Field Building vs Carbide & Carbon Building

Comparing the Field Building and the Carbide & Carbon Building is interesting because they both stand in Chicago, IL, and were completed within 5 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 Field Building is clearly the larger tower of the two, both in terms of height and number of floors. It rises to 535ft (163.1m) with 45 floors above ground, while the Carbide & Carbon Building reaches 502ft (153m) with 37 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 Field Building and the Carbide & Carbon 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 Graham, Anderson, Probst & White and Burnham Brothers followed what was in many ways expected of them, producing designs that fit comfortably within contemporary architectural norms, rather than breaking with convention.

The Field Building is primarily commercial, while the Carbide & Carbon Building is primarily hotel.

However, both of them have shifted purpose since their completion. The Field Building evolved from Office. Bank. Radio Station to commercial, while the Carbide & Carbon Building moved from commercial to hotel.

The Carbide & Carbon Building incorporates a 4-star hotel with 396 rooms. More information is available at the official website.

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