Throughout October, Docomomo US/Chicago will be exploring Chicagoland’s fascinating history of shoppingmalls through a walking tour and a pair of virtual presentations.
In 1957, Architectural Record announced, “Great numbers of shopping centers, large and small, are being built across the country, but the unhappy truth is that the overwhelming majority of them are neither good to look at nor a real pleasure to use. The American genius for turning a profit seems, in suburbia, to be wedded to a distressing penchant for bringing merchandising blight to the land as part of the process. […] Occasional exceptions [however] demonstrate by contrast the validity of this judgement. Suburban shopping can be a pleasure.”
On Wednesday, October 12 at 6 PM Central Time, join us for “Shopping can be a pleasure: Chicagoland Malls, 1916-2000.” This (virtual) trip to Chicagoland’s malls will explore the good, the bad, the demolished, and theunderappreciated. We’ll visit the first shopping plaza in the country designed around the automobile, andend at the millennium with one of downtown Chicago’s vertical malls. Along the way, we’ll explore designsby architects Harry Weese; Victor Gruen; Loebl, Schlossmann & Bennett; Edo Belli; Ed Dart; and more.
Advance registration required
Free for Docomomo US members / $10 nonmembers
This event is part of Docomomo US Tour Day 2022.
