Layout and Use
The basic design of the Country Club Plaza reflects classic European influences, especially those of Seville, Spain, yet it curiously does not include a traditional open plaza. There are more than thirty statues, murals, and tile mosaics on display in the area, as well as major architectural reproductions, such as a half-sized Giralda Tower of Seville (the tallest building in the Plaza). The Plaza also includes precise light fixture reproductions of San Francisco's Path of Gold streetlights. Other works of art celebrate the classics, nature, and historical American themes such as westward expansion.
Although the Plaza was designed and built to accommodate visitors arriving by automobile, it is unlike modern shopping malls with sprawling parking lots: parking is discreetly concealed in multilevel parking garages beneath and behind the shops, or hidden on the rooftops of buildings. Thus the Plaza does not suffer from the sprawl that afflicts modern shopping centers, and this design makes it friendly to pedestrians.
The Plaza was also the first shopping center to use the percentage lease, where rents are based on a percentage of the gross receipts of tenants. This concept was novel when Nichols invented it, but it is now a standard practice in commercial leases. The fountain with four equestrian statues, designed by Henri-Léon Gréber, was purchased from a Long Island Gold Coast estate, Harbor Hill.
Several companies are based in the Country Club Plaza area, including American Century Investments, Russell Stover Candies, Inergy and Gates Bar-B-Q. The Kansas City Board of Trade is also located in the district.
Read more about this topic: Country Club Plaza