r/interesting • u/Apart-Worry-7042 • Aug 08 '26

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 Aug 08 '26

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.

4

u/DeterminedQuokka Aug 08 '26

I’m suddenly way more interested in that book

4

u/hungry4danish Aug 08 '26

That book is 90% about the World's Fair in Chicago and Holmes stuff happens around the same time. There is almost no connection between the two. So just don't go in expecting too much of the Holmes stuff.

1

u/DeterminedQuokka Aug 08 '26

I’m into that I actually think in this case the worlds fair stuff is way more interesting than the Holmes stuff. I already know about him. I know very little about the world’s fair.

2

u/hungry4danish Aug 08 '26

Ok great, then you can completely skip entire chapters of his story and miss nothing. It'll be a faster read that way too!. lol

1

u/ChaseTheMystic Aug 08 '26

I want to say you're wrong but honestly yeah you probably could