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    Northland Mall
    Northland Mall
    Northland Mall
    Ebook171 pages1 hour

    Northland Mall

    By Gerald E. Naftaly and James B. Webber III

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    About this ebook

    Revisit your favorite stores and memories of innovative Northland Mall in Michigan, once heralded as the "future of shopping".


    When the Northland Mall opened in Michigan on March 22, 1954, it was the world's largest shopping center. Its innovative design was the vision of architect Victor Gruen and the Webbers, nephews of Joseph Lowthian Hudson and executives of the J.L. Hudson Company. Northland featured Hudson's flagship suburban store surrounded by other businesses selling a variety of merchandise and services. More than just a shopping destination, Northland Mall was a total experience of activity and relaxation, with colorful courtyards displaying sculptures such as the famous The Boy and Bear.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherArcadia Publishing
    Release dateAug 8, 2016
    ISBN9781439657393
    Northland Mall
    Author

    Gerald E. Naftaly

    Author Gerald E. "Jerry" Naftaly served as mayor of Oak Park for 20 consecutive years and as councilman for 14 years prior. He is the author of Images of America: Oak Park. Several benchmarks in the history of Northland Mall coincided with important events in Naftaly's life. He was born in 1952, the year of Northland's ground breaking. His family moved to neighboring Oak Park in 1954, just after the mall's grand opening. During his professional career, store owners were his clients. Naftaly's mother, Grace, to whom this book is dedicated, passed away in March 2015 within weeks of Northland's closing.

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      Book preview

      Northland Mall - Gerald E. Naftaly

      collection.

      INTRODUCTION

      On May 7, 1952, ground was broken for Northland Center. On March 12, 1954, the ribbon was cut and the key was turned to open the door. Officially, the center opened to the public on March 22, 1954; the story, however, began several years earlier. Northland was the vision of architect Victor Gruen, who believed that a shopping center was more than a collection of stores. In a June 1952 interview with Dr. Richard Longstreth, which Prof. Alex Wall more fully describes in his book Victor Gruen: From Urban Shop to New City, Gruen expresses his belief that a large suburban shopping center should resemble a city, with post office, doctor’s offices, rooms for club activities, where shopping would become pleasure rather than a chore and larger centers could be built similarly with automobile traffic diverted around . . . or . . . under them.

      Gruen also believed that the shopping center of tomorrow will, besides performing its commercial function, fill the vacuum created by the absence of social, cultural and civic crystallization points in our vast suburban areas. Gruen and economist Larry Smith, a member of his team, said that to fulfill this function was to go beyond the commercial needs, take advantage of public areas and realize an architectural concept. Two years prior to the opening of Northland, Gruen gave a lecture before the Detroit chapter of the American Institute of Architects and noted the 10 requisites for a successful shopping center. He said that it must be in the right city, in the right area, on the right spot and of the right size. It must be easily accessible, offer complete services, and the highest degree of obtainable shopping convenience. It must lease to the right tenants on the right terms. It must offer the most attractive shopping surroundings attainable.

      In 1949, Gruen presented his plans to Oscar Webber, then president of Hudson’s, for the department store to build its own regional shopping centers in four locations—Northland, Eastland, Westland, and Southland. In order to serve the larger region, the company needed to expand into the suburbs. Gruen built a team, including Karl Van Leuven and economist Larry Smith.

      Gruen scouted locations, noting demographics and population trends, and found one such area (see page 10). Northland was not intended to be the first shopping center. Located near prosperous Grosse Pointe, Eastland was designated as the first. However, the Korean War broke out and necessary building materials were unavailable. Gruen had set up a team with the architect in the central role, along with consultants, economists, and bankers working with the client. Gruen designed the centers to include offices, medical buildings, hospitals, schools, and apartments to create a multifunctional regional center. In 1951, Hudson’s announced revised plans that would open Northland first. A consultant hired by the Webber family believed that the Northland Center project would work. Gruen’s own economist was not as sure, based on shopping trends and analysis. Disagreement within the Webber family caused some dissension. James Webber Jr. convinced his uncles that in order to compete with other large chains, they would need to expand to the suburbs. James Webber Sr. believed they should focus on the downtown Detroit store. Plans would go forward and when institutional investors balked, Oscar Webber decided to finance the endeavor himself. Northland was built at a cost of $25 million. The shopping center received more than 300 applications for the initial 80 tenant spaces.

      The land was in Southfield Township. Members of the Clinton family owned the farms. Legend has it that the family requested their children be bussed to Southfield schools, but Southfield refused. The new Oak Park School District, just across Greenfield Road, was approached and agreed to provide bussing. No paper record of any vote could be found to substantiate annexation by Oak Park School District over Southfield schools, but (maybe by a handshake) this property is taxable by Oak Park. Southfield Township, after a number of unsuccessful annexation attempts by the City of Oak Park and others, was approved by voters in April 1958 as the charter City of Southfield. A little-known fact is that the new city had no funds to operate from April 28, 1958, to July 1, 1958, and turned to Richard W. Dick Frey, who helped finance the city’s payroll and expenses. Frey served as Northland’s construction coordinator and, eventually, president of Dayton-Hudson’s Shopping Center

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