Fulton Mall
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."
.
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
Read more here: http://historical.fresnobeehive.com/2009/11/before-fulton-mall/#storylink=cpy
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 |
|
San Francisco in 1878. His daughter, Lady Palmer of London, inherited
the property and built the present building.
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.
