London Court

London Court

arcade, arcades, architecture, Bernard Evans, bypass, Claude de Bernales, clock, cobblestones, dragon, Elizabethan, Hay Street, horse, horseback, Inter-War, Old English style, joust, jousting, knight, lance, London Court, “medieval monstrosity”, pageantry, Perth, Plaza Arcade, retail, shops, St George, Saint George, St George’s Terrace, tournament, tourney, Tudor, WA, Western Australia

This article from the Western Argus provides details of two clocks that were to be installed in London Court. After noting the accuracy of the clocks, which were designed to lose no more than a thousandth of a second per hour, the author provides a description of the mechanised features that would accompany them. One would (and does) show “St George unmounted and brandishing a stainless steel sword chasing a dragon around a circuit each quarter of an hour” and beheading him on the hour, while the other would show four knights jousting. London Court is otherwise described by the author as a “medieval monstrosity”, standing in stark contrast to the modern architecture of the surrounding area.

London Court is a retail shopping arcade that runs between St George’s Terrace and Hay Street in the centre of Perth. Completed in 1937, the building was commissioned by WA entrepreneur Claude de Bernales and designed by Melbourne based architect Bernard Evans. London Court is distinctive for its Inter-War Old English style of architecture.

Anon.

Western Argus

19 October 1937, p. 18

Western Argus

Newspaper Article;
PDF

English

Newspaper article