Download Welcome to Horton Plaza

Welcome to Westfield Horton Plaza.
We are very happy to have you and to share with you some of the treasures within the
center. We’ll also share some of the best-kept secrets of Westfield Horton Plaza, and
why we are not just a downtown shopping center, but why we are an experience. As we
reveal some of the architecture and inspiration of why the center was built the way it
was, you will realize there was a method to the madness.
Our tour begins near the Center’s main entrance at Broadway Circle where 35% of our
traffic enters the shopping center.
Stand in front of the statue honoring Horton Plaza’s late developer Ernest Hahn, who
worked in partnership with architect Jon Jerde to create the center. This is a great spot
to take in the hustle and bustle of the shopping center and the surrounding city.
Immediately behind the Hahn statue is a 36-foot tiled obelisk, one of several elements
that make up Horton Plaza’s public art program. The obelisk was designed by Joan
Brown. Note the jaguar design – the tail is facing the street and the body is heading into
the center, a hint of the playful spirit to come.
The obelisk is set in a circular opening that descends to the Lyceum Theatre below
street level. The space has two performance areas as well as a public gathering space
and art gallery in the lobby areas.
<BEST-KEPT SECRET> The Horton Plaza Theatre Foundation Board is working with
CCDC to renovate the public gathering spaces which are truly meant to be for the public.
The vision of the Board and CCDC to give the people a community town hall of sorts,
used for public and private meetings, non-theatre events and more. The original
Lyceum Theatre was torn down to build Horton Plaza, which is why another theater by
the same name was incorporated into the center. The Lyceum hosts events for both the
San Diego Repertory Theatre as well as scores of other booked-in events from other
theatre groups. It is one of the only theatre organizations that offers a Performance
Assistance Fund of $70,000 each year to supplement events from smaller theatre
groups who would otherwise not be able to afford to rent the space.
Now back to the tour. Before going inside, let’s observe Westfield Horton Plaza’s outer
buildings. Note how their sidewalk store entrances help connect the city with the
shopping center – this is something we are planning to do with other parts of the center
as we move forward with our redevelopment, open up to the rest of downtown. As you
may know, Horton Plaza was built intentionally inwardly focused in order to serve as a
fortress and make people feel protected from the rest of downtown.
Two of Westfield Horton Plaza’s structures near the Center entrance also help tie the
Center back to San Diego’s past. From the obelisk, look back and to the left at the
ornate gray structure occupied by Citibank. Its façade is a replica of the historic Bradley
building which was demolished to make way for the Center.
On the E Street side of Broadway Circle is another nod to history, a structure that
reproduces the Knights of Pythias building, which also bit the dust on the Horton Plaza
construction site.
Now we are ready to enter the Center. Note above the main entrance runs a terra-cotta
colored arcade structure with two levels of walkways traversing the length of Horton
Plaza. These walkways point southwest directly toward the bay and connect the front
end of Westfield Horton Plaza with the rest of the center.
Let’s climb the grand staircase, which was inspired by the Spanish Steps in Rome. At
the top you will enter the main plaza, lined with vendors and kiosks. The plaza was
inspired by the Piazza Bra in Verona, Italy, and is the heart of Westfield Horton Plaza’s
street life.
As we walk through the irregularly shaped plaza, on the right are the stores along the
arcade building. To the left is another retail complex housing shops, eateries and the
movie theatre. This structure’s three levels extend through the mall and are stepped
back in a style inspired by the pueblo dwellings of New Mexico.
Continue through the plaza under a blue bridge connecting the upper levels on each
side of the plaza. From a distance, it may be hard to recognize it as a bridge since it
was designed to suggest hillside homes in an Italian village, complete with flower boxes
at the windows.
<BEST-KEPT SECRET> We know vertical circulation is a challenge. You want to go up
or down and can’t figure out how to. Head to the blue bridge, which connects the main
drag of Level 1 to the top of the plaza.
Just past the pedestrian bridge, a stunning triangular structure, the palazzo building
soars from the center of the plaza. This is one of the center’s most recognizable
architectural features. Its walls are covered with 1 million 1-inch square mosaic tiles in
black, white and brown. The building was modeled after a similar triangular building
Jerde photographed near the Grand Canal in Venice.
Let’s keep walking in the direction of Nordstrom. Where the plaza narrows, view the
historic Jessop’s clock, a landmark set in the plaza floor. Operating since 1907, the
clock designed by Claude Ledger stands 21 feet high, its pendulum weighs 55 pounds,
and it has 20 dials giving the hour in time zones around the globe.
<BEST-KEPT SECRET> The clock underwent a $30,000 restoration which included
restoring the inner workings, polishing all the exterior bronze, gold-leafing the eagle at
the top, and more. It has had three locations. It first stood outside the Jessop’s store on
Fifth Avenue. In 1927 it was moved a couple blocks north on Fifth Avenue when the
Jessop’s store relocated. It was then moved to Horton Plaza in 1985 when the Jessop’s
store moved into the shopping center (the location currently occupied by Banana
Republic). The clock is still owned and operated by the Jessop’s family and is
designated as historical landmark No. 372.
Now back to the tour. Let’s continue past Jessop’s clock to a wide ceremonial staircase
that leads us down to the Mezzanine Level, and another staircase which brings us to a
small ground-level plaza sandwiched between 24 Hour Fitness and Jimbo’s…Naturally!
It is an inviting space with tables for the lunch crowd and a piece of public art work,
Loren Madsen’s “Magic Boat,” a curved sculpture suspended by wires.
<BEST-KEPT SECRET> Jimbo’s…Naturally! is not only a fabulous organic grocery
store and deli for a quick, fresh lunch, but they also do one of the best catering jobs in
town, from small business luncheons to black-tie events.
Let’s backtrack into the main plaza, ascend a couple sets of escalators and all the way
to the top of the plaza where you take a hard left into the restaurant area. Let’s take a
moment to observe the sweeping panorama of the shopping center’s fanciful
architecture and the downtown high-rises beyond it.
<BEST-KEPT SECRET> Westfield Horton Plaza has 53 paint colors.
From this vantage you can see that the two sides of the mall are not aligned. That’s for
practical reasons as well as design reasons. On the arcade building side of Westfield
Horton Plaza, department stores required 18 feet between floors, while the shops on the
other side needed only 14 feet.
Before proceeding, note the large dome decorated with red and maroon tiles. This
mimics the dome that sits atop the Balboa Theatre and others in Balboa Park. The
dome leads to one of several pedestrian bridges linking the two sides of the mall.
Westfield Horton Plaza is big on connections, although the destinations are not always
obvious.
Walk around the semicircular restaurant plaza where you will pass Panda Inn, a fixture
in Westfield Horton Plaza since it first opened. Let’s look over the railing where the
plaza opens up to the next level, which we call the Sun Deck. There, gas lamps and
hanging flower baskets give mood to the space. Above the semicircle rises an industrial
looking structure, a modern touch in a center embracing the ancient.
We’ll now continue down the arcade back toward the front end of the center, and take
the two-story escalator which brings us down to 4th Avenue. At the ground level is the
beautiful vintage 1924 Balboa Theatre, which underwent a major restoration effort and
reopened in January 2008. While the theatre is not technically within the perimeter of
the Westfield Horton Plaza shopping center, they are our neighbor and we work closely
with them. Horton Plaza was in fact built around the Balboa Theatre.
We head through the passageway past the news stand and back to Broadway Circle,
where we have now come full circle in our tour of Westfield Horton Plaza.