Aberdeen Street Precinct

Aberdeen Street was named after the Earl of Aberdeen, who was Foreign Secretary in the Duke of Wellington’s Cabinet when Western Australia was founded and later Secretary for the Colonies when John Septimus Roe was laying out the streets of Perth. On a street map issued in 1938, Aberdeen Road was a small thoroughfare in East Perth, but in a later survey by Roe, he transferred the name to the present Aberdeen Street running off Beaufort Street.

In the early 1890s, the land bounded by Fitzgerald, Newcastle and Aberdeen Streets was undeveloped, with only a few dwellings recorded. The 1890s gold boom resulted in a substantial increase in the city’s population and various cottages and commercial premises, began to appear along the streets from the late 1890s.The location was suitable for its convenience to the city centre, while offering a pleasant life away from its noise and bustle. While most dwellings were modest, a few substantial houses were constructed in Aberdeen Street, where several eminent people lived, or at least acquired property for investment purposes.

In his ‘Memories of Perth (1886-1893)’, F. W. Bateson wrote:
Newcastle Street, Palmerston and Aberdeen Streets had some very nice homes, and well-known citizens lived there at that time; to mention but a few, Mr. J. S. Brooking, Surveyor-General, in Palmerston Street, Mr. R. A. Sholl, first Postmaster-General of Western Australia as a sovereign State, and Mr. Robt. Sholl, solicitor, the former in Aberdeen Street, and the latter in Newcastle Street.

A pre-1900 map of Perth indicates many lots had been occupied by 1897. Along the Aberdeen Street frontage an early cottage and workshop owned by William Lawrence’s was on the corner of Fitzgerald Street, followed by a small cottage or shed on what was later No. 186 Aberdeen Street, then a vacant lot, then a row of houses along the length of the street from No.178 to Robert Sholl’s residence at No.156.

Two distinct groups of houses began to appear. Numbers 156 to 166 were substantial places with ample grounds, and Nos. 168 to 178 were more modest with most of the houses duplexes, or separated by narrow passageways. Sholl and his immediate neighbours had the advantage of looking over Russell Square, an open parkland which had been established on the other side of the street with an ornamental fountain at its centre. Russell Square and Weld Square had been laid out in 1899 under the direction of the Parks and Reserves Committee.

Over the next couple of years, the remaining vacant lots along Aberdeen Street, towards the Fitzgerald Street end, were developed. Some of these places appear to have operated as residential and commercial premises. Number 182, ‘Braddock’s Dispensary’, was a chemist shop run by Charles Braddock. The place later became a perfumery, then a mixed-business. Numbers 186 to 188 appear to have had varied existence from a laundry, a shop selling small-goods, then refreshment rooms.

Several commercial premises were eventually established on the Aberdeen and Fitzgerald Street corner, replacing William Lawrence’s cottage and workshop, and possibly within the areas off Aberdeen Street. A diverse range of trades and practices operated from these places over the decades: confectioners, butchers, bootmaker, fruiterer, tin maker, fish shop, furniture store, hairdressers and a wine depot. These have since been demolished with the redevelopment of Northbridge.

A survey of the Post Office directories and rate books up to the late 1940s indicate the changing nature of Aberdeen Street during the decades following two World Wars. Post-war immigration resulted in many families of Greek and Italian origin moving into Northbridge, which by now had developed into an inner-city working-class area. A number of these migrants became land owners, such as Enrica Bordoni Betti who bought No. 156 in 1940, and Mr Francesco Torre, a Master Tailor who lived in nearby Lake Street, who acquired No. 162 in 1948. In the early 1950s, Torre converted the house to accommodate several Italian migrant families.

In 1955, the Stephenson and Hepburn Plan for the Metropolitan region was published. This plan was to have a significant impact on the future development of Northbridge. During the 1960s and 1970s, land was resumed by the Metropolitan Region Planning Authority between Newcastle and Aberdeen Streets for the planned northern city by-pass. Successive governments remained committed to the concept of a major bypass route north of the CBD and the acquisition of properties in the Northbridge area created a ‘planning blight’ significantly slowing development of the area but, at the same time, inadvertently preserving heritage properties.

During the 1990s, the Graham Farmer Freeway and Northbridge Tunnel was constructed and officially opened on 22 April 2000 by Premier Richard Court. At the same time, plans for a $35 million Northbridge redevelopment project were announced for the 27 hectares of land affected by the tunnel’s construction.

Today, Aberdeen Street hosts a variety of private residences, bars and several places for backpackers to stay. It also remains one of the best-preserved streets in Perth, reflecting its gold boom heritage and the various people who have lived there.

West Australian 17 December 1938