Located at the northeast end of Fortitude Valley, one of Brisbane's busiest shopping centres at the time, it was designed by architect Dr Karl Langer (1903–1969) to attract attention and provide a setting for West's modern furniture.

In 1891 the train line from the city was extended to Fortitude Valley, fuelling the growth of industry in the area, with large factories and warehouses established beyond the retail centre, close to workers' dwellings.

Connection to the city was improved, and electric trams, which passed the busy corner of Brunswick and Wickham Streets, brought thousands of shoppers to the Valley.

[1][5][6] In the early 1950s the Valley underwent a facelift, with investment of more than £1 million in expanding and modernising buildings in order to compete with "uptown" Queen Street, bringing a "modern slickness" to the area.

Old shopfronts were replaced with stainless steel and plate glass, dozens of shops were renovated inside and out, and larger stores were constructed, with new features such as escalators proving very popular with customers.

Unlike Queen Street, the Valley had ample room for expansion and plenty of parking space, making it a desirable location for a "shopping centre of the future".

The 1951–52 Brisbane Metropolitan Trade and Business Directory lists 18 "furnishers and furniture dealers" in the Valley, most concentrated at the southwest end of Wickham Street.

[1][47][48][49][50][51] Langer's design for the new West's showroom comprised a modern display area at the front of the site, with a workshop at the rear housed in the existing residence.

Located in inner city areas on small sites, and built up to the street alignment to match adjacent buildings, these showrooms were usually a single structure of two to three storeys, with large expanses of glazing to the front elevation acting as showcases.

[58][59][60][61] Public access to the showroom was through a single timber door at the northeast end of the Wickham Street shopfront, adjacent to a random rubble stone wall.

[1][62] As the furniture showroom was located on the edge of the Fortitude Valley shopping area, the shopfront was designed to be dramatic and striking, to catch the attention of potential customers.

This arcade, combined with the absence of a building at the front of the adjacent property, meant that West's furniture collection was noticeably visible when approached from the city and the potential customer had a clear view of the showroom.

[1][63][64][65] The interior of the showroom comprised a large open space, with a steep set of concrete stairs in the centre of the rear wall through which furniture was transported from the workshop.

A 1953 article in the publication Architecture Building Engineering explains that there were no fixed partitions or obstructions within the showroom to allow complete flexibility in arranging the displays.

[69] Modernist architecture, which developed in pre-World War I Europe and gained popularity in Australia after WWII, was notable for rationalised planning and simplicity of form and detailing.

[70] Distinguished by their extensive use of steel, reinforced concrete and glass, Australian buildings in the Modern or "International" style were heavily influenced by American and European examples.

[74][75] Mid-century modern furniture turned away from traditional, ornate and "over-stuffed" designs that had previously been fashionable, and instead opted for pieces that were lightweight, practical, comfortable, easily rearranged, and scaled to fit within post-war houses.

Florence Schust (1917– ), a space planner and designer who had befriended and studied under prominent Modernist architects Eliel Saarinen, Charles Eames, Walter Gropius and Marcel Breuer, was employed by Knoll in 1943.

A subsidiary of the company, Knoll International, was established in 1951 and set about opening Modernist showrooms around the globe in places such as Paris, Stuttgart, Stockholm, Madrid, and Milan.

West's remained the only known licensed manufacturer and retailer of Knoll products in Australia until William Latchford and Sons, a Melbourne firm, obtained a licence in 1962.

[112][113][114][61] A few years later, the Queensland Art Gallery showcased furniture from the showroom in their contemporary living room display in the 1958 exhibition, Interiors Past and Present.

Notable clients included: architects Harry Seidler, Robin Gibson, James Birrell (for the Chermside and Annerley Libraries), Karl Langer (Broadbeach Hotel) and David Bell (Chevron Hotel); interior designer Langdon Badger; federal politician Harold Holt; and institutions including the Queensland Government, the Canadian Embassy, and the University of Queensland (Student Union Building).

[117][118][119][120] At the time, licensing restricted imports to a few sample pieces of furniture, so West's organised a large group of skilled sub-contractors to make parts, which were assembled at the showroom workshop.

The former West's showroom remained in the ownership of the Barrs family until the late 1970s, and was at one point leased to Philips Industries Holdings, an electrical products company.

[134][135][136] The Jury Citation for the National Award for Heritage praises the Showroom as "...a rare example of the restoration of a mid-century modernist commercial building", and that the reinterpretation and rebuilding process was:[1][135] ...painstaking but practical and economical.

The spirit is faithfully captured; details restored with rigour, energy, affection and wit; and the building revitalized as viable commercial premises.The project also appeared in publications including IndesignLive (12 August 2009), Brisbane Modern (Issue 3, 2009), Architecture Australia (vol.

[143][1] After a short period of vacancy, in September 2015 the former West's Furniture Showroom was renovated for use as a retail tenancy, with the rear additions converted into living quarters.

An irregular-shaped shallow pond with a raised concrete kerb forms the base of the shopfront, with the bottom edge of the glass panels set just below the water's surface.

In its extensive use of concrete and glass complemented by simple primary colours, stained timber and stone, the showroom illustrates the honest use of materials and minimal aesthetic that characterises the mid-20th century modern movement.

[1] The main shopfront, with its bold composition of slanted display windows, curvilinear concrete pond and large angled awning, makes an important contribution to the streetscape, standing out dramatically from the adjacent commercial buildings.