The Shopping Mall Comes to Chicago: Victor Gruen’s Randhurst Center

DEAD MALLS
What should be done with "dead malls?" Is conversion to outdoor mall the answer?
Read "Suburbia revised: Confronting shuttered shopping centers and empty big-boxes, developers try turning malls into Main Streets."

REPURPOSING MALLS
How can we use former malls in these tough economic times?
Read "How About Gardening or Golfing at the Mall?" in the New York Times.

GRUEN, THE MAN
Who was Victor Gruen, "The Father of the American Shopping Mall?"
Read "The Terrazzo Jungle" - Malcolm Gladwell on Gruen and his influence across the country in the New Yorker.

GRUEN'S U.S. MALLS
Is there a mall near you designed by Gruen?
View malls across the U.S. by architect Victor Gruen.

U.S. MALL TIMELINE
When was the first automobile-centered shopping center in the US? (Hint: 1910s)
Learn the history of malls in the United States.

MALL VOCAB
Do you know what a "power mall" is?
Read up on shopping mall terminology.

MALLS IN MOVIES
And just for fun...
Discover which malls have served as backdrops to your favorite movies.

Presented by the National Endowment for the Arts.

These talks are also made possible in part by a donation in memory of Myra Gary, Docent Class of 1999.