Mt Newman House
1971 - Mt Newman House, 200 St Georges Tce, Perth, WA
The construction of Mt Newman House represented the first time in Perth that a facade of an historic old building was retained and used as a feature of a new high rise tower. The saved facade belonged to The Cloisters building, erected in 1881.
The patterned, mellow tones of brickwork of The Cloisters was sensitively restored during the construction of the complex which has now been converted to offices. The twenty storey office tower has external walls of brown block work and verticality is emphasised by the splayed block columns. The faces of the towers present a rhythmic pattern of regularly spaced bronzed anodised aluminium windows.
The new building has been treated as two equal office towers staggered in position away from the terrace, but linked with a central accessway, to break down an otherwise massive facade. Plant rooms in the roof are hidden by block grille work.
The plaza level, or Hay Street level, is called Cloisters Square. It has an open square with restaurants, a bandstand and a shopping arcade that gives pedestrian access through to Hay Street. Shops occupy the St George`s Terrace and Hay Street frontages and the arcade.
