Information
McDonnell & East Ltd was built in 1912-28, Architects: Hall & Prentice. This was McDonnell & East’s first and main department store. It was sited to collect custom from intrastate visitors accessing Roma Street Station, the buyers and sellers of the Roma Street Markets. The company became the major Brisbane-based department store chain. The rise of suburban shopping centres affected business and this, the last McDonnell & Easts closed in the late 1990s. The building has ben demolished for a highrise apartment. The retention of only its facade is a return to the ‘facadism’ approach to heritage of the Bjelke-Petersen era.
Citations
Department of Enviroment & Heritage Protection, Qld Heritage Register citation No.600120 ; Kowald, Margaret. with Val Donovan, Ruth Kerr, Kay Cohen, Lyndsay Smith, and Jean Stewart. Lost Brisbane and Surrounding Areas: The Later Years. Volume 2. RHSQ. 2016 page 62
Image Citations
Map References
MLMS. 8 chain series 1904–1917—Brisbane. 8 chains to the inch. Cadastral map of Brisbane and Suburbs sheet 8. MLMS 8 Chain