The Gus Mayer Department Store

The Gus Mayer Department Store
Image ©1955 courtesy of the Charles L. Franck / Franck Bertacci Photographers Collection, The Historic New Orleans Collection. 1979.325.1651

At the top of the building are a series of glazed green terra cotta cloverleafs placed on gold shields. The cloverleaf design had been adopted as the emblem of the store at its founding and was featured on their packaging and stationery, as well as in the chandeliers of the new building. The Gus Mayer Department store chain spread over many states, for many years, eventually reaching over 20 locations. Currently, the only remaining ones are in Birmingham and Nashville.

The Gus Mayer department store opened on Feb. 3, 1900, at 823 Canal St. It quickly become known as a top destination for stylish women’s and children’s clothing and accessories. Almost 50 years later, they were ready for a new home, and they built one across the street at 800 Canal St., on the corner of Carondelet.

800 Canal Street had previously homed two other well established department stores – Feibleman’s and Stein’s – but most recently The Circus, which sold house goods and clothes under a Big Top and clown theme.

Demolition of the old building began in March 1948, and construction on the new building began three months later. It was one of the first buildings in downtown New Orleans to use concrete – rather than wood – piling foundations.

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Gus Mayer opened on September 19, 1949. Designed and built by Favrot and Reed, the new building cost over $1 million and was notable for its modern design and lush materials. The exterior walls were of Indiana limestone, with granite trim from Cold Spring, Minnesota. The Canal Street facing front of the store had a sheer 15-foot-wide, 3-stories-high window above the entrance and was trimmed with a French baroque design in garnet-colored granite. On top of the building on the Carondelet side, the store name was spelled out in stone lettering in a modern font.

With triple the space of their original location, the store was organized in a series of individual salons, each with a different pastel color scheme accented by blond mahogany panels. Each fitting room had a different Audubon bird print hanging in it, which decided that room’s color scheme. The Patio Room centered around a fountain with live goldfish. The hat department contained the pentagon-shaped Crystal Room, where one-of-a-kind hats were displayed among mirrored walls. The Oval Room featured French empire furnishings, while the dress salon carried a Chinese motif.

The Gus Mayer store stayed at the 800 Canal St. location until 1986, citing costs of building upkeep and general expense increases. Other businesses occupied the building for various years, and in 2009 CVS Drug Store moved in. They remain there today.

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