Midtown Plaza
Rochester, New York - 1960's
Midtown Plaza sculpture and foliage in this picturesque Victor Gruen-designed marvel. This shot is a beauty. Oh-so-'60s, yet oh-so-happening (dig those wonderful decorative wall panels back there)!
Yeah, I'm with that guy--looks like a nice place to read and relax (if you can tune out all the mall noise that is). Here's Midtown's current website.
posted by Keith @ 1/27/2006
4 Comments:
It's been a while since I Googled it, but at one point it was slated for demolition or, at the very least, extreme renovation, as Rochester is apparently in need of revitalization. It was Gruen's big demonstration of a mall in an urban setting, sadly unsuccessful as a theory... there's a load about it in the book Mall Maker that's pretty interesting. I hope it makes it in some form because of it's architectural history significance, but it's still a dead mall. :(
I have this adorably naive postcard of the center court with the "Clock of the Nations," a clock that rotated on the hour, each hour's capsule featuring a different doll representing a different country... yup, so midcentury it hurts. ;-)
Whoops, I should have kept reading the blog before posting that as if you didn't mention it in another post... doh! Sorry!
I remember going to a senior ball at Midtown Plaza in the early 1970's. The stores were closed on Saturday nights, so the school (Bishop Kearney HS) rented the entire mall and had a catered dinner. Chuck Mangione provided the music for dancing. Besides dancing and sitting at the table chatting, we could walk by the store window fronts and window shop. It seemed like an extravagant prom. Maybe Rochester should consider renovating it to become a downtown party house for wedding receptions and proms -- maybe that would help revitalize the area.
I also have a plastic model of the clock. In the 1960's you could put a quarter in a machine, and it would create a molded plastic sculpture of the Clock of the Nations. It was still warm when it was dispensed.
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