The original business was founded by Leonard Joel in 1919.

In the early 1990s, a rudimentary makeover of the building, which was originally a primary school, included a few minor modifications.

However, as part of Leonard Joel's 95th birthday celebrations in 2014, owner John Albrecht decided on a refurbishment.

"Spatially, there were issues, with the queue of people extending outside the front door waiting to pay at the cashier's desk," says interior designer Caecilia Potter, director of Atticus & Milo, which was commissioned to rework the ground floor spaces as stage one of the renovation.

However, rather than simply add a contemporary layer to the heritage-listed building, Potter, along with her team, researched the history of Leonard Joel and pored through the archives.

What was formerly the cashier's station, with small glazed windows, is now a reception area, complete with an impressive glass vase by Kate Rohde​ commissioned for the project.

"Our brief was to tell the history of Leonard Joel through design, as well as creating unimpeded and fluid spaces," Potter says.

The reception area, bordered by vibrantly coloured joinery, including Leonard Joel's mustard corporate tone, provides a welcoming entrance. The new, enlarged window also showcases a series of black and white catalogue covers plastered on the walls. The covers show everything sold in the 1950s to the 1970s, including a striking photograph of fashion in the '70s with models dressed in Mary Quant and chunky white platform shoes (similar to the current look).

Mindful of the building, Atticus & Milo included a series of Victorian-style glass domes supported on pedestals, originally designed as light fittings by Porcelain Bear.

"We wanted to acknowledge the past, but also create a contemporary response," Potter says.

As imaginative in the interior fit-out is the use of moulded timber skirting boards, reworked to form fabric-like walls.

"These mouldings soften the spaces, but also are used to define areas," Potter says.

History is also beautifully expressed in the new cashier's station in an enlarged space that was once was a concealed back office. As well as an image of the Le Corbusier-looking founder Leonard Joel on a wall, there are several key people instrumental in the history of the business, as well as the school. James Goodall Francis, a former premier of Victoria, who initiated the Education Act for free education in 1872, is included in the wall commentary, together with Claire Adams, a movie star who sold her art deco jewellery collection through Leonard Joel.

Sometimes, the devil is in the detail. In this case, not only have the significant contributors to Leonard Joel been expressed in the photo montage, but also captured in profile in the form of the timber mouldings framing the zigzag-style cashier's counter.

"There's the outline of Francis' nose," says Potter, who saw the importance of representing history in an engaging manner.

Other areas in the Atticus & Milo fit-out include the replacement of the balustrade with delicate brass twig-like forms and the refurbishment of the client meeting room adjacent to the entrance. Here, protruding geometric shapes on the wall have been designed to frame artwork and artefacts. And throughout the ground floor is new oak flooring, arranged in a herringbone pattern to evoke the Victorian period.

"We wanted to emphasise the beautiful ceiling heights and the proportions of the rooms without sacrificing the past," says Potter, who was conscious from the outset of preserving the original detailing.

"We laid new timber treads on the stairs. But the original timber is concealed below. It's part of architects Crouch and Wilson's original design."