Business & Tech
PBS Special Featuring Southdale Center Airing Sunday
'10 Buildings That Changed America' will air at 9 p.m. Sunday, May 12, on Twin Cities Public Television.
Edina will have a national spotlight focused on it this Sunday night, when a Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) special on the 10 Buildings That Changed America takes a look at Southdale Center.
The special will air at 9 p.m. on Sunday, May 12, on Twin Cities Public Television. Replays of the program are currently scheduled for 3 a.m. on Monday, May 13, and 5 p.m. on Saturday, May 18.
PBS put together the list—including the likes of Frank Lloyd Wright's Robie House and the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles—in consultation with a panel of historians and architects from across the country.
Interested in local real estate?Subscribe to Patch's new newsletter to be the first to know about open houses, new listings and more.
The 10 influential buildings are as follows:
- Virginia State Capitol, Richmond, VA
- Trinity Church, Boston, MA
- Wainwright Building, St. Louis, MO
- Robie House, Chicago, IL
- Highland Park Ford Plant, Highland Park, MI
- Southdale Center Mall, Edina, MN
- Seagram Building, New York, NY
- Dulles International Airport, Chantilly, VA
- Vanna Venturi House, Chestnut Hill, PA
- Walt Disney Concert Hall, Los Angeles, CA
Southdale Center, which opened its doors in October 1956, served as the blueprint for similar structures throughout the country. Camera crews will be visiting the mall later this year to film, though an exact date has not been released.
Interested in local real estate?Subscribe to Patch's new newsletter to be the first to know about open houses, new listings and more.
And while there has been some debate over whether or not Southdale was technically the first fully enclosed shopping mall in America—the much smaller Valley Fair Shopping Center in Appleton, WI opened a year earlier—Austian-born architect Victor Gruen is credited with pioneering the concept of a mall so large it would draw traffic from throughout a region.
Southdale is still in the midst of substantial renovations, aimed at bringing the mall up to date through $19 million in improvements. The renovations included a new dining pavilion and play area, redesigned common areas with upgraded ceilings, new tile flooring, soft seating areas, a redesigned guest services area, new indoor signage and cosmetic upgrades to the facility's texture and color palette.
Join Edina Patch for more community news or find us on Facebook and Twitter.
Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.
