Designed in the Victorian Byzantine style by George Temple-Poole and supervised by his 1895 successor John Harry Grainger, it was opened in 1899.

The building was originally planned as a combined library, museum and art gallery to be sited in St Georges Terrace to commemorate the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria in 1887.

However, by 1894, enthusiasm for the project had waned and the St Georges Terrace site had been abandoned.

[1] The Hackett Hall that housed the Public Library is immediately west of the building.

It has been included in the redevelopment of the Western Australian Museum, as part of the Perth Cultural Centre.