The last mall on our trip was Peterborough Square – yet another red brick fortress. The inside, however, looks like it’s been renovated pretty recently. It has this sort of re-modernist aesthetic, but with warm materials and colours. There’s wood and marble almost everywhere, cut and arranged in beautiful rounded geometric forms. And yet, amongst all this sleek new design, you still see the remnants of past decrepitude. Empty hallways cut short like gangrenous limbs.

One part of the mall has taken over what looks to be an old post office, or similar downtown staple. Its architecture is older and it bears a clocktower that truly does tower over even the four-storey office building attached to the mall.

This mall also has some art in one of its courtyards that carries on the same humanist trend as Hamilton City Centre and Yorkdale. I couldn’t find a title for the work or the name of the artist at the time (a plaque may have been covered by snow), however after a bit of searching, it appears the piece is called Figures Dancing by Don Frost. The sculpture depicts three simplified human figures holding hands and turning in a circle. It’s a familiar image you can find in the logos of many community-oriented organizations as well as other public artworks. Notably, this symbol echoes the “Happy Human,” the logo of the International Humanist and Ethical Union. Malls are strong symbols of a human-centric existence, especially ones like these that have been so invested with the expectation that they will provide a centre for community activities and protect the urban way of life against suburban sprawl, which proponents of malls would argue is unhealthy for human society in the long-run.

Photos below!