A century ago Forrest Place in the centre of Perth's CBD did not exist, not even as a road.

But over the years the space has been transformed from a ramshackle covered marketplace to a central open space in the heart of the city, Richard Offen from Heritage Perth said.

Before Forrest Place, the area was occupied by what was known as the Central Arcade.

"During the late 19th century shopping arcades became very popular in Perth, mainly for people to shelter from the sun," Mr Offen told 720 ABC Perth.

"The building was a very tall barnlike structure; it looked a bit like a railway engine shed and internally it was like a marketplace."

In 1911 the land occupied by the arcade and the surrounding blocks were bought by the Commonwealth government for federal office buildings.

"The idea was to have separate buildings and to create a new street, and the first planned building was the GPO building," Mr Offen said.

The newly built General Post Office in 1923. ( Supplied: State Library of Western Australia )

"It was started in 1914 and not completed until 1923.

"By that time the Central Arcade was described as old, in disrepair, and the city council even described it as unhealthy."

Central Arcade was demolished to make way for Forrest Place. ( Supplied: State Library of Western Australia )

The government of the day decided to knock down the arcade to create a short road linking Murray and Wellington streets.

It was named Forrest Place after the state's first premier, Sir John Forrest.

These decisions were unpopular with the traders, a newspaper article from 1922 reported:

"The pulling down of the picturesque old Central Arcade to make way for the new GPO street has meant a general far-and-wide scattering of tenants who have been clustered together for many a long year. "Most of these people run small businesses that do not advertise to any extent, so that they will be certain to suffer a considerable loss of clients by the break-up and unavoidable departure from a long-established site."

In 1925, the buildings opposite the GPO were demolished to create the Padbury Buildings which held shops and offices.

Padbury Buildings in Forrest Place as viewed in 1977. ( Supplied: State Library of Western Australia )

In the next decade development of the area continued, and in 1933 the Commonwealth Bank building was completed next to the GPO.

Forrest Place remained open to traffic until 1986, when a large-scale transformation of the precinct began.

Forrest Place, viewed from Wellington Street in 1981 when the street was still open to traffic. ( Supplied: State Library of Western Australia )

"That's also when the mall became a pedestrian precinct," Mr Offen said.

Forrest Place in Perth in 1988, just after the redevelopment. ( Supplied: State Library of Western Australia )

Queen Elizabeth II officially reopening Forrest Place in 1988. ( Supplied: State Library of Western Australia )

From the 1940s until now, Forrest Place has been a meeting place for both community celebrations and public protests.

After World War II soldiers marched through Forrest Place, while in the 1970s then-premier Charles Court moved to ban public meetings there.

That ban fuelled further public demonstrations and was formally repealed in 1984.

In recent years Forrest Place has been altered several times.

"There is the wonderful water feature, the cactus, and the entertainment stage at the end," Mr Offen said.

And the area is set to change again, with a $100 million redevelopment of the Forrest Phase Centre planned for 2017.