The Bellaire Tower vs Central Tower

Comparing the The Bellaire Tower and the Central Tower is interesting because they both rise in San Francisco, CA, yet they were conceived by two different design teams, Herman Carl Baumann and Albert Roller, and were completed at different points in time. They were finished more than 8 years apart.

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

Let's take a closer look!

The Central Tower is clearly the larger tower of the two, both in terms of height and number of floors. It rises to 299ft (91m) with 21 floors above ground, while the The Bellaire Tower reaches 253ft (77m) with 20 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 The Bellaire Tower and the Central Tower were designed in line with the aesthetic conventions of the Art Deco style.

The Central Tower was designed at a moment when the Art Deco style was already in decline, making it more of a lingering expression of the movement. In contrast, the The Bellaire Tower was built when the style still carried greater cultural weight.

The The Bellaire Tower is primarily residential, while the Central Tower is primarily commercial.

The The Bellaire Tower offers 64 residential units.

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