They set out to build the tallest skyscraper in the world a giant that would rise a symbolic 1,776 feet from the ashes of ground zero.
Those aspirations of global supremacy fell by the wayside long ago, but New York won a consolation prize Tuesday when an international architectural panel said it would recognize One World Trade Center as the tallest skyscraper in the United States.
The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat, considered a world authority on super-sized skyscrapers, announced its decision at simultaneous news conferences in New York and Chicago, home to the 1,451-foot Willis Tower, which is being dethroned as the nation's tallest building.
Ranking these tall buildings — and the rest of the world's tallest structures is more mind-bending than one might think. Lists can vary depending, for example, on whether you count the broadcast antennas on top or whether you're judging them by highest usable floor.
As we await the completion of the next set of maje
