In the 1930s, as skyscrapers continued to pepper New York, the Soviets got jealous. We will show these capitalist pigs! We will build a skyscraper to tower above them all! (Spoiler alert: they didn't.)

Enter master architect Boris Iofan, in charge of the committee to select the best design. When the dust cleared, the winner was... Boris Iofan! (Just like Dick Cheney and that Jeopardy producer.)

So what was Iofan building? It was the Palace of the Soviets, a giant convention center that was supposed to be taller than the Empire State Building (and much, much wider) and topped by a 100-meter structure of Lenin. Space was cleared by demolishing a massive church that once took 40 years to build. It took six years to lay the foundation, the frame started to go up, and then 1941 hit. The Palace stopped being a priority.

Metal from it was used in the war effort. After the victory, the Soviets tried to revive the project, but to little success. Then Stalin died and the Palace went with him. Iofan went back to designing apartment buildings, and the Soviets plopped a swimming pool on the site. Not exactly a skyscraper...

Just as well; with the Soviet success rate, what are the odds that this skyscraper would actually... sky scrape?