Once the hub of Melbourne’s retail scene, Georges Department Store on Collins Street had suffered many years of decline before its acquisition by Steven Bennett, founder of the Australia’s Country Road retail group. Working closely with Melbourne-base architect Daryl Jackson, Conran&Partners were asked to carry out a complete re-invention of the store, including four floors of retail, three restaurants and a health spa.
The design incorporated the best features of the nineteenth-century building: original plaster ceilings and cast-iron columns were exposed and renovated, and new limestone floors were laid throughout. The character of the perfume, haberdashery and fashion departments were inspired by fixtures and fittings surviving from a 1950s refurbishment. The top floor featured a fully glazed roof-light running the entire length of the building over a newly formed atrium, whose glass floor allowed light into a lower ground floor restaurant.
Martin Webb, returning to Australia from a position as the first Head Chef of Quaglinos restaurant in London, was employed to oversee the running of a catering operation comprising a fine-dining restaurant and a food store on the lower ground floor, a café in the ground floor entrance area and a canteen/ brassiere on the top floor.
The design incorporated the best features of the nineteenth-century building: original plaster ceilings and cast-iron columns were exposed and renovated, and new limestone floors were laid throughout. The character of the perfume, haberdashery and fashion departments were inspired by fixtures and fittings surviving from a 1950s refurbishment. The top floor featured a fully glazed roof-light running the entire length of the building over a newly formed atrium, whose glass floor allowed light into a lower ground floor restaurant.
Martin Webb, returning to Australia from a position as the first Head Chef of Quaglinos restaurant in London, was employed to oversee the running of a catering operation comprising a fine-dining restaurant and a food store on the lower ground floor, a café in the ground floor entrance area and a canteen/ brassiere on the top floor.
