Essex on the Park Building vs Trump International Hotel and Tower

Comparing the Essex on the Park Building and the Trump International Hotel and Tower is interesting because they both rise in Chicago, IL, yet they were conceived by two different design teams, Hartshorne Plunkard Architecture and Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, and were completed at different points in time. They were finished more than a decade 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!

The Trump International Hotel and Tower is clearly the larger tower of the two, both in terms of height and number of floors. It rises to 1181ft (360m) with 92 floors above ground, while the Essex on the Park Building reaches 620ft (189m) with 56 floors above ground.

Despite being taller and having more floors, Trump International Hotel and Tower has less total built-up area than Essex on the Park Building.

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 Trump International Hotel and 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 Skidmore, Owings & Merrill followed what was in many ways expected of them, producing designs that fit comfortably within contemporary architectural norms, rather than breaking with convention.

The Trump International Hotel and Tower follows a mixed-use model, combining hotel, residential and commercial. In contrast, the Essex on the Park Building has remained primarily residential.

The Trump International Hotel and Tower incorporates a 5-star hotel with 339 rooms. More information is available at the official website.

In terms of capacity, the Essex on the Park Building offers 479 apartments, while the Trump International Hotel and Tower provides 486 units.

Both towers provide significant parking capacity, with Essex on the Park Building offering 177 spaces and the Trump International Hotel and Tower offering 960.

Both the Essex on the Park Building and the Trump International Hotel and 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.