This category focuses on historically interesting or pioneering applications of iron in the construction of buildings.

Iron has been used for centuries in buildings for small components such as door and window hardware, nails, and staples to tie walls together. Its main structural use in buildings was for tie bars for strengthening purposes. The use of wrought and cast iron for major elements in new construction probably started to be used in the 1780s.

From the 1840s onwards, iron became commonplace in building construction for structural and decorative purposes.

Iron bridges, water towers, etc, are generally covered by separate categories.

'The cast iron girders, 41 ft. long, made by Mr. J . U. Rastrick for the British Museum, were once considered as wonderful achievements in the art of iron founding. They were cast, too, before Mr. Hodgkinson had shown us the strongest section for an iron beam. The ir success was followed by a considerable increase in the use of cast iron girders, and it is only since 1853 that Mr. Fairbairn's able researches have led to the adoption of malleable iron on an extensive scale, in such applications. We once saw a handsome girder casting, perhaps 30 ft. long, springing as if it had been a bar of thin steel, whilst being drawn on a truck along a rough pavement. A moment after, hearing a sudden crash, we turned to see the casting broken short off, one haf lying on the ground. A very small blow-hole, until then concealed, sufficed to explain the cause of the accident. From that time we lost faith in cast iron as a material for beams, and we foresaw, in the admirable details of th e great factory at Saltaire, the general substitution of malleable iron wherever wide spans of permanent, strong, fireproof, and economical flooring might be required. ....'^[1]