Two New Clocks: Novelties for London Court
arcade, Big Ben, Big Clock, clock, dragon, Fremantle, H. Hope Jones, Hay Street, horse, knights, La Grosse Horage, lance, London Court, mechanisation, Monk of Glastonbury, Moreton Bay, Peter Lightfoot, retail arcade, Rouen, shopping, St George, St George’s Terrace, sword, Synchronome Company Ltd, synchronome invention, “Tournament of Tilting Knightsâ€, WA, Wells Cathedral, Western Australia
In this article from The West Australian in 1937, the arrival of two clocks destined for London Court in Perth, Western Australia is announced. They were delivered to Fremantle by Mr H. Hope-Jones, managing director and founder of the Synchronome Company in London, during his world tour of observatory clocks. The article goes on to summarise Hope-Jones’ description of the clocks: the clock at the St George’s Terrace entrance would have a dial copied from the famous medieval (fourteenth century) Big Clock at Rouen and the clock at the Hay Street entrance would be a replica of Big Ben in London. Above the clock at the St George’s end, Hope-Jones explained, would be the figures of St George and the dragon on a revolving horizontal wheel. The wheel would revolve once at every quarter past the hour, twice at every half hour, three times at every three-quarters past the hour and at the chiming of the full hour St George’s sword would touch a hidden trigger switch and the dragon’s head would fall off. Above the Hay Street clock would be four jousting knights, who would occasionally dismount each other with a blow from their lance. This, Hope-Jones said, was a copy of the fourteenth-century Wells Cathedral Clock reputed to have been made by Peter Lightfoot, the Monk of Glastonbury.
Anon.
National Library of Australia
The West Australian
9 October 1937, p. 27.
The West Australian
Digitised Newspaper Article
London Court, Perth, Western Australia
Arcade, architecture, Bernard Evans, bypass, Claude de Bernales, clock, cobblestones, corbels, Elizabethan, gable, gargoyles, Hay Street, heraldic shield, horse, Inter-War Old English style, iron gate, jettying, knight, leadlight windows, London Court, oriel window, pageantry, Perth, portcullis retail, shops, St George, St George cross, St George’s Terrace, timber panelling, tourney, Tudor, WA, weather vanes, Western Australia
Image of London Court in Perth, Western Australia. London Court is an open air retail shopping arcade that runs between St George’s Terrace and Hay Street in the centre of Perth. The building was commissioned in 1936 by WA entrepreneur Claude de Bernales and designed by Melbourne based architect Bernard Evans. It was completed in 1937, when the arcade was opened with a ‘Ye Olde English Fayre’. London Court is distinctive for its Inter-War Old English style of architecture. At each end of the arcade is a three-storey entrance with a Tudor facade, a large wrought iron gate, heraldic shields – many bearing the St George cross – and an oriel window containing a large, decorative clock. Inside the narrow arcade, the Tudor facade continues with extensive half-timbering and timber-panelling on the walls, gabled roofs, leadlight windows and corbelled window boxes. Hand-carvings, gargoyles and crests also adorn the walls, and a number of weather vanes can be seen on the roof.
McEwan, Joanne
12 March 2011
No Copyright
Digital Photograph
Tournament of Armoured Knights, London Court, Perth - Clock Face
arcade, Architecture, armour, Bernard Evans, caprison, castle, chivalry, Claude de Bernales, clock, Elizabethan, Hay Street, heraldic decoration, horse, horseback, Inter-War Old English style, joust, jousting, knight, knights, lance, London Court, Perth, retail, shops, St George cross, St George’s Terrace, sword, tournament, tourney, Tudor, Western Australia, WA
Images of “The Tournament of Armoured Knights†at London Court in Western Australia. In a window above the clock at the Hay Street entrance, these four mechanical knights joust at the chiming of every quarter hour on the clock. Each of the four knights appears fully armoured on horseback armed with a lance. They can be differentiated by the ‘caprisons’, or horse blankets, which display varying heraldic decorations. A crenellated Norman style castle serves as a backdrop.
London Court is a retail shopping arcade that runs between St George’s Terrace and Hay Street in the centre of Perth. The building was commissioned by WA entrepreneur Claude de Bernales and designed by Melbourne based architect Bernard Evans. It was completed in 1937. London Court is distinctive for its Inter-War Old English style of architecture.
McEwan, Joanne
12 March 2011
No Copyright
Digital Photograph
Tournament of Armoured Knights, London Court, Perth
arcade, architecture, armour, Bernard Evans, caprison, castle, chivalry, Claude de Bernales, clock, Elizabethan, Hay Street, heraldic decoration, horse, horseback, Inter-War Old English style, joust, jousting, knight, knights, lance, London Court, Perth, retail, shops, St George cross, St George’s Terrace, sword, tournament, tourney, Tudor, Western Australia, WA
Image of “The Tournament of Armoured Knights†at London Court in Western Australia. In a window above the clock at the Hay Street entrance, these four mechanical knights joust at the chiming of every quarter hour on the clock. Each of the four knights appears fully armoured on horseback armed with a lance. They can be differentiated by the ‘caprisons’, or horse blankets, which display varying heraldic decorations. A crenellated Norman style castle serves as a backdrop.
London Court is a retail shopping arcade that runs between St George’s Terrace and Hay Street in the centre of Perth. The building was commissioned by WA entrepreneur Claude de Bernales and designed by Melbourne based architect Bernard Evans. It was completed in 1937. London Court is distinctive for its Inter-War Old English style of architecture.
McEwan, Joanne
12 March 2011
No Copyright
Digital Photograph
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 monstrosityâ€, 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 monstrosityâ€, 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.
<strong></strong><span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black;">National Library of Australia, </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black;"><a href="http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article34959101" target="_blank">http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article34959101</a></span>
Western Argus
19 October 1937, p. 18
Western Argus
Newspaper Article;
PDF
English
St George Slaying the Dragon, London Court, Perth
animation, Arcade, architecture, Bernard Evans, Claude de Bernales, clock, clockwork, dragon, Elizabethan, Hay Street, Inter-War Old English style, knight, London Court, Perth, retail, shops, St George, Saint George, saint, St George’s Terrace, sword, Tudor, Western Australia, WA
Images of ‘St George slaying the Dragon’ at London Court in Western Australia. Located in a window above the clock at the St George’s Terrace entrance to London Court, 'St George slaying the Dragon' is a feature consisting of animated figures that move in time with the clock. A figurine of St George brandishing a sword chases a dragon around a circuit when the clock chimes each quarter of an hour. At the chiming of the full hour, St George catches up to the dragon and beheads him.
London Court is a retail shopping arcade that runs between St George’s Terrace and Hay Street in the centre of Perth. The building was commissioned by WA entrepreneur Claude de Bernales and designed by Melbourne based architect Bernard Evans. It was completed in 1937. London Court is distinctive for its Inter-War Old English style of architecture.
McEwan, Joanne
12 March 2011
No Copyright
Digital Photographs
Perth's Skyline Adornments
allegorical decoration, Gothic, Gothic architecture, WA, Western Australia, Perth, Government Printing Office, crown, lion, lion's head, Trinity buildings, Trinity, Hay Street, Murray Street, gargoyles, Saint Andrew, St. Andrew, St Andrew, Perth Literary Institute, Perth Literary Institute building, griffin, gargoyle, spire, spires, griffins
Taken from the West Australian, 15 June 1935, p. 2. Pertains to the aesthetics of the Perth City Skyline, which includes a number of Gothic architectural features, including a griffin, spires and a gargoyle.
Unknown (West Australian)
West Australian
West Australian
15 June 1935
National Library of Australia
Newspaper Article