Kansas City City Hall vs Jackson County Courthouse

Comparing the Kansas City City Hall and the Jackson County Courthouse is especially interesting because they share much in common. Both rise in Kansas City, MO both were designed by Wight & Wight , and they were completed within 3 years of each other.

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

The Kansas City City Hall is clearly the larger tower of the two, both in terms of height and number of floors. It rises to 443ft (135m) with 30 floors above ground, while the Jackson County Courthouse reaches 295ft (90m) with 22 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 Kansas City City Hall and the Jackson County Courthouse were designed in line with the aesthetic conventions of the Art Deco style.

The Kansas City City Hall was designed at a moment when the Art Deco style was already in decline, making it more of a lingering expression of the movement. In contrast, the Jackson County Courthouse style was already in decline, making it more of a lingering expression of the movement. In contrast, the Jackson County Courthouse was built when the style still carried greater cultural weight.

The Kansas City City Hall is primarily government, while the Jackson County Courthouse is primarily governmental.

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