PublishedAnova Books, August 2018 |
ISBN9781911595601 |
FormatHardcover, 144 pages |
Dimensions25cm × 28.5cm |
In 1901 Federation transformed Western Australia from an independent colony to a state of the Commonwealth of Australia, and Perth gained the status of capital city. Originally funded by agriculture, the discovery of gold gave it the finances to transform itself from a modest country town to a prosperous commercial city with great civic buildings to match.
Perth has grown on the back of a series of resource booms from a late Victorian gold town into a dynamic and progressive city. But along the way, and in the rush for growth, many grand old buildings and Perth institutions have been swept aside. Taking the losses in chronological order, Richard Offen (author of the best-selling Perth Then and Now) catalogues the beloved buildings and Perth institutions that time and progress have swept aside. Lost Perth includes: Josie's Cottage, First Government House, Padbury Building, Royal Perth Yacht Club, Regent Cinema, Mitchell Building, trams, steam trains, William Street Level Crossing, Esplanade Hotel, Emu Brewery, Dalkeith Hot Pool, Coolbaroo Club, the Christian Brothers School and the East Perth Gasometer. Lost Perth covers a wide range of cherished buildings and institutions, from the trams on city streets to cavernous 1930s cinemas and department stores.
Bill is one of the founders of Boffins and has been involved in selecting the books we stock since our beginning in 1989. His favourite reading is history, with psychology, current affairs, and business books coming close behind. His hobbies are reading, food, reading, drinking, reading, and sleeping.
Richard Offen, whose book Perth then and Now was a hit in 2016, has been working on a new book called Lost Perth full of amazing Perth buildings of the past that no longer exist. From the Perth City and Crawley Baths, to the trams, the old Adelphi Hotel, and the departments stores like Boans and Foy & Gibson, and many of the wonderful old theatres like the Ambassadors – they’re all here in glorious period photographs.