Just a bit of info, if you like skyscrapers this forum (Skyscraper Page (dot) Com) has active forums and is full of good reading on skyscraper and city informatin
Michael Palin (no relation, smarter and funnier) says in this BBC documentary - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nEJN6s1LjbA - that the Potala Palace at 13 stories was the tallest building before skyscrapers. Of course, it’s built around a hill so what is the real structure height at the core?
A great article on the ups and downs (ahem) of elevators, and how architects of tall buildings try to strike the right balance between the need for floor space and the need for sufficient elevators: Up and Then Down | The New Yorker
PBS had a show on supertall skyscrapers a few years ago. Several experts said there’s no practical engineering upper limit to building one nowadays - money and politics are the only constraints.