# Shortest Tallest Building **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 14, 2007, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shortest-tallest-building/395830 "2007-03-14T01:06:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Andrew\_Bird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/da6949/32.png) [@Andrew\_Bird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andrew_Bird)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2007, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shortest-tallest-building/395830/1 "2007-03-14T01:06:35Z")
Which state’s tallest building is the shortest? Which state is it in? How tall is it? ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2007, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shortest-tallest-building/395830/2 "2007-03-14T01:11:29Z")
[Here is the whole list by state.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tallest_buildings_by_U.S._state) Some states just don’t seem to be into building things very tall. Looking at the list, it looks like Wyoming wins with their towering capitol building coming in at 146 ft dominating every other building in the state. ---
**Author:** ![Scruloose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e68b1a/32.png) [@Scruloose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scruloose)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2007, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shortest-tallest-building/395830/3 "2007-03-14T01:11:59Z")
Wyoming, 146 feet. [Cite.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tallest_buildings_by_U.S._state) ETA: On the above link, the height for the Franklin Towers in Maine is not listed. That building is 17 stories, so it’s a safe guess that it’s taller than 146 feet. ETA II: Damn you, Shagnasty!! ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2007, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shortest-tallest-building/395830/4 "2007-03-14T03:41:23Z")
And if anyone’s curious, [a timeline of the world’s tallest buildings](http://www.skyscraper.org/TALLEST_TOWERS/tallest.htm). ---
**Author:** ![Andrew\_Bird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/da6949/32.png) [@Andrew\_Bird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andrew_Bird)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2007, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shortest-tallest-building/395830/5 "2007-03-14T04:04:21Z")
Cool. Thank you. Any way to find out what the second tallest building in WY is? ---
**Author:** ![capybara](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/capybara/32/202_2.png) [@capybara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/capybara)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2007, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shortest-tallest-building/395830/6 "2007-03-14T04:34:42Z")
Ok, now I want to know, what’s the shortest tallest building by country? Armenia? Lesotho? Liechtenstein? Vanuatu? ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2007, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shortest-tallest-building/395830/7 "2007-03-14T05:03:59Z")
But who has the tallest shortest building? ---
**Author:** ![Autolycus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@Autolycus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Autolycus)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2007, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shortest-tallest-building/395830/8 "2007-03-14T05:13:30Z")
What’s the world’s largest smallest object? :: head asplodes :: ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2007, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shortest-tallest-building/395830/9 "2007-03-14T12:20:58Z")
[QUOTE=Andrew Bird] Any way to find out what the second tallest building in WY is? [/QUOTE] [It gets confusing](http://www.casperstartribune.net/articles/2005/03/10/news/wyoming/eff43d9ec654f64887256fbf006ce6fc.txt). ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2007, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shortest-tallest-building/395830/10 "2007-03-14T14:54:30Z")
[QUOTE=Walloon] And if anyone’s curious, [a timeline of the world’s tallest buildings](http://www.skyscraper.org/TALLEST_TOWERS/tallest.htm). [/QUOTE] Assuming you throw the Eiffel Tower out of the mix, of course. The record for the longest a building has been the tallest man-made structure, if you allow things other than skyscrapers goes to the Great Pyramid, which was tallest for thousands of years. The record for tallest structures: Great Pyramid of Gaza: 485 ft (originally; now eroded to 450), built c2400 BC Cologne, Germany Cathedral: 515 ft. Completed 1880, though they were working on it for 600 years. Washington Monument: 555 ft. Completed 1885. Eiffel Tower: 1063 ft. Completed 1889. The Empire State Building (1931) is the first structure to be bigger than the Eiffel Tower. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2007, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shortest-tallest-building/395830/11 "2007-03-14T15:12:33Z")
I’d imagine the Republic of Ireland has the shortest tallest building per developed western country, where the country’s biggest skyscraper, [Liberty Hall](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberty_Hall), is 16 storeys high. ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2007, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shortest-tallest-building/395830/12 "2007-03-14T15:22:55Z")
[QUOTE=capybara] Ok, now I want to know, what’s the shortest tallest building by country? Armenia? Lesotho? Liechtenstein? Vanuatu? [/QUOTE] Certainly not Liechtenstein, which has a castle and some modern commercial buildings. My first guess would be some fly-speck island nation consisting entirely of one story structures. Vanuatu is probably too big a speck: [![](http://www.richard-seaman.com/Travel/Vanuatu/Efate/PortVila/PortVilaFromTheEast.jpg) ](http://www.richard-seaman.com/Travel/Vanuatu/Efate/PortVila/PortVilaFromTheEast.jpg) Looks like there may be a structure of a few stories in there somewhere. Starting with Tuvalu, the highest building seems to be either the church, or the 3 story government office: [http://www.tuvaluislands.com/photos/filmstrips/scenes/gov\_bldg\_2004.htm](http://www.tuvaluislands.com/photos/filmstrips/scenes/gov_bldg_2004.htm) That can probably be beat. ---
**Author:** ![TheBRAIN1999](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/82dd89/32.png) [@TheBRAIN1999](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheBRAIN1999)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2012, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shortest-tallest-building/395830/13 "2012-09-02T12:50:21Z")
I’m gonna say the Pitcairn islands, they’re a tiny group of islands with a population of about 40, it’s mostly single floor houses, probably the one floor:smack: church that got shut down ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2012, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shortest-tallest-building/395830/14 "2012-09-02T15:11:26Z")
> [@TheBRAIN1999](#): > > I’m gonna say the Pitcairn islands, they’re a tiny group of islands with a population of about 40, it’s mostly single floor houses, probably the one floor:smack: church that got shut down There appears to be a few structures of two story height, helped by peaked roofs. I’ll accept that that’s about it. However, the Pitcairn Islands aren’t a country, they are an overseas territory of the UK. If we start considering entities of that type, this gets more complicated. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2012, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shortest-tallest-building/395830/15 "2012-09-04T00:13:38Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Assuming you throw the Eiffel Tower out of the mix, of course. I believe that’s not included because nobody lives there. The list is of buildings containing human-occupied dwellings. If you eliminate that restriction, you are looking for a list of the tallest human structures. That includes a whole lot of other structures, mostly radio & TV transmission towers. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2012, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shortest-tallest-building/395830/16 "2012-09-04T04:12:14Z")
> [@Autolycus](#): > > …asplodes :: 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Lowry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@Sam\_Lowry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Lowry)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2012, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shortest-tallest-building/395830/17 "2012-09-04T04:40:23Z")
This isn’t exactly what you’re looking for, but I had to throw it in. My hometown of Wichita Falls doesn’t have a huge number of claims to fame, but it does have the [World’s smallest skyscraper](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World's_littlest_skyscraper). ---
**Author:** ![Postariti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Postariti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Postariti)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2012, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shortest-tallest-building/395830/18 "2012-09-04T05:37:45Z")
Thanks for sharing that, Sam. What an entertaining con story. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2012, 10:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shortest-tallest-building/395830/19 "2012-09-04T10:41:21Z")
Nauru is [pretty low-rise](http://www.paxgaea.com/images/Aiwo_westernmost.jpg), and unlike Pitcairn it is an independent republic. I’m not sure how high the tallest building is, but the government of Nauru did build a 52-storey skyscraper [elsewhere](http://www.paxgaea.com/images/Aiwo_westernmost.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2012, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shortest-tallest-building/395830/20 "2012-09-04T14:03:15Z")
> [@Colophon](#): > > Nauru is [pretty low-rise](http://www.paxgaea.com/images/Aiwo_westernmost.jpg), and unlike Pitcairn it is an independent republic. I’m not sure how high the tallest building is, but the government of Nauru did build a 52-storey skyscraper [elsewhere](http://www.paxgaea.com/images/Aiwo_westernmost.jpg). There’s a 3 story hotel in Nauru: [http://www.un.int/nauru/travel.html](http://www.un.int/nauru/travel.html) And the Nauru Parliament building has a vaulted design, giving it some height: [http://www.un.int/nauru/politicalprofile.html](http://www.un.int/nauru/politicalprofile.html) It looks to me like Tuvalu might be architecturally shorter. At any rate, they’re pretty close. ETA - for comparison, Tuvalu’s 3 story government building from upthread: [http://www.tuvaluislands.com/photos/filmstrips/scenes/gov\_bldg\_2004.htm](http://www.tuvaluislands.com/photos/filmstrips/scenes/gov_bldg_2004.htm) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shortest-tallest-building/395830.md?page=2)