42-46 — Streets of Freo — Streets of Freo

42-46 Henry St (was 74-80 pre 1938)

The Moores Building is located on the eastern side of Henry Street and is situated between High Street and Marine Terrace.

A store was established on the site by Samuel Moore in the 1840s. William Dalgety Moore later established a general merchant business there in 1862. Constructed between 1868 and 1899 the complex comprises a residence, warehouse, factory stable, offices and shop, built between 1862 and 1899, in the Victorian Georgian and Victorian Academic style of architecture by architect John McNeece (1906) and built by Abbott and Rennie. The oldest building, dating from the 1830s, is a three-storey storehouse in the rear courtyard. It was built by George F Johnson, but the occupant is unknown.

The buildings are mainly constructed from rubble limestone and have brick quoined openings. Roof materials comprise of corrugated iron and some shingled cladding. The façade was cement rendered during the gold rush years with rusticated coursings to the ground floor. The two storey stucco frontage also features an asymmetrical triangular pediment over the entrance at the northern end of the façade with decoration to the tympanum. The present facade dates from 1900.

William Dalgety Moore gained substantial wealth from a wide range of activities: merchandising, timber, pearling, fish canning, shipping, flour milling and agencies and exercised political power in both Fremantle and in the newly formed Legislative Council.

The complex was listed on the Register of the National Estate in 1978.

In 1985 the City of Fremantle purchased the property and restored it through 1985/86 with a grant from the Commonwealth Government as part of the preparations for the America's Cup defence. The Moores Building Contemporary Art Gallery was originally administered by the Artists Foundation of WA (AFWA)- now ARTSOURCE) for the Fremantle Council and was then passed back to the Council in c 2004, and is now run by the Fremantle Arts Centre along with a Cafe- Moore & Moore and an arts residency programme in the back-store.

“Opening our doors in 2016, Paper Bird has found a nest among friends at the historic Moores Building… Close by to other independent bookshops, New Edition, The Map Shop and Bill Campbell’s Books, along with Notre Dame University, Paper Bird is helping create a literary precinct in the West End of Fremantle. The specialist children’s bookshop, focuses on Australian writers and illustrators. Indigenous stories feature strongly at Paper Bird…And we have twice weekly story telling under the beautiful tree in the courtyard.” (reference) Director of Paper Bird, Jennifer Jackson (Founding Director of Woylie Project, Australia’s first dedicated Aboriginal story festival for kids focusing on Noongar stories amongst a diverse range of Aboriginal stories from across Australia in collaboration with Magabala Books.