Public Buildings and Spaces

Throughout the twentieth century public buildings in Perth have represented a number of architectural styles brought to Western Australia from Great Britain, Europe and the United States, chiefly through Melbourne.  In this section public buildings are taken to mean those structures in use for public or communal purposes.  These include hospitals, hotels, entertainment complexes like theatres, educational buildings, buildings used for religious purposes, general government buildings and public spaces.

Religious buildings Industrial buildings Educational buildings Public facilities Hotels Public libraries Theatres and cinemas Transport buildings Hospitals Sports facilities

Religious Buildings

In the first part of the twentieth century many of the religious buildings constructed in Western Australia display Gothic or Romanesque elements.

One of the best known architects of religious buildings in Western Australia was Monsignor Hawes, who was responsible for the design of many Catholic churches throughout Western Australia in the first half of the twentieth century.

  His designs were eclectic, with his most important building, the St Francis Xavier  Cathedral at Geraldton, being built between 1916 and 1935 in a style known as California Mission.  It was related to the new Mediterranean style popularised in the 1930s with the construction of the University of Western Australia.