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
History of the world's tallest buildings tallest building by any criteria. It has the highest architectural element, tip and occupied floor, and is indeed the tallest structure of any kind ever built, surpassing the (now destroyed) Warsaw radio mast. Since the completion of the Washington Monument in 1884, the world's tallest building has not usually also been the world's tallest "structure". The exceptions are 1930–1954, when the Chrysler Building and then the Empire State building surpassed the Eiffel Tower (to be surpassed in turn by a succession of broadcast masts, starting with the Griffin Television Tower in Oklahoma), and from 2010 with the completion of Burj