18 & 20 Howard Street
Around the turn of the 20th century, the prosperity associated with the gold rush led to a significant expansion of the commercial centre of Perth, and Howard Street, with its proximity to the Supreme Court, the Government Offices, the Weld Club and Government House, soon became the heart of the financial and legal district of Perth.
In January 1905, tenders were called for the construction of ‘a large block of offices’ in Howard Street, for Haynes, Robinson & Cox, solicitors, by architects Oldham and Cox. Construction of the three-storey building with basement began shortly afterwards.
The firm of Haynes, Robinson & Cox, Solicitors, for whom 18 & 20 Howard Street was constructed, originated in a legal partnership established at Albany by Samuel Johnson Haynes and Robert Thomson Robinson in 1889. The firm later became Robinson, Cox & Wheatley, which continued to retain offices in Howard Street until the early 1980s.
Throughout its life, the place was also occupied by various tenants, as diverse as a gold exchange in the 1930s, and a private art gallery in the 1980s.
Howard Street was not included in the earlier streets laid out in Perth. Initially used for a tramway down to the riverside during the levelling of the streets of Perth in the late 1850s, it was created as a private road through from St. Georges Terrace to the Esplanade in 1897, and taken over by the Perth City Council along with several other private roads in the late 1890s and early 1900s.
Around the turn of the 20th century, the prosperity associated with the gold rush led to a significant expansion of the commercial centre of Perth, and Howard Street, with its proximity to the Supreme Court, the Government Offices, the Weld Club and Government House, soon became the heart of the financial and legal district of Perth.
In January 1905, tenders were called for the construction of ‘a large block of offices’ in Howard Street, for Haynes, Robinson & Cox, solicitors, by architects Oldham and Cox. Construction of the three-storey building with basement began shortly afterwards. At the time the architecture was described as ‘pure Gothic’.
The architect of the places, Charles Oldham, had arrived in Western Australia in the mid-1890s, during the gold boom. Born and educated in Victoria, he practised in Perth with Herbert Eales from 1896, and then in an individual practice until he formed a partnership with A. E. Cox in 1905. Oldham designed many notable buildings in the state, including Fremantle Markets, Perpetual Trustees Building in St. Georges Terrace, and the Geraldton Town Hall.
The firm of Haynes, Robinson & Cox, Solicitors, for whom 18 & 20 Howard Street was constructed, originated in a legal partnership established at Albany by Samuel Johnson Haynes and Robert Thomson Robinson in 1889. The firm later became Robinson, Cox & Wheatley, which continued to retain offices in Howard Street until the early 1980s.
Throughout its life, the place was also occupied by various tenants, as diverse as a gold exchange in the 1930s, and a private art gallery in the 1980s.
West Australian 16 January 1906