page_title: Horton Plaza Mall
section_title: 1980s – 1990s
hierarchical_section_title: Horton Plaza Mall / History / 1980s – 1990s
caption_attribution_description: English: Aerial view of Horton Plaza from 1000 feet. Please acknowledge "Phil Konstantin" as the creator of this photograph.
context_page_description: Horton Plaza, not to be confused with its adjacent namesake Horton Plaza Park, was 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. Nordstrom closed in 2016, leaving a vacant anchor store, and the other major anchor, Macy's, is closing in Spring 2020. In August 2018, the property was sold to developer Stockdale Capital Partners, which plans to convert it into an office-retail complex.
context_section_description: 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. The building's design featured mismatched levels, long one-way ramps, sudden drop-offs, dramatic parapets, shadowy colonnades, cul-de-sacs, and brightly painted facades constructed around a central courtyard.
  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.
  Weeks after the mall's opening in 1985, a man committed suicide by jumping from a third-story walkway in what was the first of five suicides to occur over the mall's history.
  In 1994, Sam Goody and Planet Hollywood announced they would be opening stores in the former J. W. Robinson's site in 1995. In 1995, United Artists Theatres announced they would be building 7 new screens into 7 screens to make it 14 in 1996.
  In 1997, FAO Schwarz opened on the 5th floor of the mall. 
  In 1998, the owners of the mall sold it to the Westfield Group, which renamed the mall Westfield Horton Plaza. In 2014, Westfield split into two companies, Scentre Group for Australia and New Zealand malls, and Westfield Corporation for American and European malls. In 2018, Westfield Corporation was acquired by Unibail-Rodamco, and it was rebranded as Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield.
caption: Aerial view from 1,000 feet (300 m), 2011
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