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Pearse's Buildings
[James] Pearse's Buildings (c1900), 72-78 High Street with Bodkin's Bootery in the ground-floor western half
History
Owned by James Pearse from c1900, as a shop with offices upstairs. Leased to a variety of tenants. In 1945 alterations for Pearse Bros. to the upstairs verandah were carried out by R A Ellis.
A Heritage Assessment was prepared in June/Aug 2009 by Heritage and Conservation Professionals for Council (VA12/09) for replacement shop front windows and flooring.
Currently (2010), various retail and commercial uses.
Physical Description
Three storey rendered building with highly decorative façade and parapet with brackets featuring the name 'Pearse's Buildings' in stucco. There is central, large and highly decorative pediment with a small pediment either side. The ground floor has a veranda awning over the shopfronts; 72 & 74 appear to have original shopfronts and has small tiles intact, the first floor has casement windows with a fixed transom light above. The second floor façade has sets of three arched windows with stucco architraves and engaged low piers below. These, and pairs of first floor windows, are flanked by tall decorative pilasters.
A Heritage Assessment was prepared in June/Aug 2009 by Heritage and Conservation Professionals for Council (VA12/09) for replacement shop front windows and flooring.
Statement of Significance
The place is of historic significance as an example of a commercial building in the Old Port City of Fremantle dating from the gold boom period in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. The place is a fine example of a Federation Free Classical style building, with elaborate stucco decoration above the ground floor level, that makes a significant contribution to the streetscape. The place is of social significance as evidenced by its classification by the National Trust. History Council.
References and Links
Heritage Council page
Bodkin's website
This page incorporates material from Garry Gillard's Freotopia website, that he started in 2014 and the contents of which he donated to Wikimedia Australia in 2024. The content was originally created on 1 July, 2016 and hosted at freotopia.org/buildings/pearsesbuilding.html (it was last updated on 3 April, 2024), and has been edited since it was imported here (see page history). The donated data is also preserved in the Internet Archive's collection.