The City Center Mall (formerly Eaton's mall) was built in downtown Hamilton Ont. and has now been described as a postmodern monstrosity. During the 1980s and 1990s postmodernism was avant-garde in Canada.
The mall was Baltimore firm RTKL Architects and like most postmodern architecture it left people asking is it modern? Is it contemporary? Is it classical? What is it? The exterior looked like a bunker with no windows (until recently) with a clock tower on the intersection.
Exterior Photos:
Then the interior is the exact opposite! In my opinion it is an example of postmodernism done right (the interior was inspired by the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II). It is open, bright and just lovely. With skylights running through most of the building with ornate pillars and accessories that frame the space perfectly. With the center being an atrium setting, topped with a glass dome surrounded by a frieze titled “Lineage” by artists Susan Schelle and Mark Gomes.
Interior Photos:
It was built as the Eaton's mall but after the Eaton's store closed in 1999, it was all downhill for the shopping center. It spent decades with no successful stores and a very low amount of shoppers. In fact half of the space was taken u by call centers and offices for the city of Hamilton.
Now it has been purchased by developers with a plan to demolish the building and start fresh and they aren't wasting any time in getting this done! The mall will be open for the last time on December 26th and demolition is set to start in February. So this strange, ugly yet beautiful building with be nothing but a memory within months.
