44 Montgomery Street Building vs 425 Market Street Building

Comparing the 44 Montgomery Street Building and the 425 Market Street Building is interesting because they both rise in San Francisco, CA, yet they were conceived by two different design teams, John Graham & Company and Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, and were completed at different points in time. They were finished more than 6 years apart.

This contrast within the same city allows us to see how different creative minds interpreted the evolving needs of San Francisco across time.

Let's take a closer look!

The 44 Montgomery Street Building is clearly the larger tower of the two, both in terms of height and number of floors. It rises to 564ft (172m) with 43 floors above ground, while the 425 Market Street Building reaches 525ft (160m) with 38 floors above ground.

Of course, each project may have faced different briefs or regulatory constraints, which we don't really know about and could also explain the outcome.

Both the 44 Montgomery Street Building and the 425 Market Street Building were designed in line with the aesthetic conventions of the International Style style.

The 425 Market Street Building was designed at a moment when the International Style style was already in decline, making it more of a lingering expression of the movement. In contrast, the 44 Montgomery Street Building was built when the style still carried greater cultural weight.

Both the 44 Montgomery Street Building and the 425 Market Street Building were designed to serve as commercial towers, and that has remained their main use since their completion, serving similar roles in the urban fabric.

The 425 Market Street Building also provides 139 parking spaces.

Both towers share the same structural solution, a Frame system.

A frame structure uses a grid of columns and beams to carry the building's loads. This frees the walls from structural duties, allowing for flexible floor plans and larger windows.

However, when it comes to the facade, both buildings use different approaches. The 44 Montgomery Street Building uses a Curtain Wall facade, while the 425 Market Street Building uses a Window Wall facade.

A Curtain Wall facade like the one seen in the 44 Montgomery Street Building uses a lightweight glass curtain wall hung from the structure, while a window-wall facade like the one seen in the 425 Market Street Building uses panels fitted between floor slabs, leaving slab edges visible.