Generations of WA school teachers trained at Claremont Teachers College studied in the Victorian Gothic building which is still in use today as a place of education.

"This building shares the distinction, with the Kalgoorlie School of Mines, in being one of the oldest tertiary education facilities in Western Australia," Richard Offen, chief executive of Heritage Perth, told 720 ABC Perth.

It was built in 1901 and before the college was created, aspiring school teachers trained on the job in classrooms taking correspondence courses in their own time to become qualified.

The first chief inspector of schools in WA was Cyril Jackson who was appointed in 1896.

Claremont Teachers Training College in 1950. ( Supplied: State Library of Western Australia )

"He soon saw the need for a better system of training new teachers," Mr Offen said.

"Jackson campaigned hard and long for a proper teacher training college.

"It took quite a while and it wasn't until 1900 that the government made the decision to go ahead with the college."

The college in Claremont was designed in a Victorian Tudor Gothic style from Donnybrook limestone and, unusually for the time, was lit with electricity.

"Lectures commenced on January 1, 1902 with 41 students, of whom we are told the majority were young ladies," Mr Offen said.

"For the first year or so the principal was Cecil Andrews, who oversaw an establishment where chemistry and physics were the exclusive domain of male students."

"A year later, William Rooney became principal and introduced a course in 'simple science' for the ladies, but physics and chemistry, as well as algebra and trigonometry, were still only taught to the men."

Trainee teachers in 1950. Women were the majority of students but initially weren't permitted to study science or mathematics. ( Supplied: State Library of Western Australia )

For the next 50 years, Claremont Teachers College was the only institution in Western Australia for training teachers.

One of its most notable graduates was May O'Brien, the state's first Aboriginal teacher who had to fight for the right to study teaching and rose to become the state superintendent of Aboriginal education.

Other notable alumni include Kim Beazley senior, who later became a Labor MP and federal education minister, naturalist Harry Butler and disgraced musician Rolf Harris.

In the 1950s two other training colleges opened but Claremont continued until 1981, when it was absorbed into the West Australian College of Advanced Education (WACAE).

The college was built from Donnybrook stone and is one of the earliest educational buildings in the state. ( 720 ABC Perth: Lorraine Horsley )

In 1989, WACAE's multiple campuses became Edith Cowan University (ECU).

From 1989 the building was used for other purposes.

"Many people will remember this because it was the home, for a number of years, of the Museum of Childhood," Mr Offen said.

That Museum of Childhood collection is now in storage at the West Australian Museum's warehouse in Welshpool.

In 2004, the University of Western Australia bought the Claremont campus from ECU.

It is now home to a number of university operations including the University of Western Australia Press, the Centre for Muslim State and Societies and the Australian Music Examination Board.