"From the 1200s until 1901, the world's tallest building was always a church or cathedral." After that other buildings kept getting bigger, but there's been no progress with churches/cathedrals for well over a century. Are there any clear reasons why?
I don't think there is any great mystery. Churches were built tall to be impressive structures while other buildings are built tall for more practical purposes (more office space, more radio range, etc.)
There is no need for a church to be 30 stories tall, and it would cost a lot of money for a whole lot of unused space, so churches just aren't built to compete with skyscrapers.
