Court Ruling Threatens Modern Gem

Efforts to preserve what could be California’s most impressive outdoor collection of modern sculpture in a modernist setting have been stymied by a judge. Fresno’s Fulton Mall, designed by landscape architect Garret Eckbo, would be dismantled by the city under its current plan.

But fans of the mall, organized as the Downtown Fresno Coalition, are not giving up. They are asking the judge to reconsider his decision and plan to appeal if he does not. They are also working on a separate federal lawsuit and are fighting on the local political level as well.

“We’re working on every angle we can,” says Linda Zachritz, an attorney and a leader of the coalition whose office is along the mall. “Yes we are disappointed. But we knew it was going to be a long process.”

The mall, an early attempt to replace auto traffic with pedestrian plaza and parkland in a city setting, was created 50 years ago by the iconic designer Garrett Eckbo, working with progressive city leaders. The architect on the project was Victor Gruen, a prominent Austrian-born modernist best known for helping invent the modern shopping mall.

The Fulton Mall was named to the National Register of Historic Places in 2010. Its teardown would be funded in part with a federal Department of Transportation grant. Opponents of the plan argue that the city is planning to spend local funds to match the federal dollars, despite what political leaders told the public. “There was a promise of no local money,” Zachritz says.

Eckbo tied the landscape together with an artificial river that runs through the mall. Plantings, seating areas, and areas for performances made it a wildly popular spot for decades, until much of Fresno’ commerce moved to large shopping centers to the north and the old downtown declined.

Today many of the shop fronts along the mall are closed. City and county offices occupy much of the office space in the grand, early 20^th century office towers that line the mall, providing a pleasing contrast between Beaux Art design and the mid-century modernism of the mall.

Members of the coalition blame the city for neglecting not just the mall but the entire downtown area, as it allowed commerce to sprawl northward and as it allowed the mall’s fountains and sculptures to deteriorate.

They argue that with proper attention and better promotion, the sculpture-filled promenade could again become a popular destination and could help boost business in the old downtown.

Sculptures include a group of ceramic fountains by environmental ceramicist Stan Bitters, a local legend who has recently gained greater fame, a bronze and aluminum work by Peter Voulkos, immense towers by Claire Falkenstein, and many more.

The city says the works can be relocated onto sidewalks once traffic is returned to the mall but defenders of the mall, who sued to block the project, say the effect will be lost.

Mall fans argued that the city had predetermined that the mall must go before doing an environmental report. They asked that the report be thrown out.

But in late October Superior Court Judge Dennis Peterson dismissed the suit, saying the city had properly considered alternatives to demolition.

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