Berkeley Building vs United Shoe Machinery Corporation Building

Comparing the Berkeley Building and the United Shoe Machinery Corporation Building is interesting because they both rise in Boston, MA, yet they were conceived by two different design teams, Cram and Ferguson and Parker, Thomas & Rice, and were completed at different points in time. They were finished more than a decade apart.

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

Let's take a closer look!

The Berkeley Building is clearly the larger tower of the two, both in terms of height and number of floors. It rises to 495ft (151m) with 26 floors above ground, while the United Shoe Machinery Corporation Building reaches 0ft (m) with 24 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 Berkeley Building and the United Shoe Machinery Corporation Building were designed in line with the aesthetic conventions of the Art Deco style.

The Berkeley Building was designed at a moment when the Art Deco style was already in decline, making it more of a lingering expression of the movement. In contrast, the United Shoe Machinery Corporation Building style was already in decline, making it more of a lingering expression of the movement. In contrast, the United Shoe Machinery Corporation Building was built when the style still carried greater cultural weight.

Both the Berkeley Building and the United Shoe Machinery Corporation 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.

These two towers illustrate the many possible ways to combine structure and enclosure in skyscraper design.