Cottesloe Civic Centre

The Cottesloe Civic Centre lies on the corner of Broome and Napier Streets, Cottesloe, Western Australia. It is a local landmark featuring a substantial two storey building with white walls and an orange tiled roof in the Spanish Mission style. Over 2 hectares (5 acres) in area the site offers extensive views westwards over the Indian Ocean and is a popular venue for picnics, concerts, meetings and weddings. It includes the administration centre for the Town of Cottesloe, the War Memorial Town Hall and extensive walled and landscaped grounds with tall Norfolk Island pines.

The Laurels was originally built in 1897-8 for Richard Pennefather. It was an elegant example of the Federation Queen Anne style. Claude de Bernales, a mining entrepreneur, bought the house in 1911 and renamed it Overton Lodge, after his birthplace in Brixton, London. In 1937 he redeveloped the house in the Spanish Mission Style. In 1950 it was bought by the Town of Cottesloe and remodelled again, this time for use as a civic centre. It is included on the State Register of Heritage Places for Western Australia and the Municipal Inventory for the Town of Cottesloe.

When the house was built in 1898 by Judge Richard W Pennefather there were few neighbouring properties and no proper road to the house. Broome Street did not extend north beyond Forrest Street and sand dunes and bush surrounded the house. The house was named "The Laurels" and built of limestone quarried from the nearby Briggs quarry (subsequently the Council depot). The arches and lintels to the doors and windows were of brick and the house was surrounded by large verandahs. A latticed tank stand housed the water tanks capable of holding 83,000 litres (22,000 gallons) and a summer house stood to the south. At the time Pennefather was the Attorney General for Western Australia having been elected to the West Australian Legislative Council in 1897 as the member for Greenough. His headstone lies at the south west corner of the building and was relocated from Karrakatta cemetery.

In 1911 Pennefather sold the house to Claude Aldo de Bernales, a mining entrepreneur, and his wife Bessie. De Bernales at this time had amassed a modest fortune by dealing in mine machinery in the Western Australian gold fields and was managing director of Kalgoorlie Foundry Limited. He would go on to become immensely wealthy, organising complex investment schemes in mining companies and attracting significant investment to Western Australia's mining industry.

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