Shops, 49 High St, Fremantle (Site of Stag's Head Inn)

Parent Place or Precinct

00916 AJAX BUILDING, 49-59 HIGH STREET

Physical Description

Located on High Street, Fremantle, the place is a two-storey rendered building with commercial shops on the ground floor and residential spaces on the first floor. The first floor façade of the place has a decorative parapet with engaged pilasters, two windows in the centre and at the left of the building. The ground floor comprises the original shop fronts, with two symmetrical window and door openings. The place, 49 High Street, has a different parapet to the eastern building it joins with (nos. 51–59). This section was constructed later as two buildings between 1890 and 1900. Together the buildings comprising Nos. 49-59 form the Ajax Buildings on the corner of High and Pakenham Streets.

History

Anthony Barnabas Curtis was born in England circa 1800 and joined the Royal Navy at age 12. After visiting the Swan River Colony in its earliest days, he decided to settle there on his discharge. Working his passage as a steward, he returned on the Medina, arriving on 6 July 1830. After running the Black Swan Inn with John Bateman for a short time, he purchased Fremantle Building Lot 106 in 1832 where he built a house and established himself as a ship owner and trader, butcher, storeowner and publican. Curtis’ Stag Head Inn on High Street opened on 1 January 1834. A public notice in Western Australia’s fledgling newspaper a few days later advised the public that Anthony Curtis had opened ‘his house as a hotel’ providing beds and stabling. Curtis was issued a publican’s licence the following week. In January 1836, the Stag’s Head Inn was one of six public houses in Fremantle serving a population of about 400. In December 1840, Curtis decided to concentrate on his shipping business and store, advertising the Stag’s Head Inn for lease. In February 1841, Curtis’ brother-in-law, Edward Back, took over the Stag’s Head. Curtis re-opened the Stag’s Head under his own name on 15 May 1848. Anthony Curtis died unexpectedly on 11 January 1853 [and the property was put up for sale. It was later sold by auction in December 1854]. By 1880, the Stag’s Head Inn appears to have been demolished. A two-storey building was constructed by the new owner George Edwards at 49 High Street on the western side of Lot 106 in 1887 (The upstairs residence was later designated 51 High Street.) Construction of the new building involved demolition of the four-room cottage and shops and rooms, which were previously constructed on the site of the Stag’s Head Inn. Watchmaker and jeweller, William Hooper, [who supplied and installed the Fremantle Town Hall clock], first occupied the two storey building. Hooper had his business on the ground floor and lived upstairs in the residence above. The building featured a double storey verandah with metal posts and fine filigree, [exhibiting the Federation Filigree architectural style]. The clock, installed in 1888, was a notable feature of the Fremantle landscape for many years. Circa 1895, Hooper opened another shop in Hay Street, Perth, and in late 1907 relocated his Fremantle business to 146 High Street. Circa 1893, and later between 1895 and 1890, two buildings, nos. 57-59, and nos.51A-55, were constructed between No. 49 and Pakenham Street respectively. Nos. 51A-55 followed the same design as the earlier corner building at nos. 57-59, both in the Federation Free Classical Style. Ajax Furnishing Company occupied 53 to 59 High Street from 1955 to 1981. It is probably at this time the Filigree verandah was removed and replaced with an awning and upper floor French door replaced with windows, creating more of a Federation Free Classical appearance. It is from this period of use that all three buildings were consolidated and collectively 49-59 High Street is known as Ajax Building.

Condition

Good

Historic Themes

Creation Date

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