History of the world's tallest buildings with no iron nails. It had a standing total height of 68 m (223 ft) or 80 m (262 ft), making it the tallest structure in East Asia and the tallest wooden structure in the world at the time of its construction. From the 13th century until 1894, the world's tallest building was always a church or cathedral. Old St Paul's Cathedral with its spire was completed in the 13th century. The central spire of Lincoln Cathedral surpassed Old St Paul's in the early 14th century. The Lincoln Cathedral's spire collapsed in 1549, beginning a long interval where the status
World Trade Center (1973–2001) When completed in 1973, the South Tower, Two World Trade Center (the South Tower) became the second tallest building in the world at ; the South Tower's rooftop observation deck was high and its indoor observation deck was high. Each tower stood over high, and occupied about of the total of the site's land. During a press conference in 1973, Yamasaki was asked, "Why two 110-story buildings? Why not one 220-story building?" His tongue-in-cheek response was: "I didn't want to lose the human scale." When completed in 1972, 1 World Trade Center became the tallest building in the world for