Perth's Windsor Hotel listed on heritage register

21/4/95

One of Perth's oldest hotels still operating south of the river has been listed on the State Register of Heritage Places.

Heritage Minister Richard Lewis said the Windsor Hotel in South Perth had aesthetic, historic and social value to the local community.

"The building is a landmark and represents the strong Australian pub tradition of a two storey hotel with verandahs, located on a prominent street corner," he said.

The Windsor Hotel was constructed in 1898 to cater for the needs of the rapidly developing suburb of South Perth and is a good example of the elaborate design of suburban hotels during the gold boom.

The hotel was designed by architect J J Talbot Hobbs, original partner in the designing firm Hobbs, Smith and Forbes which was responsible for many prominent buildings in Perth and Fremantle and a number of other hotels including the Savoy and the Globe.

By the end of the 1890s South Perth was developing so rapidly some public facilities were not able to be built quickly enough and for a short time the Windsor Hotel served as the local post and telegraph office.

The original owner, George Strickland, decided to sell the hotel in 1924 but it was not until part way through World War II that it was sold to Mrs Mary Raine.

Mrs Raine willed the hotel to the University of Western Australia and the property is now part of the Arnold Yeldham and Mary Raine Medical Research Foundation.

The Minister said the building was in the Federation Filigree style and a dominant element in the streetscape of the Mend Street precinct.

"The hotel contributes to the community's sense of place as a prominent building readily associated with the identity of South Perth," Mr Lewis said.

"Although ownership of the hotel has changed a number of times over the years, the establishment has been used continuously for the purpose for which it was built."

The interim listing on the State Register of Heritage Places follows a recommendation from the Heritage Council of Western Australia.

The building is also recognised by the National Trust and has special consideration under the City of South Perth's Town Planning Scheme.

Media contact:  Bronwyn Hillman 222 9595, 221 1377