The location selected for the permanent school building was originally the site of a water-powered flour mill[3] operated by Henry Willey Reveley, the civil engineer for the Swan River Colony.

Sanford was a member of the Cambridge Camden Society[7] and was an amateur architect with a passion for ecclesiastical architecture and, as a result, the school resembles a gothic-revival-style church.

At the same time, plans were underway for a new Perth Boys' and Girls' School on James Street, which was completed at the end of 1896 and to which the students were relocated.

In the 1990s, the building operated for use as a retail shop for the National Trust of Australia (WA) and included a bookshop and restaurant.

[11] In 2015, Curtin University announced it had signed a lease with the National Trust of Western Australia to use the building for a range of shop-front activities.

Curtin, working with the National Trust, completed an internal fit-out of the building in 2017 creating a University outstation for course activities in the central business district.