Eastern Columbia Building vs Park Plaza Hotel

Comparing the Eastern Columbia Building and the Park Plaza Hotel is especially interesting because they share much in common. Both rise in Los Angeles, CA both were designed by Curlett & Beelman, and they were completed within 4 years of each other.

This overlap gives us a unique opportunity to understand how Curlett & Beelman approached different commissions in the same urban context and historical context during a short period.

The Eastern Columbia Building is clearly the larger tower of the two, both in terms of height and number of floors. It rises to 262ft (80m) with 13 floors above ground, while the Park Plaza Hotel reaches 0ft (m) with 11 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 Eastern Columbia Building and the Park Plaza Hotel 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 Curlett & Beelman followed what was in many ways expected at the time, producing designs that fit comfortably within contemporary architectural norms rather, than breaking with convention.

The Eastern Columbia Building is primarily residential, while the Park Plaza Hotel is primarily cultural.

However, both of them have shifted purpose since their completion. The Eastern Columbia Building evolved from retail to residential, while the Park Plaza Hotel moved from hotel to cultural.

The Eastern Columbia Building offers 147 residential units.

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