*Holy cow that thing is beautiful. And what a story there, too.
*It's like an unbuilt Difference Engine for the steel-framed glass facade.
It comes across like some kind of Victorian Archigram.
http://www.gizmag.com/worlds-first-skyscraper-charles-burton/17597/
(...)
"British architect Charles Burton designed a 1,000 foot (305 meter) high metal and glass building in response to a call to redesign The Crystal Palace, the famous London exhibition building, 30-odd years before the American buildings were erected. (...)
"Burton suggested stacking an iron frame fifty storeys high, making him the first man to suggest building a skyscraper. The designs were published in The Builder in 1851/2...."
