Elisha Otis perfected the elevator by inventing an emergency brake to prevent falls. He presented this elevator at the1854 New York exhibition. We have to look up in modern cities because of his invention and an engineer/Architect named William LeBaron Jenny. Jenny's use of a steel skeleton fame allowed building to go tall and exploit the elevator's vertical abilities. JENNY'S design still had masonry bearing exterior walls but later these would dissapear to become "curtain walls" hung from the steel. Johnny Robertson posted that he is in Chicago so I sent him a link to the last great masonry structure-- the Monadnock building (1891). 16 stories of brick, it was constructed with battered (sloping ) walls in the manner of a Papyrus plant to reduce weight.
