Lawson House vs Century Tower

Comparing the Lawson House and the Century Tower is interesting because they both stand in Chicago, IL, and were completed just one year apart, 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 Century Tower is clearly the larger tower of the two, both in terms of height and number of floors. It rises to 395ft (120.4m) with 28 floors above ground, while the Lawson House reaches 272ft (83m) with 24 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 Lawson House and the Century Tower 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 Perkins, Chatten & Hammond and Thielbar & Fugard followed what was in many ways expected of them, producing designs that fit comfortably within contemporary architectural norms, rather than breaking with convention.

Both the Lawson House and the Century Tower are primarily residential towers, serving similar roles in the urban fabric.

However, both of them have shifted purpose since their completion. The Lawson House evolved from residence to residential, while the Century Tower moved from commercial to residential.

In terms of capacity, the Lawson House offers 408 apartments, while the Century Tower provides 292 units.

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