Photos

Mc Whirter’s Department store is an historic landmark in the city of Brisbane. It is a fine example of the Art Deco style and shows the confidence and the lavishness of that period. James Mc Whirter immigrated to Brisbane from Scotland in 1898. He developed his outfitter’s business into Queensland’s most fashionable and modern store. It was one of the first businesses to have electric lifts. From 1924,he also pioneered the mail order business. This proved to be a great success in a state, so vast that, many shoppers lived too far away to travel to a big store.

This facade, which is a perfect example of the style, was built in 1931 and was designed by local architects T.R Hall and L.B Phillips. The Art Deco style was seen as ultra-modern in its day and reflected the decorative arts movement in France and the Cubist movement in painting, at that time, with painters such as Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque. Art Deco began about the year 1900 and reached its peak in the 1930’s up until the Second World War. Whilst being modern,just like the other arts, it drew decorative motifs, that were coming to light, at that time, from Egypt, Africa and from the Maya temples of South America. The Art Deco Style was largely influenced by its greatest exponent, the Glasgow architect Charles Renee Macintosh.

Today the store has become a market and is preserved by the city, as an historic building.