Setting the record straight.

• Position: Architecture - Brief article

Italy's leaning Tower of Pisa (center) used to be the most-leaning building in the world, tilting at a dangerous 5.5-degree angle. But thanks to restoration work that began in 1990, the more than 700-year-old structure has gotten a lot straighter, listing at just 3.9 degrees today.

Now less well-known structures are after the title of "farthest leaning tower." In 2007, Guinness World Records awarded it to a 14th-century red-brick church in Suurhusen, Germany, which leans at 5.19 degrees (left). But others say the distinction belongs to the...