The following information was part of an exhibit about wood construction at the National Building Museum focusing on cross-laminated timber and tall wood structures. This text was edited from its original presentation for brevity and clarity. This timeline provides a list of key dates and activities in wood construction. Tall timber buildings are making a comeback due to business and environmental reasons.
See how technology, innovation and construction have changed over time when it comes to wood structures. This project was developed by Yugon Kim and Tomomi Itakura of IKD.
c. 5600 BCE – c. 4900 BCE
OLDEST TIMBER CONSTRUCTION
Early Neolithic people crafted oak water wells with intricate joints in what is now northwest Germany.
c. 3500 BCE
PLYWOOD INVENTED
During a wood shortage, Mesopotamians invented the first engineered timber by gluing thin sheets of higher-quality wood over a layer of lower-quality wood.
c. 3500 BCE
SAILING SHIPS
Sailing ships constructed of timber appeared in Mesopotamia.
c. 3049 BCE
OLDEST LIVING TREE
The world’s oldest known living tree, a bristlecone pine named The Hatch Tree, is born in White Mountains of California.
c. 200
EARLIEST SAWMILL
The earliest known sawmill powered by water was erected at Hierapolis in what is now Turkey.
c.1200 – c.1300
TALLEST LIVING TREE
The world’s tallest known living tree, a coast redwood named Hyperion, was born in Humboldt, California.
1641
OLDEST NORTH AMERICAN TIMBER HOUSE
The first wood houses in North America were the lodges and longhouses built by Native Americans, but the oldest surviving timber-frame house is the Fairbanks House in Dedham, Massachusetts, framed in heavy oak and clad with cedar.
1764
KIZHI POGOST CHURCH
One of the tallest log structures in the world, a 22-dome, 21-foot tall church constructed with interlocking wood joinery is built on Kizhi Island, Russia.
1797
USS CONSTITUTION
“Old Ironsides,” the world’s oldest commissioned naval vessel still afloat, was built in Boston. It was constructed over three years with 2,000 oak and fir trees.
c. 1790 – c. 1800
MACHINED NAILS
Handmade nails are replaced by machined nails, which are cost effective and allow unskilled labor to quickly construct buildings.
1791
PLANING MACHINE INVENTED
Samuel Bentham, an English engineer, invented the planing machine, which increased the production efficiency of finished lumber.
1809
FIRST GLULAM STRUCTURE
The first known glue-laminated timber structure, Wiebeking Bridge, was constructed of spruce by Carl von Wiebeking in Bavaria.
1814
CIRCULAR SAW
Originally invented in England, the circular saw was introduced in the United States and is widely used in sawmills.
1830
LARGEST LUMBER SHIPPING PORT
Bangor, Maine was established as the world’s largest lumber shipping port, moving over 8.7 trillion board feet of timber over the next 60 years.
1871
GREAT CHICAGO FIRE
The widespread use of wood in buildings, plus drought and strong winds, contributed to a fire that destroyed downtown Chicago.
1872
GREAT BOSTON FIRE
Flammable timber mansard roof buildings as well as unenforced building regulations contributed to the spread of Boston’s largest urban fire.
1872
INDUSTRIAL GLULAM
Otto Hetzer developed and secures the first patent for glue lamination fabrication on an industrial scale.
1924
STANDARDIZED LUMBER
American Lumber Standard, the first attempt to standardize the size, design values, and inspection procedures of timber products, was published.
1930
PLATFORM FRAMING
Today’s most common method of light-frame wood construction was invented.
1940
PARTICLE BOARD INVENTED
An engineered wood product manufactured from woodchips, sawmill shavings, and sawdust bound with resin was invented.
1940
MASSIVE WOODEN AIRPLANE
Howard Hughes built the “Spruce Goose,” made almost entirely out of birch; it was approximately the same size as today’s Airbus A380, the world’s largest passenger airplane.
1980
MDF INVENTED
Medium Density Fiberboard, a strong, engineered wood product made with wood fibers bound with wax and resin was invented.
1990
CLT INVENTED
CLT, Cross-Laminated Timber, a kind of super-plywood that makes unprecedented tall timber buildings possible, was developed in Switzerland.
2009
FIRST ALL-TIMBER HIGH RISE
Murray Grove, the first high-rise modern housing in London made entirely in timber, was built by Waugh Thistleton Architects.
2012
ICLT
Interlocking Cross-Laminated Timber, an engineered wood panel made with no fasteners or adhesives, was developed utilizing insect-infected timber.
2013
TIMBER TOWER RESEARCH PROJECT
Skidmore, Owings & Merrill proposed a 395-foot tall hybrid timber and concrete tower, demonstrating the potential of timber construction.
2014
TALLEST NORTH AMERICAN TIMBER BUILDING
Michael Green Architecture built the Wood Innovation and Design Centre in Prince George, BC, Canada.
2015
TIMBER IN BUILDING CODE
Cross-Laminated Timber is incorporated in the 2015 International Building Code to permit the construction of tall timber buildings in the United States.
USGBC PROMOTES WOOD
The U.S. Green Building Council officially began promoting wood as a premier sustainable building material.
2016
TIMBER INNOVATION ACT
Mass Timber Legislation introduced to the United States Senate and House of Representatives to promote research and development of timber buildings.
