St Georges Terrace


St Georges Terrace is the main street in the city of Perth, Western Australia. It runs parallel to the Swan River and forms the major arterial road through the central business district.
Its western end is marked by the Barracks Arch near Parliament House across the Mitchell Freeway; the eastern end joins Adelaide Terrace at the intersection with Victoria Avenue.

Naming

St Georges Terrace was named after St George's Cathedral. Originally, houses occupied by clergy of the cathedral and lay clerks of the cathedral choir constituted a substantial portion of the Terrace. Some of these houses such as The Deanery remain, however the majority of these were demolished in the 1960s. The apostrophe was removed from the name in the 1980s.

Streetscapes

The level of St Georges Terrace is in effect at the top of a ridge, where the short roads that descend southerly towards Perth Water all provide views of the Swan River, including Barrack Street, Sherwood Court, Howard Street, William Street, Mill Street and Spring Street.

Buildings

The main streetscape between Barrack Street and William Street in the 1930s and 1940s constituted considerable uniformity of design and building height. By the late 1970s removal of significant older buildings for taller more modern buildings changed this permanently. Perth's earlier tallest buildings were located on St Georges Terrace, including the Colonial Mutual Life building, subsequent tallest buildings were: Citibank House, Parmelia House, 140 St Georges Terrace, Allendale Square, St Martins Tower, BankWest Tower and Central Park.
A number of other buildings are along the road:
Set into the footpath along the street are a series of commemorative plaques honouring notable figures in Western Australia's history. Originally 150 plaques were installed in 1979, as part of the WAY '79 celebrations, marking the state's 150th year of European settlement. Since then, additional plaques have been added, so that there was one for each year from 1829 to 1999. In 2014, the 1959 plaque, commemorating Rolf Harris, was removed after Harris was convicted of sexual assault.