ABSTRACT
The predominance of fireproof buildings is a twentieth century phenomenon. In 1800, only a handful of buildings that could be called fireproof existed in Great Britain and the United States. This chapter discusses the development of, and attempt to account for differences between, fireproof constructions practices in Great Britain and the United States in the nineteenth century. It focuses on contemporary authorities – the architects, engineers, fire insurance underwriters, and construction materials manufacturers who studied, worked on, and wrote about fireproof buildings. The British engineer Charles Sylvester, commenting on developments in structural fire protection in an 1819 pamphlet, wrote that before the introduction of the iron and brick system, fireproof buildings had been made "with ceilings and roofs of stone". The tall fireproof buildings of the early 1880s were impressive for their height, but also for their weight. One of the first skyscrapers, the ten storey Montauk in Chicago, was completely fireproofed by Wight Fireproofing Co.
