Muller's Department Store

The three-story brick building at 625 Ryan Street opened in 1913 with 45,000 square feet of floor space and broad display windows. For decades, Muller's was Lake Charles's primary department store. In February 1943, it acquired the Berdon-Campbell Store next door at 619 Ryan Street. Six years later, in 1949, it expanded to the rear, adding about a third to its footprint. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2007. Its boundaries were increased the same year to include the Berdon-Campbell building. At the time of its National Register application, plans were underway to renovate it into apartments, with the developer seeking tax credits tied to the listing. Today it serves as an apartment complex in the heart of downtown Lake Charles, part of the Ryan Street Historic District that marks the city's commercial core. You can stand where a city shopped—three stories of brick that survived a century while the population around it rose, stalled, and kept going.