THE INTRIGUING story behind some of Perth’s most imposing architecture has just been published.

When Vivian Linacre bought a house in the Georgian terrace of Marshall Place, it led him to uncover a scandalous tale of devious dealings by “a parcel of rogues” on the local council.

Mr Linacre has drawn the strands of the story together in a lavishly illustrated book, The Marshall Place Conspiracy, which is now available.

The culmination of a number of years of work by Mr Linacre, the book comes in the bicentennial year of the death of Lord Thomas Hay Marshall, the man credited with transforming Perth from a medieval burgh into a modern city.

The sub-title of his work, The Scandal Of A Property Speculation By Civic Leaders: Its Collapse And Their Ruin And The Architecturally Glorious Outcome, sums up the tale.

“Until now, the scandalous events surrounding the development of the Georgian terraces on Marshall Place—facing the beautiful wooded park known as the South Inch in Perth—have never been revealed,” said the author in the book’s foreword.

“The whole story was suppressed by those in authority for it was they who were responsible and they who were the ultimate victims.

“Contrary to all the architectural and civic guide books, the development of the two classic terraces on Marshall Place—the southern face of the city—was not a well-planned development but a purely speculative scheme by a parcel of rogues on the city council (ex-provosts, baillies) plus a few rich merchants, devised for their private profit.

“What we enjoy today was actually a hastily improvised replacement.”