Galeries Lafayette, department store on Boulevard Haussmann since 1893

Galeries Lafayette, the department store on the Boulevard Haussmann, began in 1893, when Théophile Bader and Alphonse Kahn went into partnership. In 1894 they opened a shop on the corner of the Rue La Fayette and the Rue de la Chaussée-d’Antin.

The store grew by buying up its neighbours: in 1905, numbers 38, 40 and 42 Boulevard Haussmann and 15 Rue de la Chaussée-d’Antin. Georges Chedanne, then his pupil Ferdinand Chanut, designed the new store, whose glass and steel dome opened on 8 October 1912, with stained glass by Jacques Grüber and ironwork by Louis Majorelle. In 1919 the aviator Jules Védrines landed his plane on the roof.

Under the Occupation, Jewish owners and staff were forced out; Raoul Meyer regained control at the Liberation. The company is still run by the founder’s descendants, and the dome regained its brilliance after more than two years of restoration, carried out at night.

Near Chaussée-d’Antin-La Fayette station, the store, the largest in Europe, gathers beneath its dome brands chosen by its own buyers and shown on individual stands.