History

The Adelaide Town Hall was hailed as “the largest municipal building south of the Equator” when it was officially opened on 20 June 1866.

During the opening ceremony, the Town Hall was described as “one of the most important edifices likely to be erected in this the metropolis of the province for many generations to come”.

It was also pointed out to those gathered for the ceremony that after years in rented accommodation, a proper Town Hall was long overdue to meet the needs of the Corporation.

If the initial vote in favour of borrowing to fund the building had been a close call, it could now be said that after careful deliberation it was to be built with the consent “of a large majority of the citizens”.

The grand, freestone building was erected on an acre that had been reserved for the use of the Corporation by Colonel William Light in his original survey for the City of Adelaide.

An application was made to Governor Gawler in 1840 to transfer the land to the Council. The Governor granted the request and Town Acre 203 was sold to the Corporation on 19 August for twelve shillings.

The site was used initially as a produce market selling hay, corn, butter, poultry as well as eggs, fish and vegetables.

The ambitious start made by Australia’s first local government in 1840 ended prematurely when the Adelaide City Council was put into receivership in 1843 by Governor Grey.

The Council was not re-constituted until October 1849.

Another three years passed before the Council met for the first time in a building erected on the Corporation Acre 203 on 1 July 1852. Five years later Council decided it had outgrown the small chamber that had been built for it by James Bowley for £166 and invited design proposals to construct “proper buildings” on the site.

The Council had banked on being able to raise a loan of £30,000 and meet the cost by leasing out the unused portion of its acre. It wasn’t to be, however, as the State Government also declined to part with any funds. So, at its meeting of 6 September 1858, the initiative was deemed to be “premature” and shelved.

It was not until late in 1862, after Thomas English, a builder, was elected Mayor that the next positive step was taken to erect a Town Hall. On 30 December that year, shortly after the elections, the citizens of Adelaide were summoned to a meeting to be held at 10am to vote on a proposal to borrow the money needed to build the Town Hall.

The resolution submitted to the meeting was: “That it is desirable a Town Hall and Offices should be erected on the Corporation Acre, and for that purpose the Council be empowered to borrow a sum not exceeding £16,000.”

An amendment was moved against borrowing any money for such a purpose, but this time it was defeated.

However as only 64 votes were recorded in favour of the proposition and 55 votes were lodged against it, the slender majority was considered inconclusive, and a poll was demanded.
This poll was instituted immediately and closed at 4pm on the same day. A protest was also lodged complaining about the way the entire proceedings had been conducted, but it was dismissed.

At the close of the poll it appears that 306 people voted for borrowing the money and 212 voted against the proposition. By applying a complicated formula of proportional representation based upon the rate in value of each property, the majority was boosted further with counting ultimately rounded out to:

For the proposition 1116
Against the proposition 809
Majority 307

Shortly after the decision was ratified by the poll, Council announced a competition to select the most appropriate design for the Town Hall. The prize was subsequently awarded to Edmund W Wright, who had served as Mayor of the City in 1859. Wright had also won the earlier competition held in 1857 to design a Town Hall.

Wright became one of the state’s most influential architects, going on to design the Adelaide Post Office, the State Parliament Building and the headquarters for the State Bank (now Edmund Wright House) as well as many other public and private buildings throughout the City. Wright was almost deprived of his second Town Hall victory as Council insisted that he make numerous modifications to his plans before it would accept them.

While Wright seems to have agreed to make the amendments demanded by Council, the process angered many of his unsuccessful competitors, who argued that he was being given unfair advantage in being able to improve his designs after the prize had been awarded. However, as Wright had already been appointed to superintend the project, he retained the initiative and work commenced.

The foundation stone for the Province’s major new building was laid by the Governor, Sir Dominic Daly, on 4 May 1863. The block measuring 2 feet 9 inches square (840cm) and weighing up to 14 cwt (715 kg) was cut from the Tea Tree Gully quarry. Ultimately the stone was incorporated into the construction of the Albert Tower and its precise location is now unknown.

The striking feature of the Albert Tower is that it spans the pavement creating an arcade 20 feet wide (6 metres) with a series of arches made of white freestone. The tower was named in memory of Queen Victoria’s husband, Prince Albert, who had died not long before. The Italianate structure is capped by a lantern-dome and stands 146 feet (44 metres) high.

The foundation stone of the Albert Tower was laid by the then Mayor, Samuel Goode, on Wednesday 13 January 1864. The tower is the only civic building outside England to house a full peal of 8 bells which are also named in honour of Prince Albert. As part of the tower’s construction, circular holes measuring 8 feet (2.4 metres) wide were left open in the upper section for clock faces.

At the time it was hoped that a Town Hall clock would be donated by the citizens of Adelaide. However, the municipal timepiece was not installed until 1935 when Sir J. Lavington Bonython, a former Lord Mayor, donated a clock.

One apocryphal explanation for Bonython’s generosity is that this prominent Adelaide citizen did not wear a watch and decided a Town Hall clock was the most convenient way of telling the time. The three dials of Bonython’s clock face north, south and west.

The Town Hall now incorporates four other buildings which were erected on the Town Hall Acre. The first to be erected was the Prince Alfred Hotel on a lease owned by Sir T.C. Bray, and opened in early 1869. It was built in controversial circumstances with Edmund Wright and his partners taking over the original design proposed by Daniel Garlick.

Queens Chambers were built along the northern facade of the Town Hall in the same year as the Prince Alfred Hotel. Wright also challenged this design by Daniel Garlick and W. McMinn, however this time Wright did not prevail and the building went ahead as planned.

The Eagle Chambers were then erected on the corner of King William and Pirie Streets during 1875 and had a third story added in 1880. Finally, Wright and Reed designed Gladstone Chambers to occupy the vacant land between Eagle and Queens chambers.

Ironically, it was now Wright’s turn to fall foul of Council by-laws. The City Solicitor obtained an injunction to stop the work on Gladstone Chambers while the construction was investigated by the architects Thomas English and George Soward. The records do not show how this impasse was resolved but the lessees of the building did successfully apply for a reduction on their lease because the frontage when finished was measured to be 1 foot and 7 inches (32cms) short of its planned length.

These four buildings were incorporated into the fabric of the Town Hall in the 1950s, as their leases expired. The Prince Alfred Hotel ceased commercial operation in 1953.