Eastern Columbia Building vs Garfield Building

Comparing the Eastern Columbia Building and the Garfield Building is interesting because they both stand in Los Angeles, CA, and were completed in the same year, 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.

Both the Eastern Columbia Building and the Garfield Building 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 Curlett & Beelman and Claud Wilbur Beelman followed what was in many ways expected of them, producing designs that fit comfortably within contemporary architectural norms, rather than breaking with convention.

The Eastern Columbia Building is primarily residential, while the Garfield Building is primarily .

However, both of them have shifted purpose since their completion. The Eastern Columbia Building evolved from retail to residential, while the Garfield Building moved from commercial to .

The Eastern Columbia Building offers 147 residential units.

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