How the gardener gave the world skyscrapers

The history of reinforced concrete began not at a construction site, but in a garden

In the middle of the 19th century, French gardener Joseph Monnier noticed that wooden plant tubs rotted quickly. He decided to replace the wood with cement, but the cement turned out to be too brittle. Then Monier inserted a metal mesh inside, and so a new material appeared – concrete reinforced with iron.

In 1867, he patented "concrete flower tubs reinforced with iron mesh." Monier later applied the same principle to slabs, pipes, and bridges.

The first reinforced concrete object in history is not a house or a bridge, but a flower tub. The skyscrapers of New York, the bridges of Europe, and the stadiums of the 20th century grew out of this simple garden container.