Its construction was made possible by a large inheritance which Samuel George Smith received from his father’s estate in the early 1860s. Tenders for erection of three shops were called for by architects Daniel Garlick and Son in 1886. The…

In 1857, William Kither Snr took over a butchery established on this site the previous year. William Jnr worked for his father, succeeding him after his death in 1869. By 1880, this Italian Renaissance style building, designed by Rees and Hornabrook,…

Harry Norris, a Melbourne based architect, travelled overseas to study the latest in retail architecture for this new store for GJ Coles Pty Ltd. This 1939 building is a standout in the Art Deco catalogue of Adelaide buildings and is often mistaken…

Adelaide Arcade, the first arcade erected in Adelaide, opened in December 1885 and was funded by Saul Solomon, Lewis Henry Berens, Joachim Matthias Wendt, Robert Carr Castle, Hermann Koeppon Carl Wendt, Emanuel Cohen and Patrick Gay. The design by…

Within a year of his arrival James Calder had returned to his calling of baker and confectioner. His early years of business were a struggle, the manufacturing methods were laborious and tedious, and the machinery capable of only a limited production…

This building was constructed in 1925 for Birks’ Chemists to the design of architects McMichael and Harris. At 18 years of age, George Napier Birk obtained a position as a pharmaceutical apprentice with Mr F H Faulding in his chemist shop at 5 Rundle…

When CJ Young’s Shoe Co. was rebuilt in 1925-1926, it was described as an artistic addition to the architecture of Rundle Street. Novel methods were used to rebuild the shoe store. In order to allow business to proceed, the architects Charles W Rutt…

By 1850 the western entrance to Rundle Street was framed by two significant buildings. Occupying one of the prime sites within the City of Adelaide, the previous Beehive Corner building was a two-storey simple structure with a chamfered corner. It…

The facades of the former Adelaide Fruit and Produce Exchange are an iconic landmark of the East End, spanning four city streets including Grenfell Street, East Terrace, Rundle Street and Union Street.  A number of markets were established in the…

Built in 1898, these Rundle Street shops were occupied between 1908 and 1985 by some of the East End's most colourful inhabitants - the Sym Choon family. John Sym Choon and his wife, So Yung Moon, migrated from China to South Australia in the 1890s.…

The south-east corner of Rundle Street and Pulteney Street was once the site of one of the city’s most magnificent hotels, the Grand Central Hotel. It was built in 1910 on the site of another former hotel, the York Hotel. The expansive facade of the…

135-139 Rundle Mall was once the home of a well-known South Australian glass merchant business, Clarkson Limited. The business's showrooms were opened here in December 1932.In 1848, German migrant Heinrich Ludwig Vosz arrived in the Colony of South…

It might surprise some that the Sir Samuel Way building, the home of a number of court services, was once a major department store built to challenge Rundle Street as the city’s retail precinct. The building was the brainchild of Charles Moore, a…

Apron by South Australian artist Karen Genoff is a tribute to the markets that were once such an important part of Adelaide’s East End. The installation was commissioned by the State Government and it was installed in 1997. The sculpture’s focal…

Beehive Corner is arguably the most popular and well-recognised buildings in Adelaide. Its distinctive corner turret, showing the year of construction, is in the shape of a beehive. On top sits a lone gold bee. A drapery shop known as the Beehive…

To really appreciate this Victorian-era building, you need to take a few steps back and look upwards. It is fairly plain at eye level, but its first and second floors are far from ordinary. Architect Daniel Garlick and his son Arthur tendered their…

If you stand in front of the Adelaide Arcade in Rundle Mall, you will see Australia’s Commonwealth Coat of Arms proudly displayed high above on the building’s dome. But how is this possible? The Adelaide Arcade was built in 1885, and the first Coat…

Like so many of Adelaide’s heritage hotels, the Exeter has seen a number of makeovers since it opened on this site in 1851. The hotel we see today was rebuilt here in 1888- rumour had it due to competition from the nearby Tavistock Hotel. The…

The Austral Hotel and adjacent shops a complex unique on Rundle Street for its size and composition. In 1880, architect William McMinn was commissioned to design 14 shops and a hotel covering almost two town acres. The complex was established for the…

This corner landmark is one of the city’s oldest hotels and a notable feature of both East Terrace and Rundle Street. The Stag has been on this site since 1849, when it was first licensed by George Taylor. In its early years, the Stag was the site of…

It is easy to miss this quiet side street adjacent to the bustling retail precinct of Rundle Street. However, its name hints at its once important place within South Australia’s Jewish community.Just over a decade after South Australia was founded,…