Victor David Gruen, born Viktor David Grünbaum (July 18, 1903 – February 14, 1980), was an Austrian-American architect best known as a pioneer in the design of shopping malls in the United States. He is also noted for his urban revitalization proposals, described in his writings and applied in master plans such as for Fort Worth, Texas (1955), Kalamazoo, Michigan (1958) and Fresno, California (1965). An advocate of prioritizing pedestrians over cars in urban cores, he was also the designer of the first outdoor pedestrian mall in the United States, the Kalamazoo Mall.
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Victor Gruen in the context of Shopping centers
A shopping center in American English, shopping centre in Commonwealth English (see spelling differences), shopping complex, shopping arcade, shopping plaza, or galleria, is a group of shops built together, sometimes under one roof.
The first known collections of retailers under one roof are public markets, dating back to ancient times, and Middle Eastern covered markets, bazaars and souqs. In Paris, about 150 covered passages were built between the late 18th century and 1850, and a wealth of shopping arcades were built across Europe in the 19th century. In the United States, the widespread use of the automobile in the 1920s led to the first shopping centers consisting of a few dozen shops that included parking for cars. Starting in 1946, larger, open air centers anchored by department stores were built (sometimes as a collection of adjacent retail properties with different owners), and then enclosed shopping malls starting with Victor Gruen's Southdale Center near Minneapolis in 1956.
Victor Gruen in the context of Southdale Center
Southdale Center is a shopping mall located in Edina, Minnesota, a suburb of the Twin Cities. It opened in 1956 and is the first fully enclosed, climate-controlled shopping mall in the United States. Southdale Center has 1,297,608 square feet (120,551.7 m; 29.7890 acres; 12.05517 ha) of leasable retail space, and contains 106 retail tenants. The mall is owned by Simon Property Group and the anchor stores are Macy's, Dave & Buster's, AMC Theatres, Hennepin Service Center, and Life Time Athletic.
Victor Gruen, the center's architect, designed the mall to challenge the "car-centric" America that was rising in the 1950s. Since its opening in 1956, Southdale has suffered through high vacancy rates and several store closures, but has been able to recover in recent years. Several additions have been performed on the building, including a 2011 renovation which involved the construction of a brand new food court. Southdale Center continues to use much of its original structure despite these renovations, and has been the host of several charity and community events throughout the years.
Victor Gruen in the context of Cherry Hill Mall
The Cherry Hill Mall is a super-regional shopping mall in Cherry Hill, in Camden County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The mall is within the unincorporated namesake neighborhood and census-designated place of Cherry Hill Mall.
The mall was developed by James Rouse, working in partnership with Strawbridge and Clothier. Designed by architect Victor Gruen, the Cherry Hill Mall opened in 1961 as one of the first enclosed malls in the United States. PREIT acquired the mall in 2003.