Sears, Roebuck & Company Mail Order Building vs Eastern Columbia Building

Comparing the Sears, Roebuck & Company Mail Order Building and the Eastern Columbia Building is interesting because they both stand in Los Angeles, CA, 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.

The Eastern Columbia Building is clearly the larger tower of the two, both in terms of height and number of floors. It rises to 262ft (80m) with 13 floors above ground, while the Sears, Roebuck & Company Mail Order Building reaches 226ft (69m) with 9 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 Sears, Roebuck & Company Mail Order Building and the Eastern Columbia 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 George Nimmens Company and Curlett & Beelman followed what was in many ways expected of them, producing designs that fit comfortably within contemporary architectural norms, rather than breaking with convention.

The Sears, Roebuck & Company Mail Order Building is primarily commercial, while the Eastern Columbia Building is primarily residential.

Originally, the Eastern Columbia Building was designed for retail, but over time it was converted to residential. The Sears, Roebuck & Company Mail Order Building by contrast has maintained its original role.

The Eastern Columbia Building offers 147 residential units.

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