Long Beach Professional Building vs Dominguez–Wilshire Building

Comparing the Long Beach Professional Building and the Dominguez–Wilshire Building is interesting because they both stand in Los Angeles, CA, 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.

Both the Long Beach Professional Building and the Dominguez–Wilshire 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 William Douglas Lee and Morgan, Walls & Clements 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 Professional Building is primarily medical, while the Dominguez–Wilshire Building is primarily commercial.

Originally, the Long Beach Professional Building was designed for commercial, but over time it was converted to medical. The Dominguez–Wilshire Building by contrast has maintained its original role.

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