Chicago is home to the majority of the tallest residential buildings in the United States, hosting seven of the top 12. Most might assume the correct answer is New York City, but there is actually quite a bit of healthy competition between the Windy City and the Big Apple, Chicago Magazine explained.
So why Chicago?
The magazine explained that Chicago is the birthplace of a lot of the architectural innovations – fireproofing, steel frames, elevator technologies – that make the high life possible.
Here’s a preview of the last one. If the last one stands at 822 feet, imagine how tall the top of the list in.
Click to enlarge
Source: Chicago Magazine
And of course, with the extra height comes extra precautions, or maybe even perks depending on who you ask.
According to an article in the New York Times, penthouse bathrooms are starting to feature grand views of the city, and sometimes, the owners.
The dizzying aerial baths at 432 Park, while certainly the highest in the city, are not the only exposed throne rooms in New York. All across Manhattan, in glassy towers soon to be built or nearing completion, see-through chambers will flaunt their owners, naked, toweled or robed, like so many museum vitrines — although the audience for all this exposure is probably avian, not human.
