Essex on the Park Building vs St. Regis Chicago

Comparing the Essex on the Park Building and the St. Regis Chicago is interesting because they both stand in Chicago, IL, and were completed within 2 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 St. Regis Chicago is clearly the larger tower of the two, both in terms of height and number of floors. It rises to 1194ft (364m) with 101 floors above ground, while the Essex on the Park Building reaches 620ft (189m) with 56 floors above ground.

St. Regis Chicago also offers more total built-up area, a total fo 1,900,001 sqf (176,516m²), which is about 1,280,000 sqf (118,916m²) more than what the Essex on the Park Building offers.

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 St. Regis Chicago 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 Studio Gang Architects 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 St. Regis Chicago were designed to serve as residential towers, and that has remained their main use since their completion, serving similar roles in the urban fabric.

The St. Regis Chicago incorporates a 5-star hotel with 192 rooms. More information is available at the official website.

In terms of capacity, the Essex on the Park Building offers 479 apartments, while the St. Regis Chicago provides 393 units.

Both towers provide significant parking capacity, with Essex on the Park Building offering 177 spaces and the St. Regis Chicago offering 295.

Both the Essex on the Park Building and the St. Regis Chicago 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.