Newspaper House

Newspaper House was constructed on St George’s Terrace for the West Australian newspaper in 1932. The architect, Lt-Gen Sir Talbot Hobbs, visited London and the Eastern States to inspect buildings before commencing the design process. He noted: “In accordance with the desires of the directors, I used, wherever possible, nothing but West Australian materials in the composition of the building.”

Leading up to the Depression of 1929, advertising revenue at the West Australian continued to climb. Between 1926 and 1929 columns of advertising rose from 16,000 to more than 20,000. This increased the size of the newspaper and the number of staff employed, and there was little space left for expansion in their old building. Consequently, architects Hobbs, Smith and Forbes were engaged to design a new building for the company.

The front of Newspaper House was a four-storey building designed on “modern classic lines”. The dominant feature was a main entrance archway, surrounded by Ionic columns rising through the first and second storeys. This led to the newspaper offices located in the rear building, known as Newspaper Hall. The ground floor of Newspaper House consisted of shops and the remaining floors of office, professional and club accommodation. Over the centre of the front parapet was the West Australian’s coat of arms, while the only clock on the Terrace was suspended between the columns of the first floor.

Behind the arch on the ground floor was an arcade of shops, which ran from St George’s Terrace to the offices of the newspaper. The entire first floor was occupied by the Swan Brewery, while the second floor was subdivided into offices and a dental suite. Most of the

top floor was occupied by the Naval and Military Club. At the back of the top floor was a large lecture room and a balcony with views to Applecross.

The new home of the West Australian extended from the rear of Newspaper House to The Esplanade (then known as Bazaar Terrace). The building was designed to meet the requirements of a modern newspaper business, with an emergency power and lighting plant, together with engineers’ and carpenters’ workshops, so machinery breakdowns could be repaired in-house. Since good lighting was essential, Newspaper Hall was constructed as an ‘island’ so natural lighting was available from all sides.

Passing from St George’s Terrace through the arcade, the visitor would have found themselves in the general office, where most of the business with the public was transacted. Eight columns supported a mezzanine gallery around three walls. Prominent on the north wall were two large marble tablets: an honour roll and a brief history of The West Australian.

Various specialist offices came off the general office, including accounts, advertising manager and the advertising sales people. The Machine Room was situated below the composing room at the southern end of the building. Here were the large six-unit high-speed press and folders, with an hourly output of 75,000 copies of the West Australian, and two presses for printing the Western Mail. Surrounding the Machine Room was a mezzanine gallery for visitors to view the presses at work.

During more recent development, the rear third of Newspaper House was demolished, including the covered way between Newspaper House and Newspaper Hall. A new commercial lobby was introduced, and the façade modified for contemporary shopfronts. Machine Hall was renamed Print Hall and is currently an upmarket bar and restaurant.