BAFS Building

The BAFS Building at 331 George Street is a three-story structure combining Classical and Art Deco design elements, with cream-colored walls and ornate window details featuring pharmacy-related motifs. The ground floor houses a pharmacy while offices and meeting rooms occupy the upper levels, demonstrating how the building integrated multiple uses within its walls.

Built in 1916, this structure became the fourth location of the Brisbane Associated Friendly Societies, an organization providing healthcare services to working-class members since 1885. The building emerged during an era when such mutual aid societies filled a vital gap in medical access for ordinary people.

The building served as a social hub where community members gathered for healthcare and lodge meetings, reflecting how structures in the city once blended practical services with meeting spaces for working people.

The building sits on George Street in central Brisbane and is easy to reach on foot, with the pharmacy visible from street level on the ground floor. Access to the upper office and meeting spaces may be restricted, so it is worth checking in advance whether these areas are open to visitors.

The building was designed by architect Lange Leopold Powell, whose work established new design standards for commercial structures across Queensland. His sculptured facades display unusual attention to craft and ornamentation that set it apart from other buildings of its time.