John Hancock Tower vs One Beacon Street Building

Comparing the John Hancock Tower and the One Beacon Street Building is interesting because they both stand in Boston, MA, and were completed within 4 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 John Hancock Tower is clearly the larger tower of the two, both in terms of height and number of floors. It rises to 791ft (241m) with 60 floors above ground, while the One Beacon Street Building reaches 505ft (154m) with 36 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 John Hancock Tower and the One Beacon Street Building were designed in line with the aesthetic conventions of the International Style style.

Both buildings were completed when the International Style style was already past its peak. This makes them feel like late echoes of the movement, more reflective of continuity or nostalgia than of cutting-edge design at the time.

Both the John Hancock Tower and the One Beacon Street Building were designed to serve as commercial towers, and that has remained their main use since their completion, serving similar roles in the urban fabric.

Both towers share the same structural solution, a Frame 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.

However, when it comes to the facade, both buildings use different approaches. The John Hancock Tower uses a Curtain Wall facade, while the One Beacon Street Building uses a Window Wall facade.

A Curtain Wall facade like the one seen in the John Hancock Tower uses a lightweight glass curtain wall hung from the structure, while a window-wall facade like the one seen in the One Beacon Street Building uses panels fitted between floor slabs, leaving slab edges visible.