Commonwealth Bank of Australia

Parent Place or Precinct

04033 Bay View Terrace Commercial Heritage Precinct

Physical Description

Single and double storey rendered masonry building that mimics No.21 on the Bay View Tce frontage and presents a single storey glazed commercial frontage to the secondary street.

History

A picture garden is recorded here early in the early 1900s to at least 1915, but by 1920 the site was vacant. It was on the market in 1925 for a price of £500. In 1928-29 the elegant State Savings Bank building was constructed on the corner site. The State Savings Bank, which had been established in 1863 as the Post Office Savings Bank, operated from post offices in WA until 1913, when the Commonwealth Savings Bank took over at those venues. The Claremont State Savings Bank agency had then moved to a space in the National Bank Building.

In 1931, the State Savings Bank amalgamated with the Commonwealth Bank, which then occupied the State Savings Bank building at No. 23. The first manager of the Claremont Commonwealth Bank was the former State Savings Bank branch manager, W. G. Clifton. A later manager was former State Bank staff member Edgar Brown (1936-1953). Initially the branch only offered savings bank facilities, but in 1946 it became a full trading and savings bank branch. In 1961, the State Savings Bank building was demolished and a new Commonwealth Bank building was constructed on the site. This was built by Toia and Power Pty Ltd under the architectural supervision of Silver, Fairbrother & Associates of West Perth, and opened on 21 August 1961. Chocolate coloured bricks were used for the foundation on the sloping site, and the rest of the building was in cream brick, with the interior walls in exposed face brickwork. The building comprised banking chambers and offices on the ground floor and staff amenities and storage on the smaller upper level. Minor alterations and additions were carried out in the mid-1960s. The building was considered by residents as not in keeping with the architectural style of the Terrace. Later refurbishment has resulted in the brickwork being rendered and painted and embellishments added to emulate the early 20th Century architecture of the street, but with little success. In the 21st Century, the Commonwealth Bank continues to occupy the building.

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