Jubilee Building
0064411PD: The Jubilee Building
What’s in a name?
Notice the word Library on the façade/ exterior of this building. This building, known as the Jubilee Building, is now part of Boola Bardip. It was originally a combined Museum, Library and Art Gallery.
Marvel at the expanse of the modernist floating structure of Boola Bardip-WA Museum, almost framing the historical Jubilee Building. See the contrast of old and new.
Place names carry meaning. Officially opened in 1897, the Jubilee Building was named in honour of Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee (1887). It was built to house the growing collections of the Museum, Library and Art Gallery, and was regarded at that time as a symbol of confidence in the development of European cultural activities in the Colony.
The Library had originally been on St Georges Terrace and the Museum was formerly housed in the old Perth Gaol. By 1903, a library was built immediately next door. The State Library relocated into it. In 1908, a building was constructed to house the Art Gallery (facing Beaufort Street), leaving the Jubilee Building to house the State’s Museum. The Jubilee Building has remained a part of the Museum during all stages of change. Nowadays the Museum, Library and Art Gallery are large enough to each require their own specialised buildings!
Boola Bardip means “many stories”. Why do you think the WA Museum, encompassing the Jubilee Building, was renamed in in this way?
Discover more!
Imagine what the interior of the Jubilee Building might have looked like in 1897. What would the exhibits include? In what ways might the exhibits be different today?
Art Gallery and Museum Buildings