Evoution of the Land Registry Office

The land registry office was designed by Stratford architect Thomas J. Hepburn son of  city engineer and prolific archetech  Alexander Hepburn. T. J. Hepburn deliberately matched the building's style with the buff brick, and plum-coloured sandstone, featured on the neighbouring courthouse and jail. Perth County council's property committee recommended the tender from Pounder Bros., a Stratford construction company, to build the “complete structure as per plans and specifications, for the sum of $10,168.” The recommendation was accepted in April 1910. 

A plaque in the foyer commemorates the formal opening of this building later in 1910. The building, at 24  St. Andrew St., has been described as a “fireproof fortress for the preservation of public records.”

At one time, the only wood in the building was a toilet stall in the basement, and wooden flooring and baseboards on the main floor. Even the door frames and doors were clad in metal. The staircase is concrete and cast iron, though is now covered with carpet for safety and comfort. Gas lamps were never needed because the relatively new and safer option of electric lighting was available when the building was constructed. Its masonry walls and room dividers, combined with supporting metal arches in the basement, meant the building could easily support the tons of heavy documents and records housed here.