Perth Voice Interactive

A HISTORY-RIDDLED grand house in West Perth once owned by a Perth beer baron is likely bound for the bulldozer, to be replaced with an eight-level, 21-apartment block.

The house at 37 Mount Street was once owned by bearded brewery bigwig Thomas Wall Hardwick, born 1834 in Somersetshire who arrived in the colony in 1885. He was elected to Perth council in 1900, but was most famous for saving the Swan Brewery Company.

New brew

Two years after Swan Brewery and Lion Brewery merged in 1887, the company was circling the drain so headhunters tracked down Hardwick, who had a knack at turning around crappy businesses, and lured him over with a massive wage (equal to about $5000 a week today).

Hardwick waded in and found sloppy management to blame: with him at the helm the brewery produced a new brew in 1891 and business started to boom.

He died aged 84, and his funeral cortege moved from 37 Mount Street to Karrakatta Cemetery where he was interred in the Church of England section.

Fifteen years ago the building was identified as having “some significance” and city staff wanted to put it on the heritage list, but councillors knocked that back.

Now new owner Barry Baltinas says the place is structurally unsound and he wants to put up the eight-storey apartment block.

He’s won support from the Perth city council’s design advisory committee (a group of experts who say whether buildings look good), but still needs approval from the full council before he can go ahead.

by DAVID BELL