Sears, Roebuck & Company Mail Order Building vs James Oviatt Building

Comparing the Sears, Roebuck & Company Mail Order Building and the James Oviatt 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.

These two towers present an interesting contrast in their proportions. The Sears, Roebuck & Company Mail Order Building rises higher at 226ft (69m), while the James Oviatt Building reaches 161ft (49m). However, the James Oviatt Building accommodates more floors with 13 levels above ground, compared to 9 floors in the Sears, Roebuck & Company Mail Order Building.

This suggests different approaches to interior space design. The Sears, Roebuck & Company Mail Order Building has an average floor-to-floor height of approximately 7.7m, while the James Oviatt Building has more compact floors averaging around 3.8m 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 Sears, Roebuck & Company Mail Order 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 George Nimmens Company 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.

Both the Sears, Roebuck & Company Mail Order Building and the James Oviatt Building were designed to serve as commercial towers, and that has remained their main use since their completion, serving similar roles in the urban fabric.

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