Parliament House, Perth is located on Harvest Terrace in West Perth, Western Australia. It is the home of the Parliament of Western Australia, including the Legislative Council (upper house) and Legislative Assembly (lower house).

History

Location

The

Swan River Colony The Swan River Colony, also known as the Swan River Settlement, or just Swan River, was a British colony established in 1829 on the Swan River, in Western Australia. This initial settlement place on the Swan River was soon named Perth, and it ...

's original (1832) Legislative Council was housed in small 1830s government offices in

St Georges Terrace St Georges Terrace (colloquially known as "The Terrace") is the main street in the city of Perth, Western Australia. It runs parallel to the Swan River and forms the major arterial road through the central business district. Its western e ...

, and the (1890) Legislative Assembly in Howick Street near the

Town Hall In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or a municipal building (in the Philippines), is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses ...

. An 1897 Royal Commission recommended proposals to house the Legislative Council and Legislative Assembly in the same building, and suggested two possible locations: the site of the existing Legislative Council in St Georges Terrace, and the hill in Harvest Terrace, behind the Pensioner Barracks. After designs were completed for both sites, the Royal Commission recommended the St Georges Terrace site. Politicians John Winthrop Hackett and George Leake favoured the Harvest Terrace site, which was eventually chosen by Parliament.

Design

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

-wide competition was held for the design of Parliament House, adjudicated by the government architect of New South Wales. He did not recommend any of the entries, but gave awards of merit. One of the awards went to four officers of the Public Works Department. The decision was then referred to the parliamentary committee, which awarded the design to the Public Works Department whose chief architects were John Grainger (1897-1905) and

Hillson Beasley Hillson Beasley (30 April 1855 – 7 October 1936) was an English-trained architect who relocated to Australia, executing his major buildings in Melbourne (1886–96) and Perth (1896–1917). In his later career he was the Principal Architect of ...

, who became acting chief from November 1903 during Grainger's absence through illness.

Construction

Building of the first stage of Parliament House commenced in 1902. The facade was designed in a

Federation Academic Classical Australian non-residential architectural styles are a set of Australian architectural styles that apply to buildings used for purposes other than residence and have been around only since the first colonial government buildings of early Europea ...

style with walls constructed of local

brick A brick is a type of block used to build walls, pavements and other elements in masonry construction. Properly, the term ''brick'' denotes a block composed of dried clay, but is now also used informally to denote other chemically cured cons ...

and tile facing from Rottnest Island, Donnybrook stone, jarrah woodwork and locally-made clay tiles. A large general room for members and a library were added to the initial design during construction, which was completed in 1904. The building opened on 28 July 1904, and '' The West Australian'' commented:

When the assembly members trooped into the Council Chamber to hear the Commission read, the visitors had time to criticise the extraordinary colour scheme of the Assembly Chamber, count the hundreds of
black swan The black swan (''Cygnus atratus'') is a large waterbird, a species of swan which breeds mainly in the southeast and southwest regions of Australia. Within Australia, the black swan is nomadic, with erratic migration patterns dependent upon c ...
s swimming in the blue sea of carpet, comment on the dizzying height of the galleries, and draw comparisons – born of the wearying display of stained glass and coloured wood – between the general appearance of the Chamber and that of a glorified saloon…

The eastern (city) wing was added between 1958 and 1964 at a cost of £416 500. The eastern facade was designed on a

Stripped Classical Stripped Classicism (or "Starved Classicism" or "Grecian Moderne") Jstor is primarily a 20th-century classicist architectural style stripped of most or all ornamentation, frequently employed by governments while designing official buildings. I ...

style. The building was extended to the south in 1978. During the 1980s, uneventful proposals were put forward to extend the structure eastwards by covering the adjoining Mitchell Freeway, incorporating commercial development, and connecting the Parliament House precinct with St Georges Terrace.

Solidarity Park

In 1997, protesting union workers established a "Workers' Embassy" on vacant land opposite Parliament House, a site which was later reserved and named Solidarity Park by a subsequent Labor government.Solidarity Park (The Workers' Embassy)
. Heritage Perth website. Retrieved 21 May 2018

References

External links

Parliament of Western Australia
{{Legislative buildings in Australia Parliament of Western Australia Landmarks in Perth, Western Australia Legislative buildings in Australia West Perth, Western Australia Government buildings completed in 1904 Government buildings in Western Australia State Register of Heritage Places in the City of Perth