In 1884, the flamboyant Fulton G. Berry bought the Grand Central Hotel at J Street and Mariposa and it became the social center of Fresno. Mr. & Mrs. Berry reigned as gracious host and hostess at special events at their hotel. Fulton Berry led the town parades seated on his dashing white stallion, dressed in his white Spanish Don's costumes with huge sombrero trimmed in red. After his death in 1910, J Street was renamed Fulton Street in his honor.
By 1936, the Gottschalks store at Fulton and Kern streets was a major attraction for Valley shoppers. Fulton Street was also home to hotels, banks and other businesses, such as J.C. Penney Co., Coffee’s, Berkeley’s, Roos-Atkins and Walter Smith.
A banner that flew above Fulton read, “GIVE TO COMMUNITY CHEST, ” referring to the community’s united approach to funding charitable groups.
Rail tracks and overhead electric lines from electric streetcars ran along the street, transporting shoppers and workers.
The streetcars of the Fresno Traction Co., which operated until 1939, were one of the city’s most common modes of transportation.
In the years after World War II, Fresno faced a challenge as growth spread to the suburbs — particularly to the north — and the central downtown district began to decline.
In March 1964, bulldozers went to work on the centerpiece of an urban renewal plan: a pedestrian shopping mall on a six-block section of Fulton between Tuolumne and Inyo streets.
Completion of the $1.9 million Fulton Mall project that year brought Fresno national recognition.
Thousands of people, including Gov. Edmund G. “Pat” Brown, attended the Sept. 1 opening, culminating a weeklong arts and culture celebration called “Fresno Festival.”
Fulton Mall was one of the nation’s first pedestrian malls and prompted other cities to implement their own pedestrian malls.
Eckbo changed the nature of landscape architecture through his practice and writings. His first publication, in 1950, of "Landscape for Living," artfully blends what Eckbo identified as environmental designs, "five basic types of material: earth, rock, water, vegetation and construction." He called for a new approach to landscape architecture that integrated society, ecology and design. This was a departure from the past patterns. He wanted to create patterns "in which people live and play, not stand and look."
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When Eckbo explained his design for the Fulton Mall, he reflected the importance of agriculture in the San Joaquin Valley; "The plentitude of quiet and moving waters, and of shade and greenery from trees and arbors, symbolizes the bursting vitality of irrigated agriculture in the hot interior valley of the arid west" ("Fresno Mall Revisited," Landscape Architecture.)
Fulton Mall is also an exhibit space for one of the finest public art collection anywhere. In 1964, along with building the Fulton Mall, Fresno leaders felt the project should be completed with some major outdoor artworks that everyone could enjoy. In 1965, donations of $185,000 covered the cost; today it is valued at several million dollars
Text used on this web site was taken from the Fresno Fulton Mall Walking Tour Brochure. Information compiled by Mabelle Selland, Heritage Fresno
19. "Obos" - Bronze fountain by George Tsutakawa (see #4)
18. "Yokuts Native American" - Bronze by Clement Renzi. The Yokuts were masters of the San Joaquin Valley when the first settlers arrived.
17. "Smoldering Fires" - Modern copper and Venetian glass by Claire Falkenstein of Venice, California. Born Coos Bay, Oregon. Chosen Woman of the Year for Art by Los Angeles Times, 1969. She taught at San Francisco Art Institute, Mills College, UCLA and other places and had numerous shows and commissions, one in a French chateau which was exhibited at the Louvre.
15. "Spreading Fires" (see #17)
16. "Leaping Fires" (see #17)
14. "Ellipsoid VI" - Brass Fountain by Charles Owen Perry. Born in Helena, Montana, now lives in Rome, Italy. Degree in architecture from Yale. Awards Italy and England. The word ellipsoid refers to the
shape of the object inside the fountain.
13. "Mother & Child" - Porphyry by Romondo Puccinelli, Florence, Italy. Born in San Francisco taught at UC Berkeley, Mills College and other schools. He has received many awards for architecture and one-man shows in United States, in Italy and the United States.
J. Radin & Kamp / J.C. Penny Company - 1925
959 Fulton Mall, Classical Revival, Felchlin, Shaw, Franklin Architects.
Under several names and at several different locations, Radin & Kamp were pioneer merchants of Fresno from the 1880's to 1941. From 1945 J.C. Penny Company occupied the building until 1986. For many years it was the largest building - in square footage - in Fresno. Notice it has a decorated cornice and pediments between the windows.
G. Mason Building - 1918
1044 Fulton Mall, Classical Revival, E. Mathewson, Architect.
| The property was acquired by E. Mason of |
12. "Orion" - Bronze by Bernard Rosenthal. He lives in New York, taught at UCLA. Awards: San Francisco and Los Angeles Art Museums, American Institute of Art, Penn. Academy of Fine Arts, and many one-man shows and commissions.
The name Orion is from Greek and Roman mythology. A hunter loved by Diana, he was killed by accident and she placed him in the heavens as a constellation named Orion.
11. "Arbre Echelle" - Bronze by Brancois Stahly, born in Germany, now lives in Meudon, France. He exhibited regularly in several salons in Paris and exhibited throughout Europe and in Tokyo. His Commissions include a chapel at the Vatican, Brussels International Exhibition, and others in France.
10. "Big A" - Bronze and Aluminum by Peter Voulkos of Berkeley, California. He taught at many colleges and universities; he also had many one-man shows in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, Montana, Denver, and Baltimore
8. "La Grand Laveuse (Washer Woman)" - Bronze by Pierre Auguste Renoir, 1841-1919, France, a famous Impressionist painter. He attended Ecole de Beaux-Arts. For more information, check the Fresno County Library; there are over 30 books dealing only with Renoir. La Grand Laveuse is the star of the sculptures on the Mall. There were six originals made and Fresno was lucky to get the last one. This is a classic piece of art by one of the most famous artists in the 19th and early 20th centuries art history.
E. Griffith-McKenzie/Helm Building - 1914
1111 Fulton Mall, Classical Revival, W. Kelham, ArchitectIn 1914, Samuel N. Griffith, a realty promoter, and William H. McKenzie's heirs built the ten-story building. Later, it came into the hands of Frank M. Helm and was renamed. With it's ornate, broad cornice and ten-stories, it was the tallest in California and stood out as the major building for eight years.
7. "Valley Landing" - Granite sculpture by Gordon Newell, who lives in Pacific Grove and taught at Occidental and Chouinards School of Arts. His sculptures are on display in permanent collections of both Oakland and San Diego museums of art
6. "Dancing Waters" - Clay by Stan Bitters, Fresno, he has awards from Otis Art Institute, Chicago and commissions from Maui hotels. This is a lovely fountain which at its inception spouted water pulsating as high as fourteen feet into the air.
D. Mattei/Guarantee Savings Building - 1921
1171 Fulton Mall, Classical Revival, Eugene Mathewson, Architect, Robert Von Ezdordf, Designer, Remodel by Robert Stevens Associates.
The first building on the property was the Fresno Water System in 1876, and there have been important buildings ever since that time. In 1916, Andrew Mattie, Italian-Swiss winemaker, bought the property for $55,000 and spent $1,200,000 on the building which included a well, direct-current steam generators with tunnels to the Andella (Crest theatre site), Kinema Theatre, Brix Building and Fresno Hotel. Mattie died in 1933. The bank foreclosed and it had many owners until Guarantee Savings bought it in 1961. They remodeled it and unfortunately destroyed some of the classical details. If you look at it from the alley, you will see the original classical columns and capitals.
5. "Trisem" - Granite boulders by T. Newton Russell, Fresno artist, essentially self taught. He had several shows at the Fresno Art Museum and received various awards and commissions. His Mall sculpture is his most important.
C. Brix Building - 1922, rehabilitated 1979
1221 Fulton Mall, Classic Revival, Eugene Mathewson, Architect, Robert Von Ezdorf, Designer. Rehab Edwin S. Darden & Associates.
H.H. Brix, a German immigrant, came to homestead in the Coalinga area. The Coalinga oil boom was on, and the black gold proved more profitable than homesteading. He built several buildings and a beautiful home in Fresno. This Brix Building was built by his heirs after death.
4. "Aquarius Ovoid" - Brass water fountain by George Tsutakawa, Seattle. He was on the University of Washington art faculty since 1946, had over 50 major exhibits: international exhibits in Berlin;
Sao Paulo, Brazil; Portland; Denver; Oakland; San Francisco and San Diego. Aquarius means water carrier and Ovoid, oval shape. Thus. a fountain carrying water through an oval.
3. "Talos" - Bronze by James Lee Hansen, Vancouver, Washington. He taught at Oregon State, UC Berkeley, Portland and has had numerous shows and awards. Talos comes from Greek mythology. He was a man of brass given by Zeus to King Minos of Crete as a watchman. Thus, the watchman of the Mall.
| 2. "Rite of the Crane" - Bronze by Bruno Groth. German born, he now lives in Trinidad, |
| California. He has had many one man shows: New |
| York, Chicago, San Francisco (de Young), Los Angeles. There are many commissions of his throughout California as well as New York and Portland, Oregon. The stately cranes are tastefully displayed among reeds and grasses, which is appropriate for the valley where the marshlands still protect them today. |
1. "The Visit" - Bronze by Clement Renzi, a former sculptor with extensive credentials. He has studied at UC Berkley, New York, and Vienna. His works are owned by the University of Virginia, Notre Dame, Penn Academy of Arts, as well as elsewhere in Fresno and surrounding valley towns. This one is visitor-friendly; children like to climb up and sit in the ladies' lap.
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