Adelaide Sites

Cottages at 165 and 165A Sturt Street

These one-storied cottages were built in the 1840s and by 1849 were owned by John Martin; they were built of brick and their scalloped wooden fascia board came before cast-iron lace. The extension of the roof to form the veranda was unusual in an Adelaide cottage. They were demolished in the early ... Continue Reading »

Gresham Hotel

The Gresham Hotel, on the southwest corner of North Terrace and King William Street, stood on one of Adelaide's most prominent commercial sites. Built in 1873-74, the architect was possibly Daniel Garlick. A plain building, it had a large cast iron verandah and balcony, with columns grouped in pairs to ... Continue Reading »

Imperial Hotel

The Imperial Hotel, on the northeast corner of King William and Grenfell Street, was built in 1866 for Asher Hamm. Michael McMullen was the architect. A three-storied stuccoed building, it had two shops on the King William Street frontage as well as the usual hotel facilities. A similar building in ... Continue Reading »

The Castle Inn

The Castle Inn, on the northwest corner of Morphett and Hindley Streets, was demolished in 1966.  It was replaced by The Town House in 1972, later The Barron Townhouse and now the Rockford.

Rymill House

Rymill House is a two storied stone building in the style of the Dutch Renaissance, built in 1881 by Henry Rymill on the site of a house which he had demolished.  The Coach house (which faces Hutt Street) matches the design of the house with stone walls of uncoursed ashlar, cemented brick ... Continue Reading »

Stag Hotel

The Stag, opened in 1849, was for many years a prominent landmark.  In the 1850's the early inn was a busy centre and the rear of the premises was practically the beginnings of the East End Markets.  Substantial stock yards, a weighbridge, and large stables provided accommodation of horses and ... Continue Reading »

St Mary Magdalene’s Anglican Church

Built in 1887, St Mary Magdalene's was established mission church of St John's Anglican Church on the site of the old St John's church.  It was designed in the Gothic Style by R. Garlick Howell and built of brick and bluestone re-used from the earlier church.

Stow Memorial Church

The original name for this church commemorates the Reverend Thomas Quinton Stow, who arrived in Adelaide on 20 October 1837 as the first minister of the Congregational Church. Land adjoining the Treasury Building facing Victoria Square in Flinders Street was purchased in 1863 at a cost of £1,000 as ... Continue Reading »

Beehive Corner Building

The Beehive Corner Building (1897) is a rare example of commercial Gothic Revival architecture in Adelaide. It was extensively restored in the 1990s. The building is associated with and named after the corner site which has been traditionally known as the Beehive Corner since the 1840s. Messrs Brewer and Robertson ... Continue Reading »

Treasury Building

The former Treasury Building was built in stages from 1839 to 1907.  The buildings we see today took nearly twenty years to reach completion, though their unity of conception suggests that they were designed as a whole by E. A. Hamilton who was Colonial Architect at the time when it ... Continue Reading »

Adelaide Town Hall

The Corporation of the City of Adelaide was established in 1840, making it the first local government authority in Australia.  It is now more commonly known as the Adelaide City Council. The foundation stone of the Adelaide Town Hall was laid on 4 May 1863 by the Governor ... Continue Reading »

Simpson and Company Imperial Warehouse

A. Simpson and Son's Colonial Tinware Manufactory was on the northeast corner of Grenfell Street and Gawler Place. Simpson's had occupied the site in 1854, and first stages of the building were constructed about this time. In 1971, the second floor was added to the design of James Cumming; Brown ... Continue Reading »

Ochiltree House

A Victorian home of brick and iron construction.  Extensive verandahs including first floor with abundant iron lace.  The front elevation is capped with a Mansard roof with slates laid in patterns. The land was acquired in 1837 by Nathanial Alexander Knox (Officer of the East India Company and Founder of the ... Continue Reading »

South Australian Institute Building

The southern half of the Institute Building was completed in 1860 for the South Australian Institute a body created by Act of Parliament in 1856. It is historically significant as the oldest cultural building on North Terrace. It was the first permanent home of what are now termed the State ... Continue Reading »

South Australian Museum – East Wing

The South Australian Museum's Eastern Wing is historically significant as the third of four wings planned in the 1870s to house what was then known as the South Australian Institute. The fourth wing planned to front North Terrace was never built. Officially opened in December 1915 it housed Natural History ... Continue Reading »

Art Gallery of South Australia

The Art Gallery of South Australia began as the National Art Gallery of South Australia once it separated from the South Australian Institute, which originally incorporated the Gallery, Library and Museum. The freestone for this building came from Murray Bridge. The foundation stone was laid in 1898 and the original building ... Continue Reading »

Convent of Mercy (Catholic) – Cunningham Memorial Chapel

Completed in 1922 the Cunningham Memorial Chapel of the Convent of Mercy was built as a memorial to Mother Cecilia Cunningham's parents and is remarkable for its excellence of design and workmanship at a time when craft skills were still highly regarded. The richly detailed surfaces and finishes render this ... Continue Reading »

Adelaide Mosque

Built in 1889-90, The mosque was built by the small Afghan community of South Australia. The four minarets were added by 1903. It is the only mosque within the square mile of Adelaide. The Adelaide Mosque is historically significant as one of the few relics of Afghan immigration to South Australia ... Continue Reading »

Grand Central Hotel

The Grand Central Hotel, on the south-east corner of Rundle Street and Pulteney Street, was in its heyday Adelaide's Dorchester. It was built in 1910 on the site of the York Hotel. The giant facades were decorated with a complex pattern of string courses, pilasters ... Continue Reading »

Aurora Hotel

The Black Eagle hotel was licensed on the site at the corner of Pirie Street and Hindmarsh Square  from 1859.   It was built for Benjamin Da Costa.  Later, the hotel was known as the Marquis of Queensbury and then from 1894 as the Aurora.  The painter Hans Heysen was ... Continue Reading »

Stow Hall

Stow Church Hall, built in 1872, was the work of the architect James Cumming; the builders were Brown and Thompson. It was part of the Congregational Church and comprised a lecture hall, a schoolroom and classrooms for Sunday school. Again the main decoration detail, apart from the stonework, was patterned ... Continue Reading »

Flinders Street Primary School

The Flinders Street School opened in October 1878 as the City Model School, with an average daily attendance of 593 children.  Fees to the attend the school were based on a means test.  The building was the first two storey public school in the colony.  It was designed in a ... Continue Reading »

Destitute Asylum Chapel

The surviving remains of the former Destitute Asylum complex include the Chapel, Schoolroom and Lying in hospital that are now incorporated in the Migration Museum accessed from Kintore Avenue. The Destitute Asylum dates from 1851, with extensions in 1853, 1863, 1865 and 1875. It operated until 1926, providing financial assistance and ... Continue Reading »

Adelaide Botanic Garden- Palm House Conservatory

The Adelaide Botanic Garden Palm House is a rare example of the larger iron and glass botanical houses of the mid-late 19th Century made possible by the technological developments of the Industrial Revolution. It is an excellent example of a sophisticated tensile structure and its design by the German architect Gustav ... Continue Reading »

Newmarket Hotel – facade and staircase

At this site on 11 January 1837, barely two weeks after the Proclamation of South Australia's new colonial government, Colonel William Light began his famous survey to lay out the city of Adelaide and its 1000 saleable lots from a point near what was later known as Town Acre 1. An ... Continue Reading »

House at 378 South Terrace

This one-storied house known as South Terrace House with its characteristic porch was designed by Sir George Kingston for Edward Wright junior in 1857. Only two houses certainly from Kingston's drawing board survive unchanged in the city mile (South Adelaide); the other is Ayers House at 288 North Terrace. Work done ... Continue Reading »

Bushmen’s Club

The Bushmen's Club was a philanthropic initiative associated with John Howard Angas.  The idea was to provide a 'home' in the city for South Australia's itinerant bushmen.  In 1870 the Club was established on Whitmore Square on the site of a house formerly occupied by Judge Cooper that had been ... Continue Reading »

King’s Head Hotel

The current hotel was built in 1876 on the site of the King's Head Inn, which was first licensed in 1848.  The cantilevered balcony, with wooden railings that Morgan and Gilbert described as having 'a Chinese Chippendale flavour' has been preserved.

Rob Roy Hotel

Sketches of the original Rob Roy Hotel date back to 1850. It was first licensed ten years earlier in 1840, making it second only to the Queen's Head in North Adelaide as the longest continuously operating hotel in Adelaide.  It is named for the famous Scottish Outlaw ... Continue Reading »

Holden and Frost

Holden and Frost was a firm of saddlers, shown by the horse which topped the porch of its building in Grenfell Street. The firm had begun in 1859, but it was not until the late 1870s that it moved to this building, designed for it by Daniel Garlick. The building ... Continue Reading »

Brookman Building

Originally Brookman Buildings was a three-storied building; the oriel window projecting one story higher formed a small tower prominent in the streetscapes of Grenfell Street. This stage of the building was begun in 1896, probably to the design of Alfred Wells. In 1914, the top two floors were added. The ... Continue Reading »

Australian War Widows Fund Building

The War Widow's Fund Building was demolished 1982-83 and replaced with City Cross, Grenfell Street, built 1983-1985.

Shop at 175 Sturt Street

This building dates from 1878, its interesting shop front has been preserved, although it is now a private home.

Houses at 346-348 Carrington Street

These houses were built for David Bickford in 1882.

House at 34 Carrington Street

This house was built in 1867 for W.T. Cooper who lived there until 1885. In 1969, when it had become known as Bar Chambers and used as offices, Morgan and Gilbert describe is as 'an example of a well-mannered conversion of a mid-Victorian house to another use.' It continues to be used ... Continue Reading »

Semi detached houses at 17-19 Wright Street

Nos 17 and 19 Wright Street were a dignified pair of houses built in 1877-78 for Joel Ware. They were made of bluestone with brick trim and included a well-detailed dentilled cornice. The exposed joists of the cantilever verandah were decorated with turned pendants. The houses were demolished in 1971.

Seven Stars Hotel

The western half of this hotel was built in 1857.  The cantilevered balcony dates from the extension to the building about 1875. A veranda removed in 1961 was been restored.

Wesleyan Manse

This house was built in 1856 as the Manse for the Wesleyan Church.

Christian Brothers’ College

Built in 1887 to the design of Ernest H. Bayer, the block was originally one story. The original pitch of the gable can be seen in the stonework above the double window at the end of the ground floor. The second story was possibly part of works carried out under ... Continue Reading »

Dimora – House and Fence

This house was built in 1882 for H.L. Ayers for his occupation and remained the home of the Harry Ayers family until 1940.  With its great bay windows and its cast-iron trimmed veranda and balcony it was typical of its period and also the most important example.  William McMinn was ... Continue Reading »

House at 109-113 East Terrace

The eastern part of this house with its classic symmetry was built in 1857 for James Parsons.  The bay windowed drawing-room to the West was added about 1870.

St Paul’s Schoolroom

The schoolroom (now Flinders Hall) formed part of the complex of St Paul's Anglican church which also included a rectory. It was used as an Anglican church school between 1874 and 1950 when it was sold to Hamilton Laboratories, who still operate from the premises today. The building was designed by E.J. ... Continue Reading »

Flinders Street Baptist Church

Flinders Street Baptist Church was completed in 1863 and is a State Heritage Place. Mead Hall was erected in 1867/70 and the manse in 1877. The Church the hall and the manse form an impressive group of ecclesiastical buildings the integrity of which is now rare in the City and ... Continue Reading »

House at 82-86 Franklin Street (later Office)

This block of houses, in which the austerity of the design is relieved by the cast-iron window balconettes, was built in 1861 for James Dimsdale. They are now used as legal offices

Wesleyan School

This building started its life in 1848 as the Wesleyan School.  Morgan and Gilbert observed in 1969, 'It is a strange composition possibly copied from other works.' It is not heritage listed although it is of historical interest.

Flagstaff Hotel

This was built in 1856 as Sir John Franklin Inn.  The verandah and balcony appear to have been added about twenty-five years later. It continues to operate as a hotel more than 150 years later, making it one of the oldest in South Australia.

Criterion Hotel

The hotel was originally built in 1864.  It was significantly changed over time. The building was demolished in 2010 and the site remains vacant.

Tivoli Hotel

The current Tivoli Hotel occupies a site that has been associated with entertainment since 1846. The main hotel building facing Pirie Street was designed by Rowland Rees, architect and dates from 1878. The balcony, with its coupled wooden posts and delightful balustrade, rests on carved wood brackets.  The hotel at ... Continue Reading »

Primitive Methodist Church Building

The Meeting House of the Primitive Methodist Church was built in 1847. Later it became the Lutheran Church and by 1881 the Methodist Free Church. In 1969 Morgan and Gilbert observed, " this little building has seen more dignified days". In 1971 it was demolished.

Adelaide Arcade

Adelaide Arcade is a well preserved example of a Victorian shopping arcade. The Arcade runs between Rundle Mall (formerly Street) and Grenfell Street. It is lined with small speciality shops on the ground floor and small businesses on the upper level. The façades are each surmounted by an octagonal dome bearing a ... Continue Reading »