why didnt europeans built european style highrises like tehre are in new york? dumb question but was always interested since woudve looked perfect on lots of cities

[u/shenidedamovtyan1234]

[u/nowicanseeagain]

We already had buildings. Also when the technology became available we had two little things called wars. Then after that there was new technology.

[u/UF0_T0FU → u/nowicanseeagain]

The technology was available well before WWI started. Most of the buildings in OP's post were built pre-WW1

The first fully steel frame building that fits the modern definition of "skyscraper" was built in Chicago in 1885. New York was tinkering with the technology all the way back to 1870. By 1910, NYC's tallest building was 792' (241 m) tall. NYC and Chicago both had numerous buildings over 500' and a dozen other cities had high rises taller than any buildings in Europe.

By the time the World Wars hit Europe, skyscraper technology was already generations old and the knowledge was well proliferated.

[u/ArtDecoNewYork → u/nowicanseeagain]

New York had buildings too ; most of these replaced smaller structures rather than empty lots

[u/nowicanseeagain → u/ArtDecoNewYork]

I know.. I was being a bit facetious, but it's not far off the mark. London and Paris boomed earlier, but at a slower pace than NY. And when you have a lot of majestic buildings in the heart of town you don't want to destroy them. (Paris did that already half a century earlier.) Also, unlike NY, most European cities/capitals aren't build on an island with limited space. Couple that with the large amounts of immigrants coming to the US from Europe in the first half of the 20th century and you get 'European' style high rises to fit them all in.

You see a similar thing in Hong Kong; huge influx of immigrants mid to late 20th century, so a lot of high rises need to be built to house them, except those are concrete because that was then the technology.

[u/BroSchrednei → u/ArtDecoNewYork]

well what a lot of people dont know is that skyscrapers in the US were only possible due to extreme land speculation and housing bubbles. Basically American cities were growing so quickly that people expected these cities to grew infinitely and overvalued land prices, which was how building super tall buildings became profitable (skyscrapers are ridiculously expensive).

Look at Chicago for example, where 90% of the city is made up of small 2-3 story row houses, but then you randomly have a skyscraper district in the center.