Adelaide Town Hall

The Adelaide Town Hall's clock tower is a feature of King William Street

Adelaide Town Hall is a landmark building on King William Street in Adelaide, South Australia, Australia. The City of Adelaide Town Hall complex includes the Town Hall and the office building at 25 Pirie Street.

Description and history

Adelaide Town Hall was designed by Edmund Wright and Edward Woods, with construction commencing in 1863 and completed in 1866.[1][2] The tower is named after Prince Albert and the clock was installed in 1935.[2]

Adelaide town hall 1950

The Adelaide Town Hall was the venue on 1 August 1895 for the inaugural meeting of the Australasian Federation League of South Australia, this organisation having been formed at a meeting convened seven months earlier by the Australian Natives' Association in the colony. This league was the principal organisation that campaigned in favour of federation in South Australia. The meeting at the Town Hall was a major public gathering attended by many prominent South Australians. The meeting was also notable for the large number of women who attended.[3]

The hall is famous for an appearance by The Beatles on the balcony in 1964, which attracted an estimated 300,000 fans, their biggest crowd.[2] It serves as the seat of the Adelaide City Council, concerts with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra and has function centre facilities available for hire.[4] It is one of the world's five greatest acoustic venues for symphonic concerts.

Adelaide Town Hall is listed on the Register of the National Estate.[5]

Pipe Organ

Entrance

After the official opening in 1866, a campaign began to obtain a pipe organ for the Auditorium. The City’s amateur musicians held two concerts which raised ₤120 for the Organ Fund, only to see the money used to settle the outstanding account for the Albert Bells instead. In 1869, the Adelaide Philharmonic Society was formed and the choir staged 25 concerts over the next six years to raise over ₤500 for the Organ Fund. The estimated cost of the organ was ₤1,200 and the Council had promised to contribute ₤600. In 1875 Council ordered an organ from the London manufacturers, William Hill & Son. As a compromise on the cost, the Council decided to have Hill & Son construct the organ so that it could be added to in later years. The total cost came to £2106.16s.9d. The opening concert was held on 2 October 1877 but it wasn't long before a campaign to enlarge the organ by adding solo stops began and this upgrade was completed in 1885. The hydraulic engine was replaced in 1923 by an electric motor but after frequent criticism that it was out of date, the Council eventually voted to replace the original century-old pipe organ in 1989.[6]

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Adelaide Town Hall.
  1. ↑ Adelaide Town Hall at Structurae. Retrieved on 2006-12-24.
  2. 1 2 3 Ficher, P.; Seamark, K. H. (2005). Vintage Adelaide. East Street Publications. pp. 70–71. ISBN 1-921037-06-7.
  3. ↑ Australian Heritage Places Invantory, http://www.heritage.gov.au/cgi-bin/ahpi/record.pl?RNE6363
  4. ↑ "Adelaide Town Hall". Adelaide City Council. 2006. Retrieved 2006-12-24.
  5. ↑ The Heritage of Australia, Macmillan Company, 1981, p.5/10
  6. ↑ "Adelaide Town Hall History". Retrieved 17 April 2015.

Coordinates: 34°55′33.96″S 138°36′0.66″E / 34.9261000°S 138.6001833°E / -34.9261000; 138.6001833

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