Perth Technical College

Before 1900, apprentices received only on-the-job instruction, and although the Swan River Mechanics Institute had offered courses of lectures from time to time, no regular courses were available. The supply of skilled tradesmen became critical during the gold boom years of the 1890s.

In 1899, Old Perth Boys School was renovated as a technical college and temporary corrugated iron buildings were erected on the St George’s Terrace frontage on the east side of the school. Classes opened at Perth Technical School on 16 May 1900 with only a small number of students. Within a few years that number had increased to around 300, and branches of the school were extended to other parts of Western Australia. Perth Technical School also created the Western Australian Institute of Technology, which eventually became Curtin University of Technology.

In 1909, work began on improving the accommodation at Perth Technical College. The timber and iron buildings fronting the Terrace were moved to another part of the site and a new building was designed by the government architect, Hillson Beasley. Construction began in July 1909, and took only nine months for the first phase to be finished.

When first designed, the concept had a central tower with two symmetrical towers. The tower and one wing were erected by 1910, and the building was expected to be completed after the proposed demolition of the Old Perth Boys School building. As can be seen, this never happened. The Technical College was designed in the Domestic Gothic style (domestic here meaning not religious), and the model was colleges in Oxford and Cambridge, without it being a copy of any one particular college.

The external materials were brick from Armadale on a Cottesloe stone base, with dressings in Donnybrook Stone. The ceilings were of stamped zinc and fibrous plaster, and all rooms were lit with electricity. The main entrance was reached by stone steps and, passing through a small glass-bound porch, there was a hall used as a museum and picture gallery. The first pictures installed there were engravings of the late Queen Victoria, and of King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra.

To the left of the hall were the library, the pharmacy, the store, the scientific drawing-room, and the physics room, all designed to use natural light during the day. Among other rooms, the basement was designed for photography classes. Ascending to the upper floor on a wide double staircase was a large hall, an art room, and rooms for accountancy, dress-cutting, needlework. Above this the tower extended for two stories and contained two further classrooms.

Following World War II some classes were moved into the James Street school buildings, and a 200-acre site in Bentley was obtained. New buildings were begun there in 1963 to cater for day classes, while Perth Technical College continued with evening classes. The first classes were held at Bentley in 1965. In 1967, the WA Institute of Technology took over the buildings at Bentley, relocating the remaining science departments from Perth Technical College.

In 1984, proposals by the WA Development Corporation to redevelop the Perth Technical School site caused public concern. A group calling itself ‘The Castle Keepers’ was formed and a petition was presented to Parliament calling for the retention of the St George’s Terrace building. Premier Brian Burke was persuaded to order the preservation of the building.

In 2008 the City of Perth granted approval to Multiplex for the construction of a 46-storey tower block behind the Technical College. The approval included strict conditions on maintaining the cultural heritage values of all the older buildings on the site which faced St George’s Terrace.

In October 2010, these buildings became part of the City Square development, which was completed in 2012 and renamed Brookfield Place. The developer adapted Perth Technical College as part of this ‘heritage-minded development’.