ABSTRACT
The Home Insurance Building has been credited by various authors as being everything from the first iron skeleton-framed building to the first skyscraper, and William Le Baron Jenney has consequently gained the reputation of being the "father of the skyscraper." Because of the later controversy surrounding the Home Insurance Building and the issue of the origin of the iron skeleton frame, Jenney's professional position in the Chicago architectural scene of the early 1880s has been greatly inflated. In 1883, before Jenney started to design the Home Insurance Building, the Board of Trade's columns were considered to be Peter B. Wight's finest installation. In contrast to the ironwork of the later Home Insurance Building, for which Wight was also the fireproofing contractor, the Board of Trade Tower's iron was put in place before the masonry facing was added. Inland Architect reported that Jenney's design had indeed been chosen the winner from plans submitted by a half dozen of Chicago's best architects.
