City Of Bayswater history

Northeast of Somerset House (home of the Courtauld Institute Galleries and the Gilbert Collection [decorative arts]) is the eastern terminus of the Strand, as well as the voluminous Royal Courts of Justice, which replaced Westminster Hall as the chief law court of England in 1882.

The National Gallery has a superb collection of Old Masters paintings, and Tate Britain (a branch of the national Tate galleries), built in 1893–97 on the Thames near Vauxhall Bridge, has large holdings of British paintings and sculpture.

In December 1894, residents held a meeting to petition for a road board.

A second attempt to get Bayswater's own road board in 1896 was successful.

The building dates back to 1898, when the Governor of Western Australia, Sir Gerard Smith, laid the foundation stone for the Victoria Institute and Industrial School for the Blind.

The circa 1906 hotel building was originally built and owned by Wilhelm Friederich Gustave Liebe.

Construction on Ellis House began in 1912, and the weatherboard building was originally a local dairy.

In 1937, the Lotteries Commission and the government funded the development which combined the original three buildings.

In 1944, at the annual ratepayers' meeting, a majority of the seven ratepayers that attended voted for the board to change the district's name to "Oakleigh Park Road District". The name Bayswater was considered to obstruct progress due to its working class connotations.

The City of Westminster was established as a borough in 1965 by the amalgamation of the boroughs of Westminster, Paddington, and St Marylebone.

The local community and the National Trust were successful in their efforts to prevent the demolition of the building in the 1970’s, making it one of the earliest historic places in Western Australia to be saved through public outcry.

In October 1978, the shire council was sacked by the Government of Western Australia, for mismanagement, corruption and various actions breaking the Local Government Act.

At the next council election on 24 February 1979, 80% of ratepayers voted, much higher than the usual 30%. Only two of the councillors elected had been councillors before.