Jordan Marsh Department Store

Framingham, MA, 1951 by George L. Ely

No modern building looms larger in the memories of Metro West than the original Shoppers’ World. The shadow it casts over not just Massachusetts but the national development scene is too large to be contained in only one building. So we wanted to take a deep dive into some of its key buildings individually – separate from the complex itself – starting with the largest unsupported dome in the country.

The dome at Shoppers’ World housed the complex’s flagship department store Jordan Marsh. Since it’s opening, the department store had resisted expansion outside of its flagship Downtown Crossing location but the experimental shopping mall had given the company outsized freedom to design a landmark destination. Architect George Ely described the massive flat dome as a ‘flying saucer’ upon its opening. It had a 685 ft circumference and spanned 220 ft. At the time, it was a feat of engineering, representing the largest unsupported dome structure in the United States and the largest of steel construction on earth. Sited on the south end of the complex facing route 9, the dome became an icon of Shoppers World.

It’s unique shape allowed for a completely open store, with no columns or obstructions. A ring of display windows around half the the first floor made the space feel not only completely open under the dome but like the store extended into the outdoors. It retained much of its futuristic charm for the almost half decade Shoppers’ World stood, though it did add a Basement in 1964. Even still, the dome was torn down with most of the surrounding complex in 1994.

Sources:

“Jordan’s Opens New Huge ‘Dome’ Store”, Daily Boston Globe, 30 September 1951.

“Shoppers’ World Opens Today” Daily Boston Globe, 4 October 1951.

Broomer, Kathleen Kelly “Shoppers World and the Regional Shopping Center in Greater Boston”, Society for Commercial Archeology, 1994-1995.

“Shoppers World” Framingham History Center.

“‘Shoppers World’ at Framingham Applies New Ideas” Architectural Record, November 1951.