The development of the steel frame
A steel-framed building is defined as:
A multi-storey framework of primary horizontal and vertical steel members connected together to provide the principal resistance to dead, live and wind loads. (In this kind of structure masonry or concrete may carry some loads, such as some of those due to wind forces, or it may have an entirely non-loadbearing role)
An important feature of the steel frame is the use of continuous stanchions (columns), which run the full height of the building. These columns will be butted and spliced if necessary. The beam column connections will utilise rivets or bolts and will be made either by the beam bearing on a seating bracket or by direct connection from the column to the web of the beam.
The first American steel framed building is generally believed to be the Rand McNally building in Chicago (Skempton, 1959) which was erected in 1890.
For some time it was believed that the first steel framed building in the UK(Bylander, 1938; Campbell, 1983) was the Ritz Hotel, built in 1906 (but reported by some as 1904). However it now seems that steel framed construction actually began in the UK earlier than had been thought, and that the developments in the UK took place around the same time as in the USA.
