450 Sutter Street Building vs Central Tower

Comparing the 450 Sutter Street Building and the Central Tower is interesting because they both rise in San Francisco, CA, yet they were conceived by two different design teams, Miller and Pflueger and Albert Roller, and were completed at different points in time. They were finished more than 9 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 450 Sutter Street Building is clearly the larger tower of the two, both in terms of height and number of floors. It rises to 344ft (105m) with 26 floors above ground, while the Central Tower reaches 299ft (91m) with 21 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 450 Sutter Street Building and the Central Tower were designed in line with the aesthetic conventions of the Art Deco style.

The Central Tower 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 450 Sutter Street Building was built when the style still carried greater cultural weight.

The 450 Sutter Street Building is primarily medical, while the Central Tower is primarily commercial.

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