Euclid Square Mall was built in 1977 on land that once housed
Chase Brass & Copper. It was a prefab mall meaning that the walls where shipped in and raised on site. The mall originally housed two anchor department stores and ninety or more stores. The way an indoor mall works is to rent space to stores and maintain and light the interior pedestrian space. The tenants are responsible for heating and cooling their spaces. The stores heat or cool the main common space of the mall because of the bleed out from their large entrances. The Mall flourished throughout the eighties and nineties. At the end of the century the mall lost one of it's anchor stores and changed ownership several times. Some of the small stores began closing as the makeup of the mall and the financial climate altered the way people shop. Large interior space malls could not compete with the coming one stop superstores. The mall management began looking at solutions to keep the mall open. There was Outlets USA, plans to convert it to house all of Euclid City Schools, a resort community, and many more. During this time the mall Manager Rosemary Luksic was contacted by a small church(NAME OF CHURCH?) needing a place of worship. They rented one of the abandoned stores for a short period of time. The changes that were happening in and around the mall caused the original church to move out. After another stretch of inactivity; the management company reached out to the religious community again. The original church had found another space but they suggested The Abundant Life Christian Center lead by
Pastor Larry James II. The general makeup and function of the mall and tenants had to change as the churches moved in. A church is a place of public assembly and alterations have to occur so that the space can safely support it. One of the basic changes is that doors have to be build in the large open entrances to the mall. This is to reduce sound bleed and because of the small number of tenants cannot support the heating and cooling of the interior space. The churches are thriving and several congregations have sprung from the original spaces expanding enough to support a Community Center for larger functions in the mall. (Within the last two years?) 20 churches have rented space in the mall and share their space with several stores that are not directly associated with the churches like Design Inspirations Hair Salon, World of Shirts, MargAndreyah Dress Shop, Public Auctions, and a design firm Eye of Solomon. I hope to document the people, churches, stores who are breathing life back into this amazing landscape space by space and person by person.
