History of the world's tallest buildings to be tall, but its true height is not known. For thousands of years, the Great Pyramid in Egypt was the tallest "structure" in the world, but the Great Pyramid is not considered a building since it is not habitable. The earliest structures now known to be the tallest in the world were the Egyptian pyramids, with the Great Pyramid of Giza, at an original height of , being the tallest man-made structure in the world for over 3,800 years, until the construction of Lincoln Cathedral in 1300. From then until the completion of the Washington Monument (capped in 1884)
Singer Building World Trade Center towers) and the tallest to be purposely demolished by its owner. The building was commissioned by Frederick Bourne, the head of the Singer Sewing Machine Company. He hired architect Ernest Flagg, who was an early exponent of the Beaux-Arts architectural style. Flagg had also designed the company's previous headquarters at 561 Broadway between Prince and Spring Streets—in what is now the SoHo neighborhood—which was referred to as the "Little Singer Building" after the new building was erected. Plans and working drawings were prepared by George W. Conable. Flagg believed that buildings more than 10 or 15 stories