What was the name of the first steel-framed skyscraper?

The Home Insurance Building was the first steel-framed skyscraper.

Designed by architect William Le Baron Jenney, the building was constructed in Chicago between 1884 and 1885. Its structural frame carried much of the building’s weight, allowing the exterior walls to be lighter than the massive load-bearing masonry traditionally required for tall buildings. This innovation helped make greater height practical in crowded cities.

The original building stood 10 stories and reached 138 feet. Two additional stories were added in 1891, bringing it to 12 stories and about 180 feet. Its frame used iron and steel elements along with reinforced concrete, so historians sometimes describe it more precisely as an early metal-frame or skeleton-frame building rather than a purely steel structure.

The title “first skyscraper” is not completely free of debate: earlier buildings used iron framing, and some contemporaries were taller. Nevertheless, the Home Insurance Building is the standard quiz answer because its metal skeleton and curtain-wall principles strongly influenced modern skyscraper construction. It was demolished in 1931.