It is a local landmark featuring a substantial two storey building with white walls and an orange tiled roof in the Spanish Mission style.

Over a 2-hectare (4.9-acre) area the site offers extensive views westwards over the Indian Ocean and is a popular venue for picnics, concerts, meetings and weddings.

Claude de Bernales, a mining entrepreneur, bought the house in 1911 and renamed it Overton Lodge, after his birthplace in Brixton, London.

At the time Pennefather was the Attorney General for Western Australia having been elected to the West Australian Legislative Council in 1897 as the member for Greenough.

De Bernales at this time had amassed a modest fortune by dealing in mine machinery in the Western Australian gold fields and was managing director of Kalgoorlie Foundry Limited.

He also began to make improvements to the grounds, establishing a large rose garden in the south west corner and probably the tennis court below the summer house.

[3]: 9  In 1936 he entered into an agreement with the Cottesloe Municipal Council to transform the land west from his property to Marine Parade into a model garden estate.

[5] The land was endowed for municipal purposes and housed the original courts of the Cottesloe Tennis Club adjacent to Warnham Road.

Surrounding sand dunes were levelled and soil trucked in from the Darling Ranges to establish expansive gardens and lawns to the west.

The branch had contributed funds for the alterations of the centre and in exchange was given the use of the billiard room with its attractive jarrah panels and lead light windows for its meetings.

The local Scout group operated a kiosk from the summer house selling icecream and cool drinks on weekends until it was demolished in 1959.

In 1962 respected landscape architect John Oldham designed an attractive waterfall garden adjacent to the entry gates off Broome Street.

[3] In 1970 the Governor-General Sir Paul Hasluck unveiled a statue of war time Prime Minister John Curtin who had lived nearby in Jarrad Street.

To celebrate the Council's centenary in 2007 Pennefather's summer house, which overlooked the tennis court on the south side, was recreated and the original tiled floor restored.