PHOTOGRAPH: 97 RUPERT STREET, NATIONAL ESTATE SURVEY COLLECTION

From a series of photographs taken by Ian Molyneux for the National Estate Survey of Subiaco in 1985.

The house was constructed in 1912.

In the Rates Books of 1905, J Connelly was listed as the owner of Lots 35, 36 & 37. By 1908/09 the ownership had changed to Hooper and Rasmussen and by 1912/13 a new house on Lot 35 (97 Rupert Street) had been occupied by John Jones. The readily available evidence confirms that the firm of Hooper and Rasmussen was involved in speculative residential development in Subiaco in the early twentieth century and it therefore seems likely that they built the three houses at 93, 95 and 97 Rupert Street in c.1908-1912. Based on streetscape views it appears that 93 and 97 were built to same general design, with only minor variations, and that similar verandah, door and window detailing was used for the facades of all three houses. The partners of Hooper and Rasmussen were Henry Rasmussen, carpenter/builder, William James Hooper, builder and possibly William Isaac Hooper, plumber/builder. In 1903 they commenced advertising new houses for sale with the tag line: 'Hooper and Rasmussen, Builders and Owners'.