The development of Perth was hugely impacted by the discovery of gold in the Kimberley, Murchison and Kalgoorlie regions in the 1880s and 1890s, and the concurrent granting of Responsible Government to Western Australia in 1890. With the increase in population came the demand for more residential land. Property to the north, east and west of Perth, in particular that in the vicinity of the 1881 Eastern Railway line, became the focus of residential subdivision. The Maylands Estate, as it became known, was one of a number of large holdings purchased and subdivided by land investors to provide housing for workers and their families. The company responsible for the Maylands development was Gold Estates Australia, which offered the first land for sale in 1895-96.

Mephan Ferguson’s large pipe factory established in 1898 near the railway at Maylands instigated a need for additional residential lots convenient for his employees.

As a result of the area’s expansion, calls were made for a police constable to be permanently stationed at Maylands from as early as 1904. Subsequently, Lot 154 Guildford Road was purchased at a cost of £135 for the purpose of building a police station for the area. In July 1906, mounted police officer, Constable William Ullman, was appointed to Maylands and initially operated from rented premises in Eighth Avenue. In April 1908, tenders were first offered by the Public Works Department for the construction of a station. The tender for the new station was awarded in May 1908 to building contractors Franklin and Finlay at a cost of £962.12.

A porch with the words ‘POLICE STATION’ overhead led to the charge room through which two cells and then a ‘yard’ with a urinal and earth closet were located. The quarters comprised three bedrooms, a living room, kitchen and bathroom. To the rear of the new police station building was the washhouse, earth closets and a timber stable for the constable’s horse. An open picket fence with gates ran the length of the front/Guildford Road elevation and the remainder was fenced with closed pickets. Maylands Police Station and Quarters was completed in August/September 1908 and the keys were handed over to Constable Ullman. The final cost of the project was £947 13s4d.

Constable William Ullman remained officer in charge at the Maylands police station up to his resignation on 24 May 1915, living with his wife at the adjoining residence. Ullman was followed at Maylands Police Station and Quarters by F.L. Warner, F.B. Cunningham and F.B. Alanson with one of the longest serving officers, Constable Alex Wilson, being there from June 1927 up to December 1938.

Maylands Police Station and Quarters underwent minor repairs around 1948. These mainly comprised the renovation of bathrooms and the residence’s laundry. Work was again undertaken in 1964 when a new brick lavatory was added to the rear of the residence with access provided through the existing verandah and stair landing. The fittings in the 1908 brick closet were taken away, its floor made good and the structure left in situ.

As with the 19th century gold boom, the mineral boom of the 1950s and 1960s had a dramatic impact on the Metropolitan region. From this time, there was an expansion of the Police Department and its facilities, not only in terms of more officers but the growing number of specialised branches and departments. It was during this period, in particular 1973-1992, that the majority of alterations to Maylands Police Station and Quarters were undertaken. The first of these was the removal of the 1908 timber stable structure and the erection of a double garage as well as a fenced and gated entry and exit in 1973. The latter happened after the establishment of a right-of- way at the rear of the property. Prior to 1992, a brick bathroom and toilet block were constructed at the building. This is believed to have occurred when police facilities were increased at Maylands police station resulting in the conversion of the residence into additional office space. This campaign included the creation of a new entry between the original charge room and a former bedroom, the removal of the cells and installation of new office partitions, the blocking up of the cell windows and building of a new vertical window to match the 1908 openings, and the adaptation of one of the bedrooms into an interview room. New steel stairs were built to the rear of the building in 1992. A larger, modern police station was opened in Whatley Crescent in Bayswater in 1999. Maylands Police Station and Quarters continued to be used by the WA Police Service until 2007, prior to its acquisition by the City of Bayswater. Since that time the station has been used for a range of community services and from 2012 has been the home of the Maylands Historical and Peninsula Association Inc.

The Perth Road Board cleared the site for the future hall in 1919 prior to a competition being held for its design. The successful entrants were architects, Powell and Cameron. The building was constructed for £4500 by contractors Gaunt Brothers. The hall was officially opened on 7 May 1921 by Edgar Walter Hamer, the chairman of the Board at a ceremony attended by Members of Parliament, Road Board members and approximately 800 members of the public. It was noted in the coverage of the event in the local press that it was intended to add a gallery in the hall and another storey to the front portion of the building.

The opening of the first tram to be used in Maylands took place outside Maylands Hall in 1928.

The Hall was used for dances up until the mid 1950s. It closed for a while and then reopened in 1959 as a rock and roll venue.

The Hall operated as the Maylands Library for some years and is now the home to the West Australian Youth Jazz Orchestras (WAYJO).

This land located on the corner of Eighth Avenue previously housed the ES&A Bank (English, Scottish & Australian Bank) which had a substantial 2 storey building with a verandah.

On the corner of Seventh Avenue was a fairly large factory for Craik’s Motor Body Building and Furniture Manufacturing. Craik’s moved to this location sometime in 1934 after their factory in Third Avenue was destroyed by fire. Motor cars of the period 1920s to the 1930s had bodies built locally on imported chassis. The bodies were steel panels on a wooden frame with leather upholstery, usually stuffed with horsehair. These were similar manufacturing processes used in furniture making. Newspaper advertisements for cars and furniture as well as job vacancies of the time show Craik’s was advertised during the 1920s as the largest car body builder in WA.

The area was left derelict for some time until complete demolition & Maylands Commercial Centre was built on the site. The centre is due for demolition again in the near future when it will become the home for a Woolworths on the ground floor with apartments above.

The first stage of these premises was built in 1903. Dawe’s Corner refers to Samuel John Dawe (c1857-1928) who recorded his residence as this location from 1901. It is probable that a more basic building served Samuel, his wife Elizabeth and their four children until the new building was constructed. No details of the architect or builder of this place has been found. From these premises Samuel Dawe operated a small store, as well as his business as a land agent and real estate agent. In the early 1900s there was considerable activity in the sale of land in the area and the local press has many mentions of land and property sales by Samuel Dawe. Dawe was also active in the community as Chair of the Maylands Progress Association. The Dawes left the area in the late 1900s and there were many different occupants and businesses located there. From the 1930s there were references to two tenancies at 165 Guildford Road suggesting the original tenancy had been divided or an addition had been constructed alongside the original. As you can see the premises are now run down and effectively derelict and we are not sure what is going to happen to them.

Maylands Primary School was built by the Public Works Department over a number of years under the guidance of Assistant Architect Hillson Beasley, who later went on to become the Chief Architect (1906-1916). Due to a rapid increase in the local population in Maylands between 1901 and 1903, the Maylands School opened in 1903 with a single classroom on a site bounded by Guildford Road, Peninsula Road and Sixth Avenue. That same year, plans were drawn by the Public Works Department for an additional two classrooms and an extended verandah on the north of the building. With the construction of these additions by 1904, further plans were drawn in the same year for an infants’ class room adjoining the north-east of the existing structure and for the verandah on the north of the existing classrooms to be enclosed for a corridor. The buildings were then further extended in 1905 to include two more class rooms, teachers’ quarters, hat/cloakroom, washing/latrine facilities and shelter sheds. Further extensions then occurred in 1909 and 1912.

The design of the Maylands school was typical for its time, generally following a standard plan, that when fully realised, consisted of a central hall around which class rooms were built. This type of design is one for which the architect, Hillson Beasley, is particularly noted. This model allowed for new classrooms to be added as the need arose. The Maylands School was typical in that the hall was not part of the original construction but rather was added in 1909, a few years after the provision of the initial classrooms in 1903. This would indicate that there was a rapidly growing school age population in the Maylands area that required almost a continuous building of educational facilities.

During the period of the War, a separate Infants’ School was built on a site across from the existing school on Sixth Avenue in 1915. The design of this building was influenced by the educational philosophy of Italian doctor, Maria Montessori, with 20 feet wide verandahs on to which classrooms opened, and special light furniture, which provided opportunities for flexible and open air teaching.

In 1920, as part of the continuing development of centres for technical training in Western Australian schools, a Manual Training Room was built for a Perth Junior Technical School on the Peninsula Road side of the Maylands Primary School site. This was to serve the needs of senior primary school boys from schools in the surrounding area. In 1978, this building was converted to a new arts and crafts centre. The school facilities continued to be adapted in response to changes in education practices and the population of the area.

Because of the growing demands of the area a new school building was constructed in Kelvin Street Maylands which amalgamated this school and East Maylands Primary School to form the Maylands Peninsula Primary School. The new school opened in 2004 and the school buildings at Maylands Primary School became the premises for the Department of Education School of Instrumental Music.

In 2016, a portion of the school grounds on the north west have been developed as the Constable Care Safety School to teach road safety to school children.

The Royal W. A. Institute for the Blind (previously known as the W. A. Institute and Industrial School for the Blind) was founded at this site in 1895. At the official opening it was noted that the Institute would be a permanent memorial to commemorate the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria. The primary objective of the Institute was to provide employment for people, in receipt of a blind pension, who were able to work. The type of work carried out at the Institute involved the production of cane products, brushes, basket making, and matting. By the 1930s, conditions had again become cramped and outdated; however, although the Depression had made it difficult to secure the finance required to keep the Institute open, the generosity of the community allowed the Institute to progress.

In 1937, extensive additions and alterations were carried out by the Public Works Department (PWD). This major addition was designed by PWD architects, under the Principal Architect, Mr. A.E. Clare. In the 1930s, the Modernist Movement had challenged many of the established principles of architecture. Architects were trying to find a new architectural expression; one that reflected the twentieth century machine age. The surface of buildings became plainer, traditional historical details were replaced by geometric patterns and over all the decoration was simpler. Frequently, walls and windows, together, formed a flat surface and the sculptural effect of light and shadow given by the modelling of the older styles were gone. The 1937 Administration and Showroom Building tried to address these architectural issues by a combination of a stripped classical form and Art Deco detailing. In addition to the construction of the two-storey brick building, extensive alterations were made to the pre-existing adjoining factory buildings.

In 1952, the number of workers at the Institute had reached 100. There was insufficient suitable accommodation available, so a fundraising drive was made for additional buildings. In 1955, a contract was agreed to erect further factory buildings, at a cost of £107,000.10 This southern extension completed the Whatley Crescent elevation establishing a strong classical symmetry.

Further building work was undertaken, in 1961, to erect a building that provided a training centre for pre-school blind children, additional accommodation and training facilities, and a hall for cultural and recreational purposes.

The Senses Foundation (formerly the Royal WA Institute for the Blind) sold the building and land in 2004. The land, which ran from Whatley Crescent through to Guildford Road, was subdivided, with three quarters developed for residential housing. The 1937 building, which contained large open spaces, was initially intended to be adapted into apartments and then offices, before it was eventually sold to the City of Bayswater who leased it to the West Australian Ballet. Its adaptation for the West Australian Ballet allowed for large performance and rehearsal spaces, café and wardrobe functions, and open plan offices without significant alteration to the existing fabric. The structure was strengthened, services were upgraded, mobility access was improved, and concessions provided for parking. Areas that had been subjected to vandalism and fire damage in 2005 were repaired. The adaptation was completed in 2013.

The road bridge over the Perth to Guildford railway line was built c1913 by the Public Works Department of Western Australia. The decision to build the bridge was influenced by many requests from the local community. The timber bridge underwent several programs of work during its life time including major additions to the structure in the 1950s. By the 2000s it was apparent that the bridge was failing because of its poor condition but it was not until 2014 that the bridge was demolished and a replacement constructed at the same site. Timbers from the original construction were retained for use in an interpretive art work located on the southern side of the bridge. The art work includes some historic images to assist in the understanding of the former structure and its importance in linking across the railway line

In the early 1900s, Maylands proved a popular residential suburb for workers. In about 1903, the first shop and residence was erected in Railway Terrace, across the road from the railway station, for Asher Salaman, who provided postal services in the district. After the Maylands Progress Association requested better postal facilities E. A. Pries, Inspector of Post and Telegraphs, Perth, inspected the area in July. He reviewed suitable lots and recommended the site on the corner of Railway Terrace and Seventh Avenue which was purchased for £80. As annual revenue from the Post Office at Maylands had increased substantially it was raised to semi-official status, and Percy Sutcliffe, a former Post and Telegraph employee, was awarded a three year contract as Postmaster from December 1906.

On 24 September 1908, the West Australian reported a request for £700 was included in the Estimates for 1909-10 for erection of a brick Post Office building at Maylands, as per PWD estimates. The Federation Free Classical design style of Maylands Post Office is probably based upon standard plans developed by the PWD in the 1890s. The Maylands plans were prepared by PWD architect Clarence Rose Ross (b. Dundee, Scotland, 1874, d. Bellevue, WA, 1949). On 27 October 1909, tenders were called for erection of Maylands Post Office, and Silverlock & Hayes was awarded the contract at £750 in December.

On 26 April 1910, Maylands Post Office, a ‘large office and Letter Porch’ with the entrance at the street corner, and Post Master’s Quarters at the rear, constructed of brick with cement dressings, was completed at a cost of £747 9s 11d. The Post Office transferred to the new building and commenced operation with Percy Sutcliffe continuing as Post Master.

In the pre-World War I period, Maylands continued to grow. As elsewhere, the Post Office provided an important service for the local population under Sutcliffe and his successors including Miss E. Hall, and her successor, Mrs M. H. Maguire. Probably, as a consequence of the appointment of a post mistress at Maylands, the residential quarters at the rear of the Post Office ceased to be occupied for this purpose. Later postmasters did not reside there and the quarters were converted to other uses.

After World War II, Maylands began to grow rapidly and business passing through the Post Office increased proportionately, necessitating an increase in staff. In the 1950s-60s, Maylands continued to grow with new housing being developed including the gradual erection of flats, resulting in the addition of 455 more delivery points between 1953 and 1968, increasing the work load of the postmen at Maylands Post Office. The Post Office building underwent alteration and additions, including a new tile roof and a new mail room at the rear of the building.

From the 1980s, the growing trend away from main street commercial areas to large shopping complexes in Australian towns saw a transition from the traditional post office to postal services operated more as a commercial business from small privately owned shops or kiosks as Post Office agencies. In this period, many Post Offices were decommissioned and sold by the Commonwealth, including Maylands Post Office, which was closed and sold in 1988. In 2000, the interior of the place was altered with partitioning and a mezzanine floor.

The Bold Park School was formerly the Presbyterian Church, constructed in 1907. The building shows the form and detail of the Federation Gothic style and is a landmark in the streetscape. It has historic value for its association with the establishment and development of the Maylands community in the early 20th century and with the Presbyterian Church who contributed to the Maylands community until 1972 then the Uniting Church from 1977 to 1979. There is social value for the members of the community who attended social and religious events at this place from the early 20th century until its closure in the 1970s. In 1975 it became the Kids Open Learning School until that organisation went out of business. The buildings are now part of the Bold Park Community School, Maylands Campus, opened on the site in 2021.

In September 1895, investment company Gold Estates of Australia, was registered as proprietor of portions of Swan Location Y, 471 acres in area. In 1895-96, it began subdivision of part of this area, formerly named the Pine Apple Estate, under the name of Maylands Estate. A siding was built near this site in 1896 and was first known as 15 Mile Siding. In 1898, Mephan Ferguson established a factory to supply pipes for the Goldfields Water Supply Scheme on land he purchased near the railway in the Maylands area. Improvements were undertaken to the siding, which became known as the Falkirk Siding, in recognition of Ferguson’s birthplace. In October, as demand grew to provide affordable and convenient lots for blue collar workers at the factory, Gold Estates Australia Limited’s third sub-division in Maylands Estate, extending north from Ninth Avenue, with the proposed railway station between Ninth Avenue and Ferguson Avenue, was offered for sale. In August 1899, tenders were called for construction of Falkirk Railway Station but it was subsequently named Maylands.

The Maylands Station House was designed by PWD (Public Works Department) and built by A. Davenport for £1133. The original plans were issued under the authority of the Chief Civil Engineer of Western Australian Railways, C.Y. O’Connor. The design was to be a single storey, solid brick structure in Federation Free Classical style. The station was officially opened on the 1st of February, 1900. During the 1920’s -30’s the Maylands railway yards were extremely busy with the transport of raw materials and products coming to and from the area. This was due to the boom of local factories such as the Albany Bell Confectionary Company, the Maylands Brickworks and the Institute for the Blind.

The longest serving Stationmaster was F. R. H. Coombs, father of economist H. C. ‘Nugget’ Coombs, from July 1925 until March 1943. The old station house was closed on the 1st of July 1982 and a new station opened on the 1st August, 2001. The former station building underwent conservation works and is currently used iby Perth Transport authority as a rest room for staff.

The Peninsula Hotel forms part of the Maylands Town centre. The building demonstrates the early expansion of Maylands as a residential suburb, which followed the establishment of the Ferguson factory and the railway station. The building was constructed and owned by Wilhelm Friederich Gustave Liebe, a prominent Perth building contractor. The site was chosen to take full advantage of the benefits of being located directly opposite the railway station. Liebe and his partner, Joseph Klein, moved from Melbourne to Western Australia in 1891, at which time the partnership dissolved due to Klein’s ill-health. In Perth, Liebe worked with leading architects on a number of large and grandiose projects, including Queen’s Hall (1899), His Majesty’s Theatre (1904), the Public Art Gallery (1908), several banks and a number of stations for the Midland Railway Company of Western Australia. Liebe specialised in hotel construction, with the Peninsula Hotel, which he owned, being of particular note. The Peninsula Hotel has played a prominent role in the social life of the Maylands community. While the declaration of war on Germany in August 1914 saw the hotel doors close, after WWI the hotel continued as a centre of social activity. During the 1920s and early 1930s, the hotel was the start and finish line for the Beverley to Perth Cycle Race, inaugurated by Mr Percy Armstrong. By the 1970s demand for suburban hotel accommodation had declined, Australian drinking habits were changing and the Peninsula Hotel was in need of repairs and updating. In 1973, the Swan Brewery decided to build a tavern on an adjacent site and proposed demolishing the Peninsula Hotel to provide a car park. The building’s high degree of social value was clearly demonstrated at this time, with the local community and the National Trust of Australia making significant efforts to prevent its demolition in the 1970s. After a public meeting in July 1974, the brewery agreed to a “stay of execution” and influenced by this change in attitude, the National Trust classified the building. It was the intention of the Peninsula Association, a group formed independently by people interested in conserving the old hotel building, to restore the building to a condition in which community groups would be able to use the hotel as a focus for social activities and community development. This has been achieved, with the building currently being used by a variety of community groups as a base for their organisation. It is one of the earliest historic places to be saved through public outcry. The building is a rare example of a richly detailed Edwardian Hotel, still largely in its original form, in metropolitan Perth.