Question: who contributed more to the design of skyscrapers

title: Early skyscrapers
text: The emergence of skyscrapers was made possible by technological improvements during the middle of the 19th century . One of these developments was the iron framed building . Masonry buildings supported their internal floors through their walls , but the taller the building , the thicker the walls had to become , particularly at the base . In the 1860s , French engineers experimented with using built - up plate girders made of wrought iron to construct buildings supported by internal metal frames . These frames were stronger than traditional masonry and permitted much thinner walls . The methodology was extensively described in engineering journals and was initially used to build warehouses .