Jackson Square / Hamilton City Centre

Hamilton City Centre

The same day we visited Brantford Market Square we also visited Hamilton. There are two malls in downtown Hamilton on the same block, Jackson Square and Hamilton City Centre (formerly Hamilton Eaton Centre). I have yet to find out why they were built in the same block nearly 20 years apart, but presumably the Hamilton Eaton Centre (built in 1990) was part of a renewal effort to combat dwindling interest in Jackson Square (built in 1974).

The difference in architecture between Jackson Square and Hamilton City Centre is striking, despite their physical connection. The City Centre has a soaring glass roof and multiple levels like the Eaton Centre in Toronto (itself derived from Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II). Jackson Square on the other hand, is a squat red brick building, more comparable to Downtown Chatham Centre or the original Market Square building in Kitchener.

Another notable feature found in the central atrium of this mall is a collaborative, site-specific installation by Susan Schelle and Mark Gomes called Lineage. It depicts dozens of human figures in action poses, running beneath the windows of the atrium. Some of them carry letters that spell “Culture,” “Nature,” “Humour” and “Beauty.” This piece brought to mind the Universal Man that now stands outside Yorkdale mall in Toronto. Both these pieces seem to follow a strand of Humanism, an interest in the betterment of humanity represented in both cases through the perfection of the human form. This type of art seems appropriate for these churches of self-fashioning.

Anyways, before I get lost in big thoughts, here are the photos:

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  1. Pingback: Peterborough Square « Nathan Storring's Magic Bag of Tricks

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