Prahran's iconic antique dealer to sell its shop of 93 years

One of Melbourne’s leading antique dealers, McPhees, has decided to put its Chapel Street, Prahran shop under the hammer after 116 years of trading.

The auction will be on September 28.

The business, which will continue trading in another location, was established by George McPhee who moved the business to the present location in 1924. The business started just on High Street in 1901. 

The 200-202 Chapel Street property comprises a two level, 497 square metre, building in near original condition.

According to listing agents, Teska Carson’s Matthew Feld and Tom Maule, the property will attract strong interest at time when Prahran is undergoing a development phase that has seen the local population rise in line with Melbourne’s growth.  

According to great grandson Duncan McPhee, who now runs the business with his brother Sean, the fourth generation of McPhees to be involved in one of Australia’s oldest family businesses is looking forward to a new era for the business. 

“Much has changed in Chapel Street over the last 100 years. It has become a destination for cafes, restaurants, bars, and other entertainment venues, and now the family is seeking a more appropriate address, an address which we hope will be home to the business for many more years to come.”

“We have customers that have been with us for 30 or 40 years or more and we would like to continue our service to them and at the same time nourish the business in a new location,’’ McPhee said.

McPhees has a reputation for supplying high quality early furniture especially in the English taste of the Eighteenth century, into the Regency period and continuing through the reign of George IV. 

“This part of Chapel Street has an enviable aura and reputation driven by its eclectic mix of tenancies from cafes to restaurants to bars and entertainment venues, boutique fashion houses to the Chapel Street Bazaar, The Jam Factory and Prahran Market,” Feld said.

“The list goes on. If you get an opportunity to buy in this part of Chapel Street you take it.’’

Current improvements allow for a conversation into two separate tenancies by re-instating the central wall, added Maule. 

He said the Commercial 1 zoning allows for mixed use commercial centres for retail, office, business, entertainment and community uses, as well as residential uses.