Civic Opera House vs NBC Tower

Comparing the Civic Opera House and the NBC Tower is interesting because they both rise in Chicago, IL, yet they were conceived by two different design teams, Graham, Anderson, Probst & White 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!

These two towers present an interesting contrast in their proportions. The NBC Tower rises higher at 561ft (171m), while the Civic Opera House reaches 554ft (169m). However, the Civic Opera House accommodates more floors with 45 levels above ground, compared to 37 floors in the NBC Tower.

This suggests different approaches to interior space design. The NBC Tower has an average floor-to-floor height of approximately 4.6m, while the Civic Opera House has more compact floors averaging around 3.8m each. The taller building's more generous floor heights might indicate grander interior spaces, higher ceilings, or different programmatic requirements.

These different proportions likely reflect the specific needs each building was designed to serve, whether driven by zoning regulations, client requirements, or the intended use of the spaces within. The contrast shows how architects can achieve different spatial experiences even when working with similar overall building scales.

Both the Civic Opera House and the NBC Tower were designed in line with the aesthetic conventions of the Art Deco style.

The NBC 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 Civic Opera House was built when the style still carried greater cultural weight.

Both the Civic Opera House 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.