Image 38 of 39
A quite dreadful photograph of a thoroughly interesting building. This is the Monadnock Building, which was the tallest building in the world when it was built in 1889. It's still the largest brick building in the world. It is widely considered impossible to build a brick structure taller than this because the weight of bricks requires huge walls at the base to support. Note how the lowest floor bows out - the walls on the ground floor are 6 feet thick and have columns of iron inside them to add strength.