As featured on DeadMalls.com...http://deadmalls.com/malls/westland_mall.html

 

 

 

Old JCP

 

Striking mall entrance

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sears and GNC are the only chain stores that remain

Wow! I wonder what is going to happen with this building when the Casino opens up? A power center maybe, tho there is a lot of empty retail buildings in this Broad/Georgesville area.

The Mexican Trotwood.

Make it a park

Just my opinion, but it seems of any era of development in American history, much of what was built in the 70's and 80's seems so terribly unattractive (I guess we thought it was attractive at the time) once it becomes dated.  You take a "dated" building from the 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s and even 60s and refurbish it and it seems to glow.  I don't think this can be accomplish with much of the architecture from the 70s and 80s.  Maybe that is why we're tearing down so much of it so early in its life span.

I'm sure somewhere within a few miles or so...a brand new one was built that was never needed in the first place. More castrating one mall in favor of another. This is in part an example of piss poor land use planning and no concept of working together as a region...where several communities all so close, but divided by imaginary lines are all fighting for the same piece of pie instead of sharing it. It does nothing to strengthen the urban core. This is also a favorite website of mine..."dead malls"

 

Ideas.. Hmmm.. Here is one...These buildings can be perhaps made into a living and shopping sort of "indoor neighborhood" with all you need as opposed to just shopping. Other than this, there are simply too many of these dead malls to deal with. In terms of "mall history" there won't be many examples of this sort of thing. And I also think that not all were ugly...and that there were some that actually had a nice contemporary, clean bright look (sort of "George Jetson-ish") that can be restored, made functional... and appeal to some who remember the heyday of these malls around the late 50's to early 70's.

Actually, there are generally no malls on the westside of Columbus (northwest side, sure with Tuttle but no one in Columbus would call Tuttle "the westside"). 

Maybe there doesn't need to be. I used to work that area a lot with the kind of work I did and there is plenty of retail within short drives. I don't want to make a big debate about this but when you saturate the overall area and beyond with retail....some things are bound to close. I see a of of these dead malls as victims of building beyond the actual need. Sprawl Busters illustrates this phenomenon quite well.

It remains to be seen what will happen here with the casino, but I see the dense and urban "downtown Hilltop" on W Broad becoming a more desirable place than Westland, although if it does bounce back at all we'll see chains there and indie businesses in the urban district.

Agreed.  If anything, Westland Mall will turn all 'lifestyle center but cheapish' on us.

Before it was Westland Mall, it was the Great Western Shopping Center, an outdoor facility boasting models of the Eight Wonders of the World in the parking lot. It opened in the '50s, so this complex actually had a longer lifespan than it would appear. I think a lot of the shoppers were lured by Grove City and Hillard-Rome Road (Wal-Marts!) in addition to Tuttle.

I thought great western was the shopping center about a mile to the east of this mall at Wilson and W. Broad? thats still there.

Before it was Westland Mall, it was the Great Western Shopping Center, an outdoor facility boasting models of the Eight Wonders of the World in the parking lot. It opened in the '50s, so this complex actually had a longer lifespan than it would appear. I think a lot of the shoppers were lured by Grove City and Hillard-Rome Road (Wal-Marts!) in addition to Tuttle.

I think you might be confusing the Great Western Shopping Center, an earlier outdoor center that opened around 1956 about one mile east of Westland Mall, with an earlier version of the Westland Mall.  Westland Mall was originally built in 1969 as an outdoor center too.  It was anchored by Sears, Lazarus, and JC Penney.  These anchors and other smaller stores focused on an exterior courtyard.  Westland Mall was renovated in 1982 and the exterior courtyard was enclosed to the conditions documented in the earlier photos.  I remember some of this from memory but got the specific info from this page of the Columbus Messenger website.

I thought great western was the shopping center about a mile to the east of this mall at Wilson and W. Broad? thats still there.

... the Great Western Shopping Center, an outdoor facility boasting models of the Eight Wonders of the World in the parking lot.

I know this is off the original thread topic of the Westland Mall, but I found some neat info on the Great Western Shopping Center.  It did have the Eight Wonders of the World (aka Walk of Wonders) running through its parking lot.  More on that here and here and here.

 

LIST OF THE WONDERS OF THE WORLD

The Leaning Tower of Pisa, Italy

Trevi Fountain, Rome, Italy

Niagara Falls, New York

Grand Canyon, Arizona

Taj Mahal, Agra, India

Carlsbad Caverns, New Mexico

Parthenon, Athens, Greece

*Eiffel Tower, Paris, France

 

*The last remaining exhibit, was moved to one of the owner’s property in 1979.  And I believe the Eiffel Tower at the restaurant on Short Street in the Brewery District is the same one.  Here are some vintage photos from this site:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Holy Smoke! It was a mini-Las Vegas, right smack-dab in the middle of Ohio!  :roll:

That's a hoot!

Before it was Westland Mall, it was the Great Western Shopping Center, an outdoor facility boasting models of the Eight Wonders of the World in the parking lot. It opened in the '50s, so this complex actually had a longer lifespan than it would appear. I think a lot of the shoppers were lured by Grove City and Hillard-Rome Road (Wal-Marts!) in addition to Tuttle.

I think you might confusing the Great Western Shopping Center, an earlier outdoor center that opened around 1956 about one mile east of Westland Mall, with an earlier version of the Westland Mall.  Westland Mall was originally built in 1969 as an outdoor center too.  It was anchored by Sears, Lazarus, and JC Penney.  These anchors and other smaller stores focused on an exterior courtyard.  Westland Mall was renovated in 1982 and the exterior courtyard was enclosed to the conditions documented in the earlier photos.  I remember some of this from memory but got the specific info from this page of the Columbus Messenger website.

 

Ah, yes. The large tanks in the upper left of the Sphinx photo give it away.

what a fun putt putt course!