MOANA CHAMBERS

Moana Chambers was built for Daniel Connor and his son-in-law Timothy Quinlan. The three-storey building included offices, restaurant, dining rooms, cafe and roof garden and was built to serve the affluent members of the Western Australian community, including business leaders and politicians. The building was described as the ‘finest example of Federation Free Classical Style’ in the Commonwealth.

The building was opened by Colonial Treasurer Frank Wilson on 9 March 1908, where at the gala occasion, Wilson suggested the four underground, luxurious, private dining rooms be named after four Australian Governors.

The Daily News, Tuesday 3 March 1908.

The name Moana, recorded on other buildings in the area before 1908, may have been a reference to a Polynesian word meaning‘ocean’ or the Royal Mail Steamer Moana, which travelled the London–Colombo–Australia (East Coast) route between 1906 and 1909. (Reference).

Richard Joseph Dennehy (1854-1939) was the architect responsible for most of the work on the Moana Chambers Building.

Dennehy was born in Cork, Ireland and arrived in Melbourne with his parents in 1855. He practiced as an architect in Victoria and NSW until 1896 when he relocated to Perth to take advantage of the gold boom. Locally, as one of the few Catholic architects in Western Australia, he worked on the Home of the Good Shepherd, Leederville, the Church of the Sacred Heart, Highgate, and the St. John of God Hospital in Subiaco as well as the Grand Theatre, Murray Street, Perth and the Tattersall's Club in Barrack Street, Perth.

Simon B Alexander, one of Perth’s most prominent builders, was awarded the contract to build Moana Chambers for £10,000, with furnishings for £4,000. 

B. Makutz of William Street, Perth, provided all ironwork for the building and was responsible for fabricating the magnificent staircase, the scrolled bannister rail and the lattice girder.

Messrs Robertson and Moffat of Melbourne designed and supplied all internal fittings and furniture, using local and imported materials.

“The window fittings, counters, showcases and wall decorations on the ground floor were specially designed by the firm's artist, and are carried out in Huon pine, relieved with walnut mouldings, the whole polished and finished in the very best style, and mounted with mirror glass. The floor covering is inlaid linoleum of oak parquet pattern, which lends itself excellently to the handsome solid oak stairs, specially made by the firm. The floor is covered with a magnificent carpet of a rich colouring, which sets off to great advantage the handsome furniture, consisting of specially-designed tables, chairs, and settees, all of which we must specially mention have been constructed of our native Jarrah."

Daily News, Monday 9 March 1908, page 8

Moana Chambers is still owned by the Connor Quinlan Family Trust.