Carpenter Tower vs Hilton Milwaukee City Center

Comparing the Carpenter Tower and the Hilton Milwaukee City Center is interesting because they both stand in Milwaukee, WI, and were completed within 3 years of each other, but they were designed by different architects.

This offers a unique glimpse at how rival designers approached projects in the same city during the same era.

The Hilton Milwaukee City Center is clearly the larger tower of the two, both in terms of height and number of floors. It rises to 276ft (84m) with 25 floors above ground, while the Carpenter Tower reaches 0ft (m) with 16 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 Carpenter Tower and the Hilton Milwaukee City Center were designed in line with the aesthetic conventions of the Art Deco style.

At the time, this style was at the height of its popularity. So both A. Keymar & G.W. Mack and Holabird & Root followed what was in many ways expected of them, producing designs that fit comfortably within contemporary architectural norms, rather than breaking with convention.

The Carpenter Tower is primarily residential, while the Hilton Milwaukee City Center is primarily hotel.

Originally, the Carpenter Tower was designed for commercial, but over time it was converted to residential. The Hilton Milwaukee City Center by contrast has maintained its original role.

Both the Carpenter Tower and the Hilton Milwaukee City Center rely on a Frame structural 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.

They also employ the same type of facade, a Masonry facade.

A masonry facade gives the building a heavier, more traditional appearance. It often conceals a frame structure behind it, creating the look of solid walls without carrying the main loads.