September 3rdEvery yearLouis Sullivan's birthday
Skyscraper Day is celebrated each year on September 3rd
A yearly tribute to one of humanity's most influential inventions, the tall building. From New York and Chicago to Dubai and Shenzhen, we honor the architects, engineers and dreamers who built upward.
Twelve buildings drawn to one scale, tallest first. The Home Insurance Building of 1885 stands at the right: 55 m, which the Burj Khalifa passes 15 times over.The six tallest of the twelve, drawn to one scale. See all twelve.
Why we celebrate on September 3rd
Skyscraper Day commemorates the birthday of Louis Sullivan, born on 3 September 1856, the first master architect of high-rise buildings and the originator of the phrase form follows function. Sullivan worked in Chicago alongside William LeBaron Jenney, engineer of the first steel-framed 10-story building.
Tall buildings have let people live more closely together, saving land from development and turning cities into artificial mountain ranges, each with its own silhouette. The story is a story of two technologies: the elevator and the skeletal frame.
Where to go next
Six places to start. The full index has the rest, including what counts as a skyscraper, how one is built, and the towers of each city.
History of Skyscraper Day
Why September 3rd, the role of Louis Sullivan, and the technologies that made tall buildings possible.
Louis Sullivan
The father of the modern skyscraper, mentor to Frank Lloyd Wright, and the man behind “form follows function”.
How to celebrate
Architectural tours, photo walks, observation decks and online communities: ideas for September 3rd.
Famous skyscrapers
From the Empire State to Burj Khalifa, a hand-picked tour of the world's most iconic towers.
Skyscraper cities
Hong Kong, Shenzhen, New York, Dubai, Chicago: the great vertical cities of the world.
Resources and links
Databases, forums, museums and awards, curated for everyone who loves tall buildings.
The day in short
- Date
- September 3rd. The date does not move, so Skyscraper Day falls on a different weekday each year. In 2026 it is a Thursday.
- Named after
- Louis Sullivan, born in Boston on 3 September 1856. He built the Wainwright Building in St. Louis and the Guaranty Building in Buffalo, and wrote the sentence “form ever follows function” in 1896.
- Also called
- World Skyscraper Day, or just Skyscraper Day. Both names point at the same date.
- What people do
- Climb an observation deck, walk an architecture tour, photograph a skyline, or read up on one tower they have always wondered about. The ten ideas are the long answer.
- Where the buildings are counted
- More than 177,000 tall buildings in over 10,000 cities are on record. The twelve on this site are a starting point, not the list.
Want to dive deeper into the world of tall buildings?
SKYDB is an open database of skyscrapers and high-rise buildings worldwide. Create your account to explore, follow and contribute.
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