The first commercial passenger elevator was installed by the Otis Elevator Company in 1857 in New York City. It climbed at a then-staggering rate of 40 feet per minute.

Today, an Otis elevator in the Burj Khalifa tower in Dubai soars up at a speed of 22 mph. And it didn't even top a new ranking of the fastest elevators in the world from Emporis, a database of construction projects.

The list is dominated by elevators located in Asia, including China, Taiwan, and Japan.