Randhurst Center, ca. 1962

Randhurst Center was built on the site of one of the last farms in Mount Prospect, a suburb of Chicago. Instead of the typical shopping center built in a straight line between two anchoring department stories, Victor Gruen's design was shaped like a triangle with an anchoring department store at each angle. Additional stores lined the sides of the triangle on two levels. It was built during the height of the Cold War and included a fallout shelter big enough to hold every citizen of Mount Prospect. At its opening in 1962, it was largest enclosed air-conditioned space in the United States. In 2009, the mall was demolished and rebuilt as Randhurst Village.