POST Newspapers, July 23, 2022

In 1935, a letter to the edi­tor of The West Australian described Jolimont as a neglected suburb.

It should “not be al­lowed to progress”, the writer said, because of the lack of roads linking it to the surrounding suburbs. In the early 1900s, the only access to Subiaco was a rough track running through the bush. Another letter writer asked for greater police protection because female residents had to embark on a “lonely walk through the bush” to get to and from Subiaco.

With just four lamps illuminating the mile­long journey along which “there is not a building of any description”, women reportedly were afraid to leave their Jolimont homes at night after reports of some being followed and accosted.

If only those early letter writers could see Jolimont now. Today it’s a vibrant mix of weatherboard cot­tages, houses, villas, town­houses and apartments – some old and some new. The median house price is $1.367,500, and among the recent sales at the upper end was a modem house at 7 Peel Street, which went for $2.405 million in November. One of the latest apart­ment developments in the suburb is Florin Parkside, which will overlook Mabel Talbot and Henderson parks.

The off-the-plan devel­opment by Stirling Capital, which also built the Treehouse complex, will have 63 apartments rang­ing in price from $565.000 to $2.05 million.

Stirling Capital manag­ing director Luke Reinecke said the name of both developments paid homage to the history of the location as a plant nursery and to the natural landscapes.

“It’s rare to find a prime location in such a sought-after neighborhood with an abundance of amenity where we can build quality apartments”, Mr Reinecke said.