Long Beach Main Post Office Building vs James Oviatt Building

Comparing the Long Beach Main Post Office Building and the James Oviatt Building is interesting because they both rise in Los Angeles, CA, yet they were conceived by two different design teams, Louis A. Simon and Walker & Eisen, and were completed at different points in time. They were finished more than 6 years apart.

This contrast within the same city allows us to see how different creative minds interpreted the evolving needs of Los Angeles across time.

Let's take a closer look!

The James Oviatt Building is clearly the larger tower of the two, both in terms of height and number of floors. It rises to 161ft (49m) with 13 floors above ground, while the Long Beach Main Post Office Building reaches 0ft (m) with 7 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 Long Beach Main Post Office Building and the James Oviatt 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 Louis A. Simon and Walker & Eisen followed what was in many ways expected of them, producing designs that fit comfortably within contemporary architectural norms, rather than breaking with convention.

The Long Beach Main Post Office Building is primarily government, while the James Oviatt Building is primarily commercial.

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