Beverley Town Hall 1938 - Current
Mechanic's Institute Buildings (Site) 1890-1905, 1905-1937
The Mechanic's Institute was located on this site in 1890, rebuilding in 1905, before the Beverley Road Board purchased the hall in 1914 for the office of the combined Beverley District Road Board and Beverley Municipal Council that became the Beverley Road Board.
Mechanic's Institutes originated in Scotland in the early 1800's to provide instruction for tradespeople (mechanics) with the object of "improving the working class". Usually organised by the gentry, they were very popular and by the 1850's there were 600 institutes in England. They were established in most parts of Australia, as "Schools of Art" or "Literary Institutes" with cultural events and were the first libraries in the Colony.
The Beverley Mechanic's Institute was a lending library and had social events and picture shows of silent black and white short movies of the day, with an adjacent fenced area - the summer gardens.
By 1937 the Health Department had condemned the 1905 Mechanic's Institute building and a new Beverley Road Board office was planned.
The Board initially approached the WA Institute of Architects with the intention of holding a design competition, but the conditions made it impracticable. Interwar Architect, William Garnsworthy (WG) Bennett was engaged to design the new Beverley Road Board offices and Town Hall. Bennett was renowned for his design of public buildings and cinemas of the period. The Beverley Town Hall is an outstanding example of his work.
Spanning the width of three town lots, with the streamline modern design emphasising the horizontality with recessed banding, curved corner and 'eyebrows' (flat concrete window shades), balanced by the stepped tower main entry and original four 'The Sentinel' pine trees.
In 1938, Laverton Pictures' tender was accepted 'for use of whole building for 5 years' to show pictures for Saturday and any other one week night at £6-0-0 per week throughout the year'. A galvanised iron fence was erected along the west side to enclose the picture garden.
Beverley Town Hall was the centre of social and civic events comprising the Road Board offices, Town Hall, Lesser Hall and Picture Gardens. Saturday shopping, when the shops closed on Wednesdays, was a family event, everyone dressed up for the trip to town to shop, socialise and dance in the town hall to end the day. It ended in 1961, when a referendum called for closed Saturdays.
In 1961 the Beverley Road Board became the Shire of Beverley, and by 1967 vacated the offices in the Town Hal Building. Community and others utilise the facility, including; meetings of the Red Cross, RSL, Quakers, Agricultural Society, and in the 1940's the War and Patriotic Fund Committee meetings.
In 1992, the Shire reversed a decision to remove the remaining three Sentinels after rigorous public debate. The pencil pine trees (Cupressus sempervirens) remained in front of the Town Hall until 2010 when they were removed without major objection.
Beverley Town Hall, with the Mechanic's Institute beginnings, represents a continuum of social and cultural events and activities since 1890, and the prosperity of the Beverley community with considerable aesthetic, social and historic significance to Beverley and the State.
Beverley Town Hall is recognised as a place of State significance on the West Australian Heritage Council's register of Heritage Places.
Replacing the Mechanic's Institute as the social centre of Beverley, the town Hall defines the period of optimism for the future, emerging out of the Great Depression, immediately before World War Two. It is an outstanding example of Interwar Functionalist architecture featuring Art Deco influences, by renowned interwar Architect William G Bennett.
Over 700 people attended the opening by the Lieutenant Governor Sir James Mitchell on 1 September 1938, almost the entire population of Beverley district. The opening celebration ball, was quoted as "the most brilliant social gathering held in the district yet".
Mechanic's Institutes originated in Scotland in the early 1800's to provide instruction for tradespeople (mechanics) with the object of "improving the working class". Usually organised by the gentry, they were very popular and by the 1850's there were 600 institutes in England. They were established in most parts of Australia, as "Schools of Art" or "Literary Institutes" with cultural events and were the first libraries in the Colony.
The Beverley Mechanic's Institute was a lending library and had social events and picture shows of silent black and white short movies of the day, with an adjacent fenced area - the summer gardens.
By 1937 the Health Department had condemned the 1905 Mechanic's Institute building and a new Beverley Road Board office was planned.
The Board initially approached the WA Institute of Architects with the intention of holding a design competition, but the conditions made it impracticable. Interwar Architect, William Garnsworthy (WG) Bennett was engaged to design the new Beverley Road Board offices and Town Hall. Bennett was renowned for his design of public buildings and cinemas of the period. The Beverley Town Hall is an outstanding example of his work.
Spanning the width of three town lots, with the streamline modern design emphasising the horizontality with recessed banding, curved corner and 'eyebrows' (flat concrete window shades), balanced by the stepped tower main entry and original four 'The Sentinel' pine trees.
In 1938, Laverton Pictures' tender was accepted 'for use of whole building for 5 years' to show pictures for Saturday and any other one week night at £6-0-0 per week throughout the year'. A galvanised iron fence was erected along the west side to enclose the picture garden.
Beverley Town Hall was the centre of social and civic events comprising the Road Board offices, Town Hall, Lesser Hall and Picture Gardens. Saturday shopping, when the shops closed on Wednesdays, was a family event, everyone dressed up for the trip to town to shop, socialise and dance in the town hall to end the day. It ended in 1961, when a referendum called for closed Saturdays.
In 1961 the Beverley Road Board became the Shire of Beverley, and by 1967 vacated the offices in the Town Hal Building. Community and others utilise the facility, including; meetings of the Red Cross, RSL, Quakers, Agricultural Society, and in the 1940's the War and Patriotic Fund Committee meetings.
In 1992, the Shire reversed a decision to remove the remaining three Sentinels after rigorous public debate. The pencil pine trees (Cupressus sempervirens) remained in front of the Town Hall until 2010 when they were removed without major objection.
Beverley Town Hall, with the Mechanic's Institute beginnings, represents a continuum of social and cultural events and activities since 1890, and the prosperity of the Beverley community with considerable aesthetic, social and historic significance to Beverley and the State.
Beverley Town Hall is recognised as a place of State significance on the West Australian Heritage Council's register of Heritage Places.
Replacing the Mechanic's Institute as the social centre of Beverley, the town Hall defines the period of optimism for the future, emerging out of the Great Depression, immediately before World War Two. It is an outstanding example of Interwar Functionalist architecture featuring Art Deco influences, by renowned interwar Architect William G Bennett.
Over 700 people attended the opening by the Lieutenant Governor Sir James Mitchell on 1 September 1938, almost the entire population of Beverley district. The opening celebration ball, was quoted as "the most brilliant social gathering held in the district yet".