 Chicago initially led the way in skyscraper design, with many constructed in the center of the financial district during the late 1880s and early 1890s.Sometimes termed the products of the Chicago school of architecture, these skyscrapers attempted to balance aesthetic concerns with practical commercial design, producing large, square "palazzo"-styled buildings hosting shops and restaurants on the ground level and containing rentable offices on the upper floors.In contrast, New York's skyscrapers were frequently narrower towers which, more eclectic in style, were often criticized for their lack of elegance.