The idea of an indoor shopping center with a hotel was envisioned in the 1940s by oilman
Glenn H. McCarthy, where a second phase was to include the
Shamrock Hotel; this concept was scrapped right after the Hilton Hotel franchise took over the Shamrock in 1955. Glenn H. McCarthy's abandoned concept would influence Gerald Hines in the late 1960s. The new shopping center was modeled after the
Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II in
Milan, borrowing, as its most distinctive architectural feature, a glazed
barrel vault spanning the central axis of the mall. The mall opened with 600,000 ft² (56,000 m²) of retail space. The original skylights, which graced a large, floor-level, ice rink open year-round, had three hanging chandeliers. A connected 400-room hotel was opened in September 1971, the Houston Oaks Hotel (now The Westin Oaks Houston). The first expansion, Galleria II, began in 1975 and opened on June 17, 1977. It added 360,000 ft² (33,000 m²) of retail space on two levels,
Lord & Taylor and
Frost Bros. anchor stores, office space (known as the Galleria Financial Center since the early 1990s). A second hotel also opened as part of Galleria II on November 18, 1977, the 500-room Galleria Plaza Hotel (now The Westin Galleria Houston).
Marshall Field's joined the mall in 1979, in a store designed by noted architect
Philip Johnson. In 1986, a second major expansion, Galleria III, opened with a new wing to the west of Marshall Field's, anchored by
Macy's. Access to Galleria III from the main mall was through the Marshall Field's store limiting the success of the new expansion. Subsequent solutions to the problem with signage and a bypass through the parking garage did not succeed in changing this issue. This brought the mall to almost 1.6 million ft². In February 1989, the Galleria was 93% occupied, making it the mall with the fifth highest percentage of occupied space in Houston. In 1996, Dayton-Hudson Corporation (now
Target Corporation), parent company of
Marshall Field's, exited the Texas market and sold its
Marshall Field's Texas stores. The San Antonio location was sold to Macy's, and three Houston and Dallas stores were sold to
Saks Fifth Avenue. Saks Fifth Avenue would relocate its Post Oak Boulevard location to the Galleria as a flagship location after extensive renovations. The new Saks Fifth Avenue opened in 1997. The Song “Dilbar” by
Alka Yagnik from the movie
Sirf Tum (1999) was recorded here in the rotating waterfall, tower, and fountain. Hines Interests sold the mall in 1999 to a partnership of
Urban Shopping Centers, Inc. and institutional funds advised by Walton Street Capital, LLC. The Walton Street affiliated funds separately purchased the office and hotel buildings at this time. Urban, in turn, was purchased by Netherlands-headquartered real estate investment group Rodamco North America, N.V. in 2000. Rodamco sold part of its stake in 2001 to the real estate investment arm of
CalPERS as it tried to thwart a hostile takeover by a consortium including
Westfield Group and
Simon Property Group. Ultimately unsuccessful in preventing the buyout, Rodamco's ownership interest and management operation of the mall was acquired by
Simon Property Group in early 2002. During these rapid ownership changes, development continued on a third expansion of the shopping center, known as Galleria IV. Completed in March 2003, it added to the south, anchored by
Nordstrom and
Foley's, as well as an additional 70 stores. Upon completing Galleria IV, the shopping mall totaled 2.4 million ft² (220,000 m²) of retail space. An additional 100,000 ft² (9,300 m²) of retail space opened in August 2006. This redevelopment included a Kona Grill, Oceanaire Seafood Room,
Del Frisco's Steakhouse, Gigi's Asian Bistro, and nine other retail stores. During the reconstruction, some of the former Lord & Taylor infrastructure was recycled, although a section of catwalks dating back to the Galleria II's 1976 expansion was demolished; this trend was similar to the Galleria IV's expansion in 2002. In 2005, after the merger of Macy's and Foley's parent companies, it was announced that the Macy's store at Sage would remain operational as a full line store and that the existing Foley's would be renamed Macy's in September 2006. The original Macy's continued to operate until 2014, when it was razed to accommodate the relocation of Saks Fifth Avenue into a new state of the art flagship store on the Macy's at Sage site. After the Saks relocation, the Marshall Field's building was reconstructed into smaller shops. These provided direct access to Galleria III and the new Saks Fifth Avenue store. In 2008,
Forbes ranked the Galleria as one of the world's best shopping malls. Since the end of the
government lockdown during the
COVID-19 pandemic, the Galleria has announced several new additions, including
Rag & Bone,
Bally,
Savage X Fenty,
Tous,
Wilson,
NBA Store,
Moncler,
Psycho Bunny,
Blue Nile,
Marc Jacobs,
Offline by Aerie, and
John Varvatos. During 2025, a series of shootings and crimes, including a fatal shooting in a parking garage on Alabama street, had led to concerns over the mall's security. Houston Police Department provided data that showed that overall crime had been down within the time period between January 1st and June 25th in 2024 and 2025. The Yellow parking lot experiences the most crime out of any parking zones at the Galleria, with over 200 incidents annually. A representative from the Galleria released a statement saying: "The Galleria is among the most protected properties in Houston, with dozens of active police and security professionals patrolling the property 24/7, thousands of CCTV cameras monitoring the property, license plate readers that are connected to the Houston Police Department at all vehicular entrances, two K9s and armed handlers, among many other measures. We spend millions of dollars every year to fortify the property, and our program is Safety Act Certified by the Department of Homeland Security, recognizing our significant and continuous efforts to safeguard our retailers and the public. Our advice to those who want to commit a crime is don't bother coming here, as they will be found. On-site police responded to this isolated incident within moments, leading to the quick detention of the suspects. We continue to cooperate with the Houston Police Department in their investigation." == Anchors and stores ==