Chicago Board of Trade Building vs NBC Tower

Comparing the Chicago Board of Trade Building and the NBC Tower is interesting because they both rise in Chicago, IL, yet they were conceived by two different design teams, Holabird & Root and Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, and were completed at different points in time. They were finished over two decades apart.

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

Let's take a closer look!

The Chicago Board of Trade Building is clearly the larger tower of the two, both in terms of height and number of floors. It rises to 604ft (184m) with 44 floors above ground, while the NBC Tower reaches 561ft (171m) with 37 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 Chicago Board of Trade Building and the NBC Tower were designed in line with the aesthetic conventions of the Art Deco style.

Both buildings were completed when the Art Deco style was already past its peak. This makes them feel like late echoes of the movement, more reflective of continuity or nostalgia than of cutting-edge design at the time.

Both the Chicago Board of Trade Building and the NBC Tower 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 NBC Tower also provides 261 parking spaces.

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