David Jones Stores
Bourke Street, Melbourne
As reported in our Summer issue, the David Jones (DJs) organisation has provided a lead to other owners of historic city buildings by nominating their three Bourke Street buildings to te Victorian Heritage Register (H2153 and H2154). The buildings are currently undergoing a major revamp to improve the retailing experience, but within the provisions of permits issued by Heritage Victoria. DJs is to be congratulated for their commitment to the heritage of Victoria.
Summer 2008 - Preservation News
The David Jones (DJs) organisation owns three buildings that front onto Bourke Street Mall. Two are Art Deco treasurers - the former Buckley's Menswear Store at 310 Bourke (north side) and the former Coles Store at 299 Bourke (south side).
DJs is under taking a re-development of the stores, but is aware of the heritage of their buildings and the need to preserve as much of the fabric whilst still meeting their commercial needs.
They have demonstrated their committment to the heritage of the buildings by nominating them to the Victorian Heritage Register (a welcome change), and have been consulting relevant preservation groups about their plans. In a recent meeting with the project team, we inspected the plans and were impressed by their commitment to preservation. One major change will be to the bank of lifts in the north side building. In order to install a central set of escalators, the lifts will be dismantled, re-located to the eastern wall and re-constructed.
