George’s Store interiors

25 April 2025

For about 25 years George’s Store in Collins Street had this amazing atrium ! Quite a wild display of the Edwardian approach to merchandising, that is, load it up ! Except the ladies lounge. The store was built 1884, became George’s in 1889, and in 1908 was fully refurbished, with this atrium, and new ground floor front walk-through display windows – all the old images are from about then (the era of huge hats), from @library_vic.

The atrium was covered over in 1933, the interior went all sleek Moderne in 1939, then it went pink marble in the 80s, and the place closed in 1995. Then in 1998 when it was refurbished as a short lived new store, the show windows were replaced by a version of the 1884 ones, and the atrium was sort of recreated, but with a glass floor above the first floor. Through all these changes the original 1884 cast iron columns have remained, though a bit hard to see now.