Historic Samson Building gets Facelift
Freo Today. 17 December 2025. Observant Freo folk wandering about Cliff Street in the historic West End of Fremantle in recent months will have noticed that the facade of 31 Cliff Street – the ‘Samson Building’ – has been slowly but surely restored.
The building and the land on which it stands, and the adjacent land, have their own fascinating histories going back to the very foundations of the British Swan River Colony and the arrival in Fremantle of Lionel Samson in 1829. The history of the building recorded by the Heritage Council of WA gives you something of the flavour –
Lionel Samson came to Western Australia in 1829, and built a cottage in 1835 on lot 10. He returned to England in 1843 to be married. He and his wife, Fanny, then returned to Western Australia and took up residence in Perth until after the birth of their 6 children, when they moved to Fremantle in 1856.
Cliff St in the 1850s was a busy thoroughfare connecting the sea front jetty with the river. Many businesses were located along the route. The street was paved in 1858 with hand-tolled Yorkshire flagstones by sappers of the Royal Engineers. The job was completed by private contract after the sappers were needed elsewhere. Apparently, convicts were not skilled enough for the job. To meet the expense, dog licences, poundage fees and fines were raised by the Town Trust.
Samson Cottage (35 Cliff Street) was used as a warehouse in the 1870s for Lionel Samson & Son, the State’s oldest company. After the death of Lionel Samson in 1878, his widow continued to live in the house until 1888. The house was then leased to a bank, and served as a commercial bank and residence.
A stone building on Lot 9 was demolished in 1891, and a larger office building (Lionel Samson Building 31-33 Cliff Street) was built for the company on the site in 1892 by Sir J. Talbot Hobbs. The cottage, office building and warehouse were burnt in a fire in the 1890s and all were rebuilt. (The fire also engulfed the old Customs Store at No. 40 Cliff Street.) The new building for the Head Offices of Samson Co. was completed in 1898 under the supervision of F. W. Burwell.
Bill Samson, one of Lionel Samson’s descendants who still calls Fremantle home, advised Fremantle Shipping News that this is the first full restoration of the 1898 building in 126 years and that Lionel Samson’s family, who still run the building, are very proud of the result.
The building has been restored to its original 1898 design, with 40 manufactured balusters and 5 ball finials fitted on the top of the facade, and much of the decorative work being restored by master craftsmen.
The restored facade has been receiving a lot of love lately, as it should.
The builders completing the work were conservation specialists Colgan Industries (Roundhouse, St George’s Cathedral) and the conservation architects were Griffiths (His Majesty’s Theatre, Fremantle Prison).
Bill Samson also mentioned that the Heritage staff at both the City of Fremantle and the Heritage Council of Western Australia were very helpful.
If you’d like to hear more of the Lionel Samson story, listen here to Fremantle Shipping News’ wonderful podcast with Bill Samson.