Buildings/48high.html
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Freotopia > buildings > 48 High Street
Bill Campbell's Bookshop
48 High Street, previously Empire Fruit Palace, on part of Town Lot 81.
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Photograph courtesy of Bill Campbell. The date is unknown, as is the fruiterer in it. Perhaps it is Salvatore Reale.
The present owner holding the photograph above.
The building at 50 High St - part of the same structure as 48 - which was George Foley's Tobacconist perhaps around 1950, was a sex shop called Absolutely Adult, and is now Five Star Tattoos.
Heritage Council:
Physical Description
Two storey building with painted brick to sill height and roughcast render above on the first floor. The parapet features two prominent pediments; three engaged tall columns on the first floor also separate the building into two shops. The first floor double sash windows with fanlights are large and decorative. The shopfront may contain some original elements, awnings over the ground floor shops are not original.
History
48 High Street is located on Pt 80/81. In 1880 Pt 80/81 had a dwelling, stable, warehouse and shop located on it and was owned by Edward Brockman and occupied by Henry Albert, a butcher. By 1895 there were four commercial premises listed on the lot and by 1900 there were fourteen. Edward Brockman owned the lot until the early 1900s.
By 1905 street numbers were assigned and 48 High Street was given the number 64. The street number changed in the mid-1930s to the current number.
From 1905 until the early 1940s the building was owned by Hugh Spencer Brockman and William Locke Brockman and they had several tenants including George Slater (1905/06), a hairdresser, Ernest William Mathews (1910/11), State Butchery (1915/16) and from circa 1920/21 to circa late 1940s/early 1950s Salvatore Reale. In 1945/46 the building was owned by Edward John Brockman and William Locke Brockman. Ownership had changed again by 1951/52 to Nicholas March and Frank Walter Major was his tenant.
Statement of Significance
The place is of historic significance as an example of a commercial building in the Old Port City of Fremantle dating from the gold boom period in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. The place is a fine example of a Federation Free Style building, with elaborate stucco decoration above the ground floor level, that makes a significant contribution to the streetscape. The place is significant because, when viewed from the street, it is a substantially intact example of a commercial building which contributes to the very significant Old Port City of Fremantle.
References and Links
See also Bill Campbell.
This page incorporates material from Garry Gillard's Freotopia website, that he started in 2014 and the contents of which he donated to Wikimedia Australia in 2024. The content was originally created on 28 August, 2015 and hosted at freotopia.org/buildings/48high.html (it was last updated on 19 October, 2023). The donated data is also preserved in the Internet Archive's collection.