Interior view of Parsons Books and Coffee Gallery

Interior view of Parsons Books and Harry Seresin's Coffee Gallery, photo taken by George Kohlap, 1958.

The main door opened through massive panes of glass which reached the full height of the ground floor level in single sheets. The café was on a mezzanine level, reached by a 'floating' stairway. Patrons sat surrounded by panels of rimu and sycamore veneer, and at the northern end of the café could look out over the bookshop and into Lambton Quay. The café is now about half its original size and the view to the Quay is now obscured by additional book shelving, but its interior remains essentially original, testimony to the quality of its classic 'early-modern' design.