, with flights.
13. Burj Khalifa
Height: 2,717ft (828m)
Record holder: 2010-
Record duration: 16 years (to date)
Dubai’s statement of architectural prowess was so mighty when it arrived 16 years ago that a new phrase was needed to describe it. So the “megatall skyscraper” – a building more than 600m (1,968ft) in height – was born. There are four of them now, but the Burj Khalifa is still the tallest. The superlatives are many. At.mosphere, on the 122nd floor (at 1,450ft/442m) is the world’s highest restaurant; The Lounge, up on the 154th floor (at 1,919ft/585m), is the planet’s loftiest observation deck. On a clear day, the view from the latter purportedly stretches to an astonishing 53 miles.
Can I visit it?
With caveats. Due to the ongoing conflict in the Gulf, the Foreign Office currently advises against all essential travel to the United Arab Emirates.