Northgate Mall Mallmanac, ca. 1997. View the full PDF version here.
Northgate Mall is a bit off of the beaten path, but it's definitely worth the drive. It's literally over the river and through the woods from Chattanooga proper in the city's northern suburb of Hixson. When coming in from the south on Highway 319, the first piece that comes into view is the large, rectangular Sears. Its walls are of a basic brick styling painted an off-white hue, but the brutalist entrance treatments are quite a feast for the eyes. The porticoes have the unique faux-effect appearance a widow's-walk off of the second level. On the rear of the building is an even bigger delight- the mocha with a touch of cream shaded, ultra modern JCPenney look of the early seventies. With its curved corners and varying roof heights, it represents the disco era in every way. The shape of the entire structure kind of favors sci-fi space ship designs from movies such as Alien, to the extent that I've dubbed this building the Starship Penney's.
The front side of Northgate Mall including Sears.
I love the curved lines of what I call "Starship Penney's".
On the inside, Northgate Mall followed the exact template of other projects from the same era. The corridors were of an excessive width underneath ceilings of a notable height. The courts at the access points of the two end anchors as well as the main, central court were all of a precise box shape. All interior corners were drawn at strict right angles with little to no deviation. The main corridor was a curve-free, rigid channel with either end anchor having direct line of sight with the other. The floors were of an obligatory murky tile, wood was liberally utilized in the accenting of both the fixtures and the ceilings and the lounging sections were of a basic, hard edged design, not yet replaced with the soft seating areas that became the retail facility standard in the 2000s.
L- Northgate Mall in the nineties. R- Northgate Mall as of this writing.
Northgate Mall opened as Chattanooga's second enclosed shopping center in 1972. Its original anchors were Millers, JCPenney and Sears. The mall was updated in 1991, 1997 and during the mid-2000s. While JCPenney and Sears have remained unchanged, Millers was eventually superseded by Hess's before being converted to Proffitt's. After a few years under that banner, the space became home to Belk, which already had a small presence at Northgate with a modest women's store near JCPenney.
Northgate Mall Mallmanac, ca. 2014. View the full PDF version here.
Northgate Mall is neither a groundbreaker nor historical in any way. There was nothing exceptional about the exterior look or the interior design. But there has always been just something about the old school aura of Chattanooga's secondary enclosed shopping facility that really made it attractive to me. Maybe it was the absence of obnoxious kids dominating the walkways, or the under-abundance of stores like Hollister with their incessant bumping rhythms disturbing the quiet sanctity of the nearby Orange Julius. Whatever it was, when not in downtown Chattanooga, it was definitely my preferred shopping destination over Hamilton Place whenever in the Scenic City.
L- Northgate Mall aerial. (Source)
-UPDATES-
-7 January 2015
-26 December 2021
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