The making of Queen Street

As Auckland emerged as New Zealand’s principal city, Queen Street became its commercial heart. This prominent corner evolved alongside it, occupied by a succession of merchants who helped shape the city’s growing retail culture. By the early twentieth century, it had become one of the most sought-after addresses in the country. A fitting stage for what would come next.

The birth of an icon

In 1908, Milne & Choyce established their flagship department store at 131 Queen Street. Founded by visionary retailers Mary Jane Milne and Henry Choyce, the business quickly became synonymous with quality, fashion and innovation.

As demand grew, an ambitious new home was commissioned. Completed in 1924, the magnificent nine-store building combined elegant Art Deco-inspired architecture with pioneering engineering, immediately establishing itself as one of Auckland’s defining landmarks

A town in itself

For generations of Aucklanders, Milne & Choyce was far more than a department store. It was an institution.

Known affectionately as “a town in itself,” the building housed fashion salons, beauty services, elegant tearooms, rooftop gardens and seasonal displays that transformed shopping into an experience. Families marked milestones here, discovered the latest international fashions and enjoyed a level of service that set the benchmark for New Zealand retail.

For more than half a century, 131 Queen Street represented the very best of New Zealand.

Preserving a landmark

After more than six decades as the home of Milne & Choyce, the department store relocated to Auckland’s then-new Downtown Shopping Centre in 1975. While 131 Queen Street welcomed a succession of retail and commercial occupants in the decades that followed, it remained one of Auckland’s most recognisable landmarks.

Protected for its architectural and cultural significance, the landmark is listed by Heritage New Zealand as a Category 1 Historic Place. A meticulous restoration by Krukziener Properties, completed in 2024, breathed new life into the structure, carefully preserving its historic character while preparing it for another century at the heart of downtown Auckland.

The department store, reimagined

Nearly a century after it first opened as a department store, 131 Queen Street once again welcomes a world of fashion, beauty, design and hospitality.

Over the past decade, lower Queen Street has re-established itself as Auckland’s foremost destination for premium and luxury retail, home to many of the world’s most celebrated maisons. At its upper reaches, 131 Queen Street once again anchors the precinct, linking the city’s rich retail heritage with its future.

Faradays honours the remarkable legacy of this address—not by recreating the past, but by building upon it. Behind its beautifully restored heritage façade lies a contemporary destination where exceptional experiences, craftsmanship and service come together in entirely new ways.

Welcome to Faradays. The department store, reimagined.