Menora history: a suburb named after a picture theatre

Menora took its name from a picture theatre on Walcott Street, and its curving streets were laid out as a garden suburb.

How Menora got its name

In 1954 the Nomenclature Advisory Committee and the Postmaster General set suburb names and boundaries for inner Perth. Landgate records that this area, until then generally treated as part of Mount Lawley, was named Menora because of the Menora Picture Theatre in Walcott Street, which the City of Stirling says opened in 1953. The City notes that the name also refers to the menorah, the seven-branched candelabrum used in Jewish religious ceremonies, and Landgate links the choice to the area’s strong Jewish community.

Before the suburb

The City of Stirling describes its area as Mooro Country, home to the Wadjak Nyoongar people, and records that Yellagonga, an Elder of the Wadjak people, lived in Mooro Country when colonisation began in 1829. After colonisation the land was taken up in large grants; the City’s local history records that Menora was part of crown land granted to Charles Bourne in 1840.

How it grew

A few houses came early: the bungalow at 1 Hill Street, once addressed as 226 Walcott Street, dates from about 1922. The City says wider subdivision did not begin until the 1940s. The streets were designed on garden suburb principles, with green verges, nearby parks and a curving street pattern. In 1973 a synagogue opened on Plantation Street, and the City describes it as still a significant spiritual focus for Perth’s Jewish community.

Places that tell the story

• 1 Hill Street, an Inter-War California Bungalow designed by architect Louis Bowser Cumpston and placed on the City’s Heritage List in 2005.
• 31 Clyde Road, another Inter-War California Bungalow, dating from about 1935.
• The synagogue on Plantation Street, opened in 1973.
• Walcott Street, home of the picture theatre that gave the suburb its name.

Menora today

Most of Menora is inside the City of Stirling’s Heritage Protection Area, so demolitions, renovations, extensions and new buildings need development approval. In March 2026 the City consulted on a draft character retention policy for Mount Lawley and Menora. The suburb keeps its parks, including Alexander Park with its tennis club, and its strong connection with Perth’s Jewish community.

More about Menora

For what Menora is like to live in now, read our Menora suburb profile. If you own a property in Menora and are thinking about selling, start with buyers for your property.

Sources

• Landgate: Perth and surrounds suburb names (archived 2022)
• City of Stirling local history collection: Menora
• City of Stirling: community history
• City of Stirling: Menora suburb page
• inHerit: House, 1 Hill Street, Menora
• inHerit: House, 31 Clyde Road, Menora
• City of Stirling: heritage and development
• City of Stirling: heritage protections consultation, March 2026

Top image: The park on Dumbarton Crescent, seen from Alexander Drive, Menora, 2020. Photo: Orderinchaos, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Dates and names are drawn from the sources above. Where sources differ, we have said so or given an approximate date.

By Key Performance Real Estate, 338 Beaufort Street, Perth