User:Dan arndt/sandbox/Former Highway Hotel, Perth

The Claremont Medical Centre in Perth, Western Australia is a landmark heritage listed building located in Claremont, Western Australia. Originally built in 1940 as a hotel. In 2000 it was converted into a medical centre. In 2002 it won the Art Deco Society Award for “Best refurbishment of a heritage listed building”, and in 2004 won the Town of Claremont “Civic Design Award 2004 for Best adaptation of a heritage place”.

The hotel was designed on a central axis which bisects the angle of the street intersection and it is at this point that the main entrance is located, under the wide sweep of a curved concrete cantilevered balcony. The circular nature of the exterior is expressed in the lounge bar, with curved plaster walls and glass brick panels, as well as spacious spiral staircase. The staircase lead to twenty one bedrooms located on the two first-storey wings, four of them with private bathrooms.

Style and heritage features
The two storey expansive building addresses the corner situation with sweeping curved lines that extend along the secondary street front, curve the corner and along the Stirling Highway frontage. The horizontality of the rendered bands of balustrade is contrasted with vertical block elements on the Stirling Highway frontage. Behind the curved corner parapet, the hipped Marseille clay tile roof is evident.

The massing of horizontal and vertical forms are reminiscent of European examples, such as those by Dutch modernist architect, Willem Marinus Dudok.