Richard Barratt took this photo looking northward on a wet day in 1936. The Bank of Australasia dominates the corner of King William and Currie Streets.

The blend of transport is indicative of the changes in society at this time. Horse and cart are transporting Motterams Biscuits, and there are some fine examples of vintage cars, while ornate tram line cables festoon the centre of King William Street.

The Ellis Arcadia Caf © sign invites people into the beautiful double-fronted Bowman's Building on King William Street (owned by the prestigious Ellis family and running as early as 1911). The building was completed in 1908, and was connected by a glass-covered arcade that ran to Gilbert Place. The building was demolished in 1972. In the photograph it dwarfs the still-standing Edmund Wright House next door.

A fine view is afforded in the photograph of the Colonial Mutual Life Assurance building on the Corner of King William and Hindley Streets. This was built in the mid 1930s and heralded the end of the worst of the Depression. In the far distance a building close to North Terrace is under construction. It seems be the CBA Bank Building, which was begun in 1933 and finally finished in 1937.