Perth Girls School

(Writeup pending)

A big shoutout to the awesome team at Australian Development Capital, especially Cassandra, for granting me the opportunity in November of last year to photograph the Perth Girls' School.

The Perth Girls' School is NOT abandoned, nor an URBEX site!!

Built in 1936, the Perth Girls' School, set on the corner of Wellington and Plain Streets, is the second highest point in the city after Mt Eliza in Kings Park.

Before moving to this location, the Perth Girls' School was located at:

1847 - Perth Girls' Colonial School - Perth Court House on William Street
N/A - A house on Hay Street
1854 - A new building on Pier Street
N/A - Perth Cultural Centre
1896 - Moved into a new “Government School” which is now the Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts
1936 - Moved into the Perth Girls' School building

The Inter-War Stripped Classical design of the period certainly stands out against today’s often bland, box-like apartment forms and limited expressions of architectural artistry. That said, architectural taste is subjective and more extreme design approaches can attract strong and opposing reactions, so I’ll refrain from digging myself into a hole.

External Front

By the 1920s, the education system was already struggling under familiar pressures. Overcrowded classrooms, limited resources and school buildings that couldn’t be renovated or properly maintained often enough. Viewed through a modern lens, particularly in rural areas, it feels uncomfortably familiar.

For Perth, facing many of the same issues, the situation was severe enough to justify the construction of a new girls’ school, intended to relieve overcrowding and ease pressure on existing facilities.

Although plans for the distinctive E-shaped girls’ school were finalised in 1934 by government architect A. E. Clare, construction would not begin for another two years, delayed by the lingering effects of the Depression.

The curriculum placed a strong emphasis on domestic science and offered education only up to junior certificate level. By around the age of 15, girls were expected to leave school and make their way into the world, ideally achieving something more ambitious than the narrow role of a 'domestic engineer'.

Second Floor

Police Traffic Branch

When the school closed in 1962 due to declining enrolments, the site was acquired the following year by the Western Australia Police Force for their Traffic Department.

Restoration
Working in consultation with the Heritage Council of Western Australia, the owners of the Perth Girls School have carried out a range of restoration works, ensuring all changes were approved and undertaken in accordance with heritage requirements.

Centre Staircase

Library