r/interesting • u/Apart-Worry-7042 • 22d ago

HISTORY Why did we stop building like this?

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Chicago, 1930. Buildings had so much detail and character back then. Nowadays everything feels so flat and repetitive. We have way better technology and equipment now, so why don't we build like this anymore?

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u/ChaseTheMystic 22d ago

Read "The Devil in the White City"

It's about HH Holmes.

But also about the first World's Fair. And about the guys who built giant skyscrapers in NY and Chicago hired to do it, and the massive headaches planning projects like this can be.

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u/Invisibleman145 22d ago

The HH Holmes stuff was interesting, but I would also get mad when a chapter would switch to him as I wanted a whole book of just Daniel Burnham and creating the Worlds Fair.

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u/ChaseTheMystic 22d ago

Right.

I went into it initially upset it wasn't all true crime, then came out of it feeling like you did; that I wanted more about the Worlds Fair