The museum was a proposal of James Harwood, who suggested Peter Briggs buy a building for his motor vehicle collection.

In the late 1960s he won the MG Car Club Annual Championship three times and established himself as a broker of vintage vehicles and aeroplanes.

[3] As York Town Lot 101, the property was granted by the government to builder, wheelwright and furniture maker George Wansbrough on 12 May 1859 for £10; he constructed a cottage on the site which also had an oven, indicating the original use for the building was as a bakery.

Henry was only there a short time and then became publican of Monger's York Hotel, before being sent to gaol for sheep stealing.

[7] Hardey, of Peninsula Farm, one of the early settlers in Western Australia, died in May 1874[8] and the property continued to be owned by his executors.

"How could people be expected to build if they do not know the proper levels", asked Cr Harris at a council meeting.

[18] Adeline Windsor also owned Central Buildings (and constructed the 1907 section) and a machinery store in Howick Street.

[19] Architect Ernest Edward Giles invited tenders for the erection of "semi-detached shops" in York "for JC Windsor Esq" on 12 October 1907.

[34] In June 1964, the remaining lots were transferred to Roy Pemberton, who then ran the Eastern Districts Trading Co, and his wife Florence.

[35] In 1979, the property was purchased and restored by companies controlled by Peter Briggs to be used as a motor museum for his car collection.

[2][37] The building is in Federation Free Classical style with an exuberant, free and mannerist use of classical features: parapet with a Palladian balustrade skyline, globe finials, double layer of alternating pediments (the lower pediments having crests), string course, Romanesque arched windows and doors, hood moulds above and aprons below windows.