John W. McCormack Post Office and Courthouse vs United Shoe Machinery Corporation Building

Comparing the John W. McCormack Post Office and Courthouse and the United Shoe Machinery Corporation Building is interesting because they both stand in Boston, MA, and were completed within 3 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.

These two towers present an interesting contrast in their proportions. The John W. McCormack Post Office and Courthouse rises higher at 344ft (105m), while the United Shoe Machinery Corporation Building reaches 0ft (m). However, the United Shoe Machinery Corporation Building accommodates more floors with 24 levels above ground, compared to 22 floors in the John W. McCormack Post Office and Courthouse.

This suggests different approaches to interior space design. The John W. McCormack Post Office and Courthouse has an average floor-to-floor height of approximately 4.8m, while the United Shoe Machinery Corporation Building has more compact floors averaging around 0m each. The taller building's more generous floor heights might indicate grander interior spaces, higher ceilings, or different programmatic requirements.

These different proportions likely reflect the specific needs each building was designed to serve, whether driven by zoning regulations, client requirements, or the intended use of the spaces within. The contrast shows how architects can achieve different spatial experiences even when working with similar overall building scales.

Both the John W. McCormack Post Office and Courthouse and the United Shoe Machinery Corporation 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 Cram and Ferguson and Parker, Thomas & Rice followed what was in many ways expected of them, producing designs that fit comfortably within contemporary architectural norms, rather than breaking with convention.

The John W. McCormack Post Office and Courthouse is primarily governmental, while the United Shoe Machinery Corporation Building is primarily commercial.

The John W. McCormack Post Office and Courthouse also provides 32 parking spaces.

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