Library Lodge

The B-Listed Library Lodge, located beside the AK Bell Library in York Place, Perth, was originally the lodge of the 1836 Perth County and City Infirmary. Restored with best-practice conservation methods, the building is an exemplar of the Trust’s high quality approach and commitment to historic building conservation.

The Library Lodge was designed by William MacDonald Mackenzie (1797-1856), a Perth City Architect who left an impressive legacy of public and domestic buildings in and around Perth. Built in 1840 as the lodge of the 1836 Perth County and City Infirmary, now the AK Bell Library, it arguably one of Mackenzie’s most important commissions and so an apt base for the Trust.

It was built in a neo-classical style to ”harmonise with the elegance of the principle building” however it was moved and rebuilt in its present prominent position around 1867. Having stood derelict for nearly thirty years, it was purchased by the Trust in 1998 and restored in 2000, receiving a Perth Civic Trust award for an outstanding improvement to the built heritage of Perth in 2003. The Lodge served as the main office of the Trust for 19 years – from the time its restoration was completed until PKHT’s move to Lower City Mills in October 2019.