Comparisons with the firm's first major success in tall buildings, the Wainwright are instructive insofar as the refinements of the Guaranty are more evident. "Although this building Guaranty is considered by critics to be the "twin" of the Wainwright Building, the elegance of the underlying steel-frame construction behind the red terra-cotta tiles is more apparent here than in the Wainwright." Unlike its predecessor, the entirety of street facades on the Guaranty are shrouded with the same material- red terracotta. Gone are the heavy corner piers of the Wainwright and in their place a constant rhythm of equal bays echoing the steel frame underneath. The two do share many traits: Simplicity of form, richness of detail. Red color not chaste white of renaissance typical buildings characterizes both buildings. The site for the Guaranty building is smaller than the Wainwright, yet called for an equivalent number of offices, resulting in an additional three stories. Both the Guaranty and the Wainwright occupy corner lots. "The Wainwright may indeed represent the single episode of most aesthetic consequence in the shift from the tall office building in masonry to its skeletal predecessor; yet not only does the masonry tradition persist in the Wainwright, ornament also assumes a traditional, even if exceptionally conspicuous, role in its design." It is an explainable transition piece. The Guaranty Building is a radical departure however from the masonry prototype. Ornament and "cladding" cover the surface of the Guaranty's steel frame, a thin covering over a flexible skeleton.