Westland Center
Westland, Michigan - 1960's
This is a view of the pool and fountain in the East Court of the Westland Center mall. Truly an incredible interior. Wish I'd have had a chance to see this shopping mall in person back then, in its golden heyday.
From back of postcard:
"With two main courtyards, a connecting mall and seven arcades, plus a concourse with many smaller stores and public service facilities, shoppers move through the entire Center in air-conditioned comfort. The many sculptures and works of art, along with the beautiful paintings, add to everyone's enjoyment of the Center,"Mall history: 1965 - present
Current website: here
Current aerial view
Previous entries: 1, 2
posted by Keith @ 8/08/2006
14 Comments:
Keith, out of all the entries in your blog, this is my new favorite picture. The sputnik lights; the marble; the fountain; the glass elevator. There are no words.
Elegant and beautiful. They don't make them like that anymore.
Just below center and slightly to the right in this photo is a statue of the 'goose that laid the golden egg.' It was smooth as glass, and the curve of its neck made a perfect tunnel through which children could slide. Best mall statue ever, in the days before insurance liability.
One of my top-10 favourite photos from this site! Only thing I'd wish for is more water and more plants.
This is the most magical mall ever! :-)
Truly beautiful :-)
Labelscar is SOOO right. The anchor makes its presence known. I'm assuming this is the Marshall Field's?
Anyway, this is really a fantastic picture. It could be taken today and not show any age (it'd just be vintage retro now).
I love the large court with plenty of space. Now they cram in a hundred carts with pushy salespeople. Those where the days!
Thanks for posting this wonderful pic!
Scott
You're close, BigMallRat... it was Hudson's.
I believe the goose statue is now located outside Hudson's/Marshall Fields/Macy's at the North entrance.
Looks like this mall was actually built in 1961 -- architect was Louis G. Redstone. Here's a listing of an archival collection that gives a good idea of the scope of his work in the Detroit area: http://www.umich.edu/~bhl/bhl/mhchome/reaccess/REDSTONE.pdf
Redstone wrote a book called "Art in Architecture," published in 1968. Might be worth digging up a copy.
Tyler: Hmmm. Now I'm cornfused. The date in that document you pointed out, doesn't jive with everything I've seen online. Everything I've seen points to '65, for the most part. There's even an essay (by "Cactus Bob", who comments here at MOA), over at deadmalls.com, in the entry for Wonderland Mall in Michigan, that puts the opening at 1968 (and I know Bob knows his Michigan stuff--shed some light if you read this, Bob!). Curious.
I'll contact Westland Center later and see what they say.
And thanks for all the great comments in this post! Glad you you guys liked the shot so much. I'll post more of Westland.
Sorry for the delayed response. It seems I was wrong though in saying that Westland opened in '68, I'm finding everything says '65 now. Or maybe it's disputed like Tel-Twelve.
wow do these pictures bring back some memories. I go to this mall all the time ever since I was a child so much of it has changed but still you can see the shadows of what it used to be. great site thanks for the memories .
I was in this mall alot as a child and it was even more awesome than these pictures show. The fountain was just magical, the glass elevator was such a cool touch, and the best thing of all was the "Goose that laid the Golden Egg" statue. One of the funniest stories of my childhood happened here... My middle brother fell in that fountain! Hilarioius now, not so funny then... LOL
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