How many floors does the smallest skyscraper in the world have (4 photos)

This building is called the smallest skyscraper in the world according to quite a funny reason - given that its height is only 12 meters, and it looks so-so, the word skyscraper here seems most inappropriate. But first, a backstory.





The pointer confirms that this is the smallest skyscraper in the world.

In 1912, in the vicinity of the town of Wichita Falls, there was found oil. At that time, this meant literally a great migration. people - the city no longer had enough places to live and there was a shortage of office space.

This meant that any "startup" in the field of construction promised good profits, because customers themselves are waiting for any offers.

A certain engineer named J. McMahon proposed to build in a town in which, it seems, there were no houses more than 2-3 floors in general, to build a real skyscraper.

This topic was then fashionable, so investors quickly found. It was not like now, when one company invests or a fund, but rather as a purchase of shares in the project by private individuals.



The smallest skyscraper in the world does not look like a skyscraper

One way or another, they accumulated as much as 200 thousand dollars, which moment was an impressive amount (although everything turned out for a skyscraper equally cheap - but this was the calculation).

J. McMahon hired people and began construction and even finished it on time, only investors saw something completely different from what expected - but this 4-storey house, which, of course, against the background surrounding buildings is quite distinguished by its height, but still the sky is not scrapes.

So what's the fun?

And that in the documents (including, apparently, contracts with investors) indicated a height of 480 - how was it spelled out, unclear, but everyone was sure that we were talking about feet (that is, 150 meters), and it was about inches.





Signboard at Newby-McMahon

The final height of the building turned out exactly according to the project - only 12 meters, that is, the very "promised" 480 inches that is only 40 feet.

It is clear that investors went to court (surprisingly, not just beat the face for such a swindle), but lost - in papers, everything was as it should, although, apparently, "in small print in the very bottom".

We do not know anything about the further fate of J. McMahon, but he made good money on this "startup". Moreover, investors would still fly - oil reserves near Wichita Falls are over quite quickly and the demand for office real estate returned to the old level.

But the house is now called Newby-McMahon ("New building McMahon") - so the cunning engineer managed to perpetuate his name. and the city received some kind of, but a landmark.



Newby-McMahon - the smallest skyscraper in the world