Ships from: Flagtown, NJ
Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Ships from: Naperville, IL
Usually ships in 1-2 business days
"Despite their convenience, malls are routinely criticized for representing much that is wrong in America - sprawl, conspicuous consumption, the loss of regional character, and the decline of Mom and Pop stores. Malls are so ubiquitous that it would surprise most people that they are the brainchild of a single person, architect Victor Gruen." An immigrant from Austria who fled the Nazis in 1938, Gruen based his idea for the mall on an idealized America: the dream of concentrated shops that would benefit the businessperson as well as the consumer and that would foster a sense of shared community. Modernist Philip Johnson applauded Gruen for creating a true civic art and architecture that enriched Americans' daily lives, and for decades he received praise from luminaries such as Lewis Mumford, Winthrop Rockefeller, and Lady Bird Johnson. Yet, in the end, Gruen returned to Europe, thoroughly disillusioned with his American dream.
"Mall Maker is an important book. . . . The fact that Gruen's buildings are more lived in than the work of nearly any other modern architect makes him a designer worth reading about."—Metropolis Magazine
"An insightful account . . . in lucid prose."—New York Times
"Hardwick's thesis is compelling . . . : instead of saving the city, Gruen inadvertently contributed to its demise."—Washington Times
"A pioneering book on a seriously neglected subject, and everybody interested in the evolution of twentieth-century cities should read it."—Alex Garvin, Archives of American Art Journal
"Hardwick brings fresh insight into the specific role of shopping centers in spawning the twin evils of sprawl and urban decline."—Enterprise & Society
Introduction: The Gruen Effect 1
1 Escaping from Vienna to Fifth Avenue 8
2 How Main Street Stole Fifth Avenue's Glitter 48
3 Wartime Planning for Postwar Posterity 72
4 Seducing the Suburban Autoist 91
5 A "Shoppers' Paradise" for Suburbia 118
6 Planning the New "Suburbscape" 142
7 Saving Our Cities 162
8 The Suburbanization of Downtown 193
Conclusion: "Those Bastard Developments" and Gruen's Legacy 210
Notes 225
Index 269
Acknowledgments 275
Overview
"Despite their convenience, malls are routinely criticized for representing much that is wrong in America - sprawl, conspicuous consumption, the loss of regional character, and the decline of Mom and Pop stores. Malls are so ubiquitous that it would surprise most people that they are the brainchild of a single person, architect Victor Gruen." An immigrant from Austria who fled the Nazis in 1938, Gruen based his idea for the mall on an idealized America: the dream of concentrated shops that would benefit the businessperson as well as the consumer