Essex on the Park Building vs One Chicago East Tower

Comparing the Essex on the Park Building and the One Chicago East Tower is interesting because they both stand in Chicago, IL, and were completed within 3 years of each other, 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.

The One Chicago East Tower is clearly the larger tower of the two, both in terms of height and number of floors. It rises to 971ft (296m) with 77 floors above ground, while the Essex on the Park Building reaches 620ft (189m) with 56 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 Essex on the Park Building and the One Chicago East Tower were designed in line with the aesthetic conventions of the Contemporary style.

At the time, this style was at the height of its popularity. So both Hartshorne Plunkard Architecture and Goettsch Partners followed what was in many ways expected of them, producing designs that fit comfortably within contemporary architectural norms, rather than breaking with convention.

Both the Essex on the Park Building and the One Chicago East Tower were designed to serve as residential towers, and that has remained their main use since their completion, serving similar roles in the urban fabric.

In terms of capacity, the Essex on the Park Building offers 479 apartments, while the One Chicago East Tower provides 353 units.

Both towers provide significant parking capacity, with Essex on the Park Building offering 177 spaces and the One Chicago East Tower offering 1100.

Both the Essex on the Park Building and the One Chicago East Tower rely on a Frame structural system.

A frame structure uses a grid of columns and beams to carry the building's loads. This frees the walls from structural duties, allowing for flexible floor plans and larger windows.

They also employ the same type of facade, a Curtain Wall facade.

A curtain wall is a non-load-bearing facade hung from the structural frame. It is anchored to floor slabs and transfers only its own weight and wind loads, allowing for sleek, glassy exteriors.