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Pakenham Street
Pakenham Street was named after Lt H. Pakenham, of HMS Challenger.
Mouat, Henry and Pakenham Streets are the 'lieutenant streets' (my coinage) being named respectively after the first, second, and third lieutenants on board Captain Fremantle's ship: J.A. Mouat, John Henry, and H. Pakenham.
North to south.
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Pakenham Street at its north end has the open space of Pioneer Park on one side, and, on the other, the building at 49 Phillimore St, the former Robert Harper Building, later known as Jebsens, though it still has Genesis Travel signage.
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The first building with a Pakenham Street address is the 1897 Tolley Bond Store, at no. 1.
Architect: Herbert Nathaniel Davis.
The Tolley sign has been restored above the alleyway, despite their having moved out in 1910. Unfortunately, antisocial idiots are amused by removing letters.
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The Republic of Fremantle, 3 Pakenham Street.
Until recently this was used by a Commonwealth Government department.
It is now the Republic of Fremantle tavern, gin distillery and micro brewery.
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Tolley's, no. 5 Pakenham. John Gallop, a fruiterer and, later, proprietor of the King’s Theatre, owned the lot in 1880 when there was a dwelling on it. In 1893 he built a warehouse. He owned the property until c. 1898. From 1897 it was occupied by Tolley & Co. as their head office. A second storey was added in c. 1901 and extensions to the north of the building enclosed the laneway leading to the rear. The existing facade was probably built at this time. From 1912 it was owned by Seppelt and Sons Ltd., also wine and spirit merchants.
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Vacuum Oil Co., no. 7. Architect: Joseph Allen. A Mrs McCann owned and occupied a house on this site in 1880 and is believed to have extended it to use as a boarding house. She sold it in 1887 to Fay Lawrence who used it until 1904 when the Strelitz brothers purchased it. In 1907 they erected a two-storey office building for the Vacuum Oil Co. In the same year they bought other lots to expand their warehouse premises, which extended through to Henry Street. Food manufacturers Patterson & Co. bought the Vacuum Oil Co. in 1916 and sold the property to Elder Smith & Co. in 1950. Seppelts bought it in 1968 for storage of wine and spirits.
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Strelitz/Pakenham, no. 9. M. Higham and Sons owned a dwelling on the site in 1880. It was extended in 1887.
In 1904 the Strelitz brothers constructed a new building on the site.
Since then it has had various owners, including Fremantle Provedoring/Shipstores until the 1980s.
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The Lysaght building was at no. 8 Pakenham Street, on the corner of Short Street. Architects: Allen and Nicholas (1929).
Previously on this site, from 1858, was Charles Alexander Manning's Folly.
It is now occupied by Quest Apartments.
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This was Manning Hall, which stood at what is now the corner of Short and Pakenham Streets, and became known as Manning's Folly.
It was built in 1858 for Charles Alexander Manning, and demolished in 1928.
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The Pearlers Hotel, no. 18, on the north-east corner with Leake Street, architect J.H. Eales, was built in 1887. Nine years later it was leased to Swan Brewery Co., which subsequently purchased it. The name appears to have been changed to the Terminus Hotel then. Later again it was Terminus Chambers, used by lawyers. In 1989 it was bought by Homeswest to provide budget accommodation. The building was refurbished to provide thirty-two lodging rooms with a medical centre on the ground floor.
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On the opposite corner of Leake St is a warehouse built in 1907 for Thomas Quinlan.
It was recently tenanted by Shipstores, but is now the house of PS Art Space.
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The Victoria Coffee Palace at 11 Pakenham St was built in 1895.
A coffee palace was a hotel which did sell not alcoholic beverages.
The building was used as a backpackers hostel until 2015 when it changed hands.
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Willshire & Feely c. 1910, 15 Pakenham Street.
Now (2021) a backpackers hostel, the Fremantle Hostel Backpackers, this was built for a shipping company.
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The 1910 Bank of Adelaide building, originally of two storeys, is on the northwestern corner of Pakenham Street at 64 High Street. With commercial premises on the ground floor, the Navy Club is now upstairs in the two-storey colorbond additions on top, straddling Nos. 62 and 60 as well. The Navy Club was previously in the Freemasons Hall in Marine Parade. The details of the original building include a crenellated cornice on the parapet and ashlar effect on the ground floor and engaged ashlar effect pilasters. Lot 105 was allocated in 1829 to Robert Thomson who built and operated the Stirling Arms, one of the first four pubs in the colony.
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Mason's Building. Nos. 66-70 High Street, on the north-east corner. Architect: J McNeece. Builder: J Anderson. This has been known as the former Commonwealth Bank Building, but the bank did not own the building until 1925. Part of the site (No. 66) appears to have been part of E.H. Fothergill's estate. From 1882 until 1921 the property was owned by Frederick Mason, alias May, a jeweller and entrepreneur. This two-storey building was built in 1908 as four shops with residences above. Its neoclassical style is ‘softened’ by the plump proportions of the engaged columns. Unfortunately, in 2005, one section of the facade was painted a different colour, disturbing its unity; the awning and shopfront for that section are not original.
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Ajax Building. Architect: J McNeece (part, c. 1908). On the south-west corner, at Nos. 49-59 High Street. On this site the Stags Head Inn was opened in 1834. The inn was rebuilt in 1848, and by the 1880s a boarding house, shops and dwellings had also been constructed. The building was sold to John Church, whose company became a substantial enterprise with bulk stores in Pakenham Street. The present building appears to have been built in two stages: in 1900 and c. 1908 — the latter to the design of J McNeece. From 1955 to 1981 it, together with adjoining buildings, was occupied by a furniture retailer, who commissioned internal renovations in 1958 to the design of Eric Moyle.
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]] Central Chambers. Architect: F.W. Burwell (1906), Duncan, Stephen and Mercer (1991). Builder: R. Rennie. On the south-east corner at nos. 61-63 High Street. This is one of the most impressive of Burwell's buildings. William Pearse, who arrived in the colony in 1830, established a butcher's shop and premises on the site; he prospered by gaining contracts to supply merchant ships bound for the Cape of Good Hope with salted meat. The original shop was demolished in 1906 to make way for the present building, which was completed in 1907. One of its first occupants was a printer. New owners, J. and W. Bateman, in c. 1956 had a new facade erected, but the original was restored in 1991 during renovations under the direction of the architects Duncan, Stephen and Mercer. The highly decorative first-floor facade features ‘Central Chambers’ in stucco, a parapet with balustrade and five highly decorative pediments. Pilastered and stucco arched windows have decorative stucco above and engaged piers below. The original entrance is between the shops and has stained-glass leadlight highlights. The awning is not original.
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John Church Bulk Stores, nos. 21-23. This two-storey building was constructed in 1900 as bulk store for John Church and Co., merchants and ironmongers. It was purchased by J W Bateman in 1930 and continued as a warehouse.
In the 1990s it was converted to mixed commercial and residential, under the direction of architect R Hawkin.
31 Pakenham Street is a commercial building.
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At no. 33 is the Pakenham Street end of the Fowler building, the main frontage of which is in Henry Street.
The building was apparently the Bag Store. It was used for a time by Praxis, a performance centre for artists, and then in 1996 was occupied by Deckchair Theatre.
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Bread in Common restaurant is in a one-storey former warehouse at 43 Pakenham Street.
45 Pakenham Street is a modern apartment building, which has recently (2021) been acquired by a company called fiveight, a subsidiary of an Andrew Forrest company.
46 Pakenham Street is a small new building, the only one between the Central Chambers and Bannister Street, as it has carparks on each side of it.
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47 Pakenham Street in 2022 was apparently (or formerly) the premises of WA Bait Supply, a one-storey building with a coffeeshop with alfresco seating in the street. In early 2022 there is signage advertising the development of the property with a new building (replacing the existing one) as the two-storey Dingo Brewing Co.
49 Pakenham Street is a new three-storey dwelling (or apartments) set well back from the street and boasting the only front lawn in the CBD!
50 Pakenham Street is a modern twenty-apartment building from about 2015, on the corner with Bannister Street. Apartments currently (2021) sell for c. $700k. There are shops with street frontages at ground level.
51-53 Pakenham Street is a modern apartment building. One sign on the street frontage refers to Fremantle Executive Apartments: short term accommodation. Another, on the adjoining doors (to the south) identify James Henty Apartments: short and long term executive accommodation.
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Pakenham Apartments, No. 56, on the corner with Nairn Street is the only other building between Bannister and Nairn Streets. The first building on the site, built in 1887, comprised offices and warehouses for W D Moore. From 1883 to 1912 it was used by confectionery manufacturers. It was then occupied by C H Fielding, a wool broker and, from 1924, was used by Westralian Farmers as a skin and hide store. In 1971 it became a workshop and store for a ship repairer, and subsequently a panel beater. It was altered in 1986 for Central Oyster Supplies. In the 1990s it was converted to become Pakenham Apartments. See also: Nairn Street.
The new three-storey building at what would '58 Pakenham Street' has a Nairn Street address: it is no. 1 Nairn Street. It is comprised of 2 residential units and one commercial (thanks to the owner for that information).
60-62 Pakenham Street is headspace Fremantle. Info about the building tba, but it's not of much interest.
The last building on the east side of the street is the former Oceanic Hotel.
The last building to the west is the former Trades Hall.
References, Links, Acknowledgement
Top photo courtesy of Roel Loopers, from his blog.
Much of the text above is from David Hutchison's Walk 4 in his Fremantle Walks.
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 28 September, 2014 and hosted at freotopia.org/westend/pakenham.html (it was last updated on 19 November, 2023), and has been edited since it was imported here (see page history). The donated data is also preserved in the Internet Archive's collection.