Which English engineer built the first iron-framed building?

English engineer Charles Bage built the first recognised iron-framed building, the Ditherington Flax Mill in Shrewsbury.

Constructed between 1796 and 1797, the mill replaced traditional timber beams and columns with a structural frame made from cast iron, wrought iron, and brick. Bage developed the design with mill owner John Marshall and ironfounder William Hazledine. The five-storey building was intended for spinning flax and had to support heavy machinery while reducing the danger of fire associated with wooden factory structures.

The building is now known as the Shrewsbury Flaxmill Maltings and is often called the “grandfather of skyscrapers.” It did not resemble a modern skyscraper in appearance, but its iron skeleton established an important construction principle: a building’s floors could be carried by an internal frame rather than by thick exterior walls. That innovation influenced later factories, warehouses, and tall buildings. A common confusion is crediting Bage with inventing all iron construction; earlier structures used iron components, but Ditherington is widely recognised as the first complete iron-framed building.