Oakbrook Center
Oak Brook, Illinois - circa 1963
Colorful and oh-so-inviting view of the well-manicured grounds at Oakbrook Center mall. Back of this postcard reads:
"Looking across the beautifully landscaped Mall in one of the largest planned shopping centers in the nation. 5,000 chrysanthemums are planted here yearly."History: 1962 - present
Architect: Richard Marsh Bennett
Current website: here
Current aerial view
Previous entries: 1, 2
posted by Keith @ 7/31/2006
7 Comments:
Is that a fountain on the right or just some errant sprinklers wasting water on the sidewalk? It's hard to tell!
Marshall Field's facade is very interesting -- I wonder what material it is.
Captain, there be whales here! Fooled me for about 2 seconds as well. No, actually it appears to be your standard outdoor fountain with 5 geysers (presumably more out of frame) and a concrete observation deck hanging over it. The Lantana looks to be in full bloom. That dark facade reminds me of a defunct department store chain called The Treasury.
Is that mall sprawling, or what? Could get lost in a place that size.
Scott
Marshall Field & Company's facade looks to be stone and brick veneer with aluminum and glass fills. It's pretty sweet.
Oak Brook Shopping Center is one of the few thriving "big old malls" in Chicago area. Old Orchard is it's sister. We called them 'shopping centers', until the 80's when 'mall', arrived from Valley Girl lingo. Then most SC's changed their names to 'Xy Mall', even if it was tiny.
I worked at Marshall Field's 1985-86, and it was always busy, except January. No comment on the new name of Macy's coming soon.
It is still as busy as ever, and no signs of a 'deadmall' at all. Some of it is well presereved from 1960's, too.
Yes, this is a great mall. It was very similar in look and layout to Old Orchard. I haven't been here in years.
Oak Brook is pretty much intact today. There've been the usual changes - including the forthcoming gut-wrenching Macy's switchover. The biggest change I remember from my childhood was the addition of more parking underneath the mall proper and/or easier access to it. The mall's gotten bigger, but is certainly not the size of a Woodfield.
Great place, particularly at Christmas.
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