Wickham Street Entrance |
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| Location | Fortitude Valley, Brisbane Australia |
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| Opening date | 1898 |
| No. of floors | 3 - 5 |
McWhirters is a shopping centre and apartment building in Fortitude Valley an inner city suburb of Brisbane, Australia. The buildings occupy over an acre of land bound by Brunswick, Wickham, and Warner Streets.
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At the corner of Brunswick and Wickham Streets is the most iconic building of the McWhirters complex. Built 1930-31 it is art deco in style features a commanding facade that was designed by the Brisbane architectural firm of T.R. Hall and L.B. Phillips, who also designed the Brisbane City Hall.[1]
In 1898, Scotsman James McWhirter started a business called McWhirter and Son, Drapers that soon expanded into a sophisticated department store.[1] At the time a total of 30 staff were employed in the store.[2] By 1909 this figure had risen to 270 and the owners had made a number of purchases of adjoining buildings.. The store was one of the largest in Brisbane's most important shopping districts of the time.[2]
In 1955 the Myer chain of department stores purchased and moved into the building. The Myer department store operated until 1988. The area had become much less desirable as a shopping district [2] mostly due to the rise of outer suburban shopping complexes such as Westfield Chermside and due to the declining reputation and quality of the suburb that had begun as far back as the 1970s. The main inner city shopping precinct subsequently moved to Queen Street in the CBD and Myer went with it. After some renovations, the complex reopened in 1989 as McWhirters Marketplace.[2] In 1997 it was altered to include apartments on the upper levels, which did not prosper as shops.