Montgomery Wards interior
(©2001 Christopher W. Trice)
Funky interior design--'70s shopping mall style! Back in 2001 photographer, Christopher Trice, documented the abandoned remnants of the Dixie Square Mall in Harvey, Illinois, for his "Dixie Square Mall Series". Here are a couple of the Montgomery Ward images from it that I dug due to the obviously frozen-in-time state of vintage '70s (or '60s?) decor they capture--interior store design still left over from retail days long gone by.
Men’s Jackets, Montgomery Wards
(©2001 Christopher W. Trice)
Of this series Trice said: "My work at Dixie Square Mall is an effort not to find beauty, but to create it." Tough assignment from the looks of things.
Here's an overview from the site I found these photos at:
"In The Dixie Square Mall Series, Christopher Trice examines the space and socioeconomic import of a long-abandoned shopping center in one of Chicago’s south suburbs. Dangling wires, fallen ceiling tiles, and peeling wallpaper evidence the decay of otherwise familiar store interiors now ravaged by vandals and weather alike. Yet the attention to color and closely controlled composition of Trice’s photographs transcend the merely documentary, generating a beauty otherwise absent from this crumbling structure."More Dixie Square Mall: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
A nice look back at the groovy wallpaper designs of the 1960s/1970s. A pity about the bad state they're in. But if the mall had survived, I doubt we would still be seeing these little gems.
ReplyDeleteWhy did wallpaper get so boring anyway?
I worked at a Wards in the 80s, and the stockrooms behind the scenes had remenants of the old decoration from the 60s and 70s, frozen in time. I wish I could have gotten in there with a camera before it all got torn out.
ReplyDeleteLike they said in the '70s.... Far Out, man!!
ReplyDeleteThat shot of the wallpaper....that just made me dizzy staring at it for a while.
Ahh, nothing like '60s & '70s design.
I'm sorry to inform you about this but the wallpaper you see here is now gone due to an accidental demolition of the Wards building.
ReplyDeleteEven if the building hadn't been accidentally demolished (How did that happen anyway? Sounds like setting new records of sheer ineptness), thr wallpaper wouldn't have survived anyway, I fear.
ReplyDeleteMy dad used to live in Harvey before it became such run down area. I will have to ask if he ever went to this mall.
ReplyDeleteI just talked to my dad and apparently my grandparents still have a cabinet stereo system that came from this mall!! And.....thanks to you I have become obsessed reading everything on the net I can find about this place. It's fascinating!
ReplyDelete