McWhirters

McWhirters is a heritage-listed former department store at Wickham Street, Fortitude Valley, City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It is also known as McWhirters Marketplace, McWhirters & Son Ltd, and Myer (Fortitude Valley). It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 October 1992.It has been redeveloped as a shopping centre and apartment building. The buildings occupy over an acre of land bound by Brunswick, Wickham, and Warner Streets.HistoryThe McWhirters department store, comprising 4 adjoining brick buildings of from three to five storeys in height, was erected in four stages on land acquired between 1899 and 1929, by Brisbane draper James McWhirter and the firm of McWhirter & Son Ltd (later McWhirters Ltd).On arrival in Australia in 1878 from Ayrshire, Scotland, James McWhirter worked for merchants DL Brown & Co. before entering into partnership with Mr Duncan Sinclair in a South Brisbane drapery business,. After a few years the partnership was dissolved, and McWhirter returned to Brown & Co. before joining Thomas Charles Beirne in his Fortitude Valley drapery business, firstly as manager, then in partnership for about 3 years. McWhirter sold out to Beirne in 1898, and in the same year purchased Michael David Pigott's drapery business, located in leased premises across the road at 292 Brunswick Street. Piggott had been TC Beirne's employer in Ireland, and his former partner in South Brisbane, but moved from Fortitude Valley in 1898 to concentrate on his Toowoomba business established in 1896 (which later relocated into his new purpose-built Pigott's Building). When McWhirter took over Piggott's Brunswick Street business, the new firm of McWhirter and Son, drapers, was established, opening in September 1898 with a staff of 30.