Memorial cottage still has appeal
Ninety-eight years ago, a crowd of thousands gathered in a suburban Mt Hawthorn street to watch an estimated 100 workers try to build a house in a day.
Next month, thousands are expected to head to the same street to admire the result.
Anzac Cottage, constructed largely on February 12, 1916 as a memorial to a wounded soldier returned from Gallipoli, will open its doors to the public as one of the additions to the popular Open House Perth event.
The house, designed by architect Alfred Levido and built with classic Federation Queen Anne details, is claimed by some to be Australia's first World War I war memorial.
Pte Cuthburt John Porter lived in the cottage until his death in 1964.
Other venues to be included in Open House for the first time this year include a family home that uses an unconventional Coolgardie Safe-inspired cooling system, the one-time theatre and lithographic printing office that now houses the District Court and the Harry Perkins Institute.
The 10-storey Harry Perkins site includes five levels of laboratory space, clinical research areas and is the first project of its kind to be open for Open House.
Organisers expect one of the most sought-after tickets to be for the Telstra Exchange building, which has cast a shadow over Wellington Street for more than three decades but has never been open to the public.
Constructed in the late 1970s, the purpose-built building is WA's tallest telecommunications exchange and an example of brutalist design.
Behind-the-scenes tour tickets for the site will be determined by ballot.
More than 70 Perth places will open their doors for the weekend event on November 1 and 2 and organisers expect more than 40,000 people to attend.
New features of this year's event include "speed dating", where visitors can have access to top Perth architects for five minutes at a time, and an urban playground of cubby houses in the Perth Cultural Centre.
Nearby, the urban orchard will become a pop-up bar for the weekend.
