Rockville Mall (MD) / Downtown Malls
Posted: 01 Nov 2006 18:00
I wanted to float this out there and see who had any recollections/info on the old Rockville Mall in Rockville, MD. It was probably one of the biggest flops in the history of retail centers. I'm especially curious about it because my visits to it in it's dying days and glimpses of it's abandoned remains were a big reason for my ongoing interest in retail architecture and history.
I only know the basics on Rockville Mall's history, and my own experience with it. It was built around 1972, and was pretty much DOA from the start. It was a major part of Rockville's "urban renewal" and between it and the nearby library and county/city civic buildings, the entire "old town" Main Street portion of Rockville was wiped out. By the 90's most people lamented the loss of what was the only part of Rockville that still retained some elements of it's late 19th/early 20th century character.
From what I've read, that part of town was run down and largely vacant of retail activity by the 1960's. By the mid 70's, it was now very modern and largely vacant of retail activity. The mall had only underground (or more accurately "under building") parking garages, and the layout was not really like a normal suburban mall due to the space constraints. I think it had only one level of retail, not sure how many corridors or what shape layout/arrangement it was in. All I know is that by the early 80's the place was already on it's last legs. I would visit it occasionaly to go to the one and only Friendly's restaurant in the DC area, and half the mall was already abandoned and "blacked-out." I don't think there were any skylights or windows in the mall, so when I would enter to go to Friendly's I would see a few open shops (a video arcade was the only other one I can recall) and then the lighting past a certain point in the hall was just turned off completely. It was really spooky, there were no barriers in the hall or anything, it was as if the mall was slowly being consumed by a dark void.
I think the mall closed around 1983 or so. The opening of White Flint Mall nearby really did it in, since the stores there were more high-end and it was easier to reach from the Beltway. The place sat for a few years and then was redeveloped in fits and starts, first becoming a mix of offices and light retail, then losing what little retail it had. United Artists opened a multi-level theater there around 1987, long after "Rockville Mall" had died. (Other varied names were used for the complex in an attempt to unjinx it) I guess they were trying to get in on the ground floor of one of the supposed renewals that were often discussed but never occured around there. The theater was closed around 1996 when much of the old mall was torn down. Strangely, parts of the mall still exist as office space, though the layout and shape of the remaining building gives no real indication of it once being retail.
Downtown Rockville went through another attempted renewal around 1998, when a new Regal Theaters was built behind the surviving portion of the mall, in the pit of where much of the old mall and old theaters had stood. This revivial only partially worked, since the theater was and is successful, but not much else sprung up around it. I think another "revival" was/is being attempted in the past couple of years, but I have no idea if it's any more successful than the previous attempts.
Personally, I think any efforts to make this area a "town center" shopping area like "Downtown Silver Spring" will fail as long as the old mall building is there. I am amazed they didn't demolish it in the mid-90's when they took down the rest. It is a real eyesore, towering 3-4 stories above Rockville Pike. The remaining building is right up against the side of the road, with a pedestrian bridge connecting it to the Metro train station. (This station didn't open until around 1985, if it had been there at the beginning of the mall's life the mall *might* have had a chance to be successful in some way. Might.)
Once in the late 80's, I went there with my Dad to visit the cable company's office, located in the converted portion of the mall. Everything looked pretty modern and refurbished, with a new escalator and oddly-shaped wide walkways due to the strange conversion. It seemed to have been gutted and rebuilt, not a straight reoccupation of the retail units. There was a set of large metal doors up against one of the huge walls in this hallway, with a chain and padlock around it. I went over to them and peered through the gap between the doors and could see the remains of the old mall. The wall was placed perpendicular to the old hallway, filling the gap all the way to the ceiling. My view was straight down the hall toward what was probably the location of an anchor store. It was pretty well preserved, dark but with some sunlight coming in from above. (strangely contradictory to my earlier memories of there being no skylights, you can see why I seek more detailed info on this mall) It was eerie seeing a dead mall in all it's glory. It would have easily rivaled Dixie Square on a dead-mall geek-o-meter. After about a minute of peeking through there, a guard came over and asked what I was doing. It didn't even occur to me to ask him to open the doors and let me take a better look. Today, armed with a digital camera, I would be ready to bribe him if necessary to get in there. Of course, this portion is long gone, but the fact that an entire mall hallway, complete with old store signs still up, could rot there untouched for the better part of a decade, excited me and made me want to find other such places. It was only upon the discovery of sites like this one that I learned I was not alone in this interest.
Thanks for reading my long-winded recollection. That's all I or anyone else I know seems to know about Rockville Mall. Any additional info would be greatly appreciated, especially opening date and closing dates. (The better to scour the newspaper microfilms with)
I only know the basics on Rockville Mall's history, and my own experience with it. It was built around 1972, and was pretty much DOA from the start. It was a major part of Rockville's "urban renewal" and between it and the nearby library and county/city civic buildings, the entire "old town" Main Street portion of Rockville was wiped out. By the 90's most people lamented the loss of what was the only part of Rockville that still retained some elements of it's late 19th/early 20th century character.
From what I've read, that part of town was run down and largely vacant of retail activity by the 1960's. By the mid 70's, it was now very modern and largely vacant of retail activity. The mall had only underground (or more accurately "under building") parking garages, and the layout was not really like a normal suburban mall due to the space constraints. I think it had only one level of retail, not sure how many corridors or what shape layout/arrangement it was in. All I know is that by the early 80's the place was already on it's last legs. I would visit it occasionaly to go to the one and only Friendly's restaurant in the DC area, and half the mall was already abandoned and "blacked-out." I don't think there were any skylights or windows in the mall, so when I would enter to go to Friendly's I would see a few open shops (a video arcade was the only other one I can recall) and then the lighting past a certain point in the hall was just turned off completely. It was really spooky, there were no barriers in the hall or anything, it was as if the mall was slowly being consumed by a dark void.
I think the mall closed around 1983 or so. The opening of White Flint Mall nearby really did it in, since the stores there were more high-end and it was easier to reach from the Beltway. The place sat for a few years and then was redeveloped in fits and starts, first becoming a mix of offices and light retail, then losing what little retail it had. United Artists opened a multi-level theater there around 1987, long after "Rockville Mall" had died. (Other varied names were used for the complex in an attempt to unjinx it) I guess they were trying to get in on the ground floor of one of the supposed renewals that were often discussed but never occured around there. The theater was closed around 1996 when much of the old mall was torn down. Strangely, parts of the mall still exist as office space, though the layout and shape of the remaining building gives no real indication of it once being retail.
Downtown Rockville went through another attempted renewal around 1998, when a new Regal Theaters was built behind the surviving portion of the mall, in the pit of where much of the old mall and old theaters had stood. This revivial only partially worked, since the theater was and is successful, but not much else sprung up around it. I think another "revival" was/is being attempted in the past couple of years, but I have no idea if it's any more successful than the previous attempts.
Personally, I think any efforts to make this area a "town center" shopping area like "Downtown Silver Spring" will fail as long as the old mall building is there. I am amazed they didn't demolish it in the mid-90's when they took down the rest. It is a real eyesore, towering 3-4 stories above Rockville Pike. The remaining building is right up against the side of the road, with a pedestrian bridge connecting it to the Metro train station. (This station didn't open until around 1985, if it had been there at the beginning of the mall's life the mall *might* have had a chance to be successful in some way. Might.)
Once in the late 80's, I went there with my Dad to visit the cable company's office, located in the converted portion of the mall. Everything looked pretty modern and refurbished, with a new escalator and oddly-shaped wide walkways due to the strange conversion. It seemed to have been gutted and rebuilt, not a straight reoccupation of the retail units. There was a set of large metal doors up against one of the huge walls in this hallway, with a chain and padlock around it. I went over to them and peered through the gap between the doors and could see the remains of the old mall. The wall was placed perpendicular to the old hallway, filling the gap all the way to the ceiling. My view was straight down the hall toward what was probably the location of an anchor store. It was pretty well preserved, dark but with some sunlight coming in from above. (strangely contradictory to my earlier memories of there being no skylights, you can see why I seek more detailed info on this mall) It was eerie seeing a dead mall in all it's glory. It would have easily rivaled Dixie Square on a dead-mall geek-o-meter. After about a minute of peeking through there, a guard came over and asked what I was doing. It didn't even occur to me to ask him to open the doors and let me take a better look. Today, armed with a digital camera, I would be ready to bribe him if necessary to get in there. Of course, this portion is long gone, but the fact that an entire mall hallway, complete with old store signs still up, could rot there untouched for the better part of a decade, excited me and made me want to find other such places. It was only upon the discovery of sites like this one that I learned I was not alone in this interest.
Thanks for reading my long-winded recollection. That's all I or anyone else I know seems to know about Rockville Mall. Any additional info would be greatly appreciated, especially opening date and closing dates. (The better to scour the newspaper microfilms with)