London Court
1937 - London Court, 647-653 Hay Street, Perth, WA.
A popular shopping location, comprising a three and four level open air arcade simulating an Elizabethan period shopping street. It originally had 53 shops, 55 offices and 24 flats. The richly detailed facade of the place and it's distinctive clocks are important tourist attractions. The building was constructed using quite modern building techniques for its time, and featured an air-conditioning system not previously seen in the state and a large restaurant for tenants and visitors in the basement level.
The distinctive mock-Tudor/Elizabethan facade and architectural features includes ornate entrances with large wrought-iron gates at each end. At the Hay Street end at the first storey level, a large clock chimes every quarter-hour, half-hour and on the hour. Four mechanised knights appear from a castle door and move in a semicircle each time the clock chimes as they apparently joust with each other. At the Terrace end, another clock in a window shows a miniature Saint George doing battle with the dragon.
The two interior ends include statues of Dick Whittington and his cat (northern end) and Sir Walter Raleigh (south end), each in bastion towers and gazing down on the shoppers below. Other distinctive features include gargoyles, masks, shields, crests and wrought iron signs and brackets. Gabled roofs, weather cocks and lead lighting add to the Tudor style. The arcade floor is laid with terracotta tiles.
