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Randhurst Mall
Mount Prospect,
Cook County
Built 1962
In August, 2009, this iconic regional shopping center at the intersection of
Rand and Elmhurst roads was demolished to make way for a new mixed-use
“lifestyle center.” Designed by
Victor Gruen, the
father of the American
shopping mall, it was the first enclosed regional center in the Chicago
area. It also was one of Gruen’s most unique mall designs. |
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Its equilateral triangle-shaped layout—surrounding a
central dome—originally featured three anchor department stores: Carson
Pirie Scott, The Fair, and Wieboldt’s. At the time of its construction, it
was the largest air-conditioned space in the U.S., totaling 1.4 million
square feet of retail space and a fallout shelter designed to accommodate
the population of Mount Prospect. A food court—one of Chicago’s first—was
added in 1985, but Randhurst began to decline in the mid-1990s following the
expansion of the Woodfield Mall in Schaumburg. The mall finally closed in
September 2008.
To view the demolition of the Randhurst Mall dome,
click here.
To view a tribute to Randhurst Mall, click
Pleasant Family Shopping.
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