Lawson Apartments, Art Deco residential building in Perth, Australia
Lawson Apartments is an eleven-story residential building at Sherwood Court that combines Spanish Mission ornaments with two towers arranged in an H-shaped layout. Each floor from level three through ten holds four apartments, while the lower levels house commercial spaces and a restaurant.
The Colonial Mutual Life Assurance Society constructed this residential complex in 1937 as a major development in Perth. During World War II, the building served as the headquarters for the State Cabinet.
The building mixes private residences with the Karrakatta Club and Balthazar restaurant, creating a blend of living and social spaces in central Perth. This combination of residential and public areas reflects how communities were organized in that era.
The site sits centrally in Perth and is easy to access, with the ground level offering entry to shops and restaurants. Visitors can appreciate the architecture from outside and explore the surroundings, where several other notable buildings are located.
The two symmetrical towers form an architectural dialogue with the neighboring Colonial Mutual Life building. This conversation between the two structures is a subtle but distinctive feature of the streetscape that shows how different projects of that era were designed to relate to each other.
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