Westfield Horton Plaza

Horton Plaza

Horton Plaza
Location	San Diego, California, USA
Address	324 Horton Plaza, San Diego, CA 92101-5481
Opening date	August 9, 1985
Developer	The Hahn Company
Management	Westfield Group
Owner	Westfield Group
No. of stores and services	130
No. of anchor tenants	3
Total retail floor area	758,003 sq ft (70,420.8 m2)
No. of floors	5
Parking	2,189
Public transit access	Civic Center station
Website	Official website

Westfield Horton Plaza, not to be confused with its adjacent namesake Horton Plaza, is a five-level outdoor shopping mall located in downtown San Diego known for its bright colors, architectural tricks, and odd spatial rhythms. It stands on 6.5 city blocks adjacent to the city's historic Gaslamp Quarter. It was the first successful downtown retail center since the rise of suburban shopping centers decades earlier.

History

1970s

A 1972 proposal for the shopping center and a redevelopment district arose out of plans to "refurbish San Diego's historic town plaza", Horton Plaza. Due to numerous setbacks and resistance from preservation groups, construction did not begin until 1982. The plaza is named for Alonzo Horton, who was largely responsible for the location of downtown San Diego.

1980s - 1990s

View of Horton Plaza

Aerial view from 1,000 feet (300 m), 2011

Horton Plaza was the $140 million centerpiece of a downtown redevelopment project run by The Hahn Company, and is the first example of architect Jon Jerde's so-called "experience architecture". When it opened in August 1985, it was a risky and radical departure from the standard paradigm of mall design. Its mismatched levels, long one-way ramps, sudden dropoffs, dramatic parapets, shadowy colonnades, cul-de-sacs, and brightly painted facades create an architectural experience in dramatic contrast to the conventional wisdom of mall management. Conventional malls are designed to reduce ambient sources of psychological arousal, so the customers' attention is directed towards merchandise. By making the mall an attraction in itself, Jerde stood this model on its head.

Jerde's project was based on Ray Bradbury's essay "The Aesthetics of Lostness". In it he extolled the virtues of getting "safely lost" as adults inspired by side streets of Paris, London, or New York.

Horton Plaza was an instant financial success and while some credited it for revitalizing downtown San Diego, others said the revitalization benefitted the mall.

When originally built, the center housed the historic Jessop's Clock, built in 1907, which formerly stood on a sidewalk in front of the Jessop and Sons jewelry store in Downtown San Diego.

In 1998 the owners of the mall sold it to the Westfield Group.

2010s

On January 11, 2011, the San Diego City Council unanimously approved a plan to raze the former Robinson's May building on the north side of the mall to make way for a 37,000 square feet (3,400 m²) urban park, effectively enlarging the adjacent Horton Plaza. The building's destruction will displace a Sam Goody (owned by F.y.e.) and an Abercrombie & Fitch.

In 2012 Westfield said it would not renew the lease on the Jessop's Clock and gave its owners (descendants of the clock's builder Joseph Jessop) six months to find a new location for it.

External links

• an evolution of the shopping mall urban form, with pictures of Horton Plaza
• Information on Horton Neighborhood
• Remarks of Senator John F. Kennedy, Horton Plaza, San Diego, CA