Grote Street is a major street running east to west in the western half of

Adelaide city centre Adelaide city centre (Kaurna: Tarndanya) is the inner city locality of Greater Adelaide, the capital city of South Australia. It is known by locals simply as "the City" or "Town" to distinguish it from Greater Adelaide and from the City of Ad ...

, in

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest o ...

. It is on the northern border of

Chinatown A Chinatown () is an ethnic enclave of Chinese people located outside Greater China, most often in an urban setting. Areas known as "Chinatown" exist throughout the world, including Europe, North America, South America, Asia, Africa and Aust ...

and the Adelaide Central Market, and is a lively centre for shopping and restaurants. The historic

Her Majesty's Theatre Her Majesty's Theatre is a West End theatre situated on Haymarket in the City of Westminster, London. The present building was designed by Charles J. Phipps and was constructed in 1897 for actor-manager Herbert Beerbohm Tree, who established t ...

is located here.

History

The street, laid out as part of Colonel Light's city plan in 1837, was named after

George Grote George Grote (; 17 November 1794 – 18 June 1871) was an English political radical and classical historian. He is now best known for his major work, the voluminous ''History of Greece''. Early life George Grote was born at Clay Hill near B ...

, an English classical historian and supporter of

Robert Gouger Robert Gouger (; 26 June 1802 – 4 August 1846) was one of the founders of South Australia and the first Colonial Secretary of South Australia. Early life Gouger was the fifth son of nine children of George Gouger (1763–1802), who was a pr ...

Churches

The original St Patrick's Church, Adelaide's first

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

church, was built from around 1845 on what is now Gray Street, and was the principal place of worship for Catholics until St Francis Xavier's Cathedral opened on Wakefield Street in 1858. A much larger building, designed by

Woods and Bagot Woods Bagot is a global architectural and consulting practice founded in Adelaide, South Australia. It specialises in the design and planning of buildings across a wide variety of sectors and disciplines. Former names of the practice include Woo ...

, was built between 1912 and 1914, and still stands today, on the corner of Gary Street. The original church building was demolished in 1959. A chapel was built on the northern side of Grote Street at the eastern end for the

Church of Christ Church of Christ may refer to: Church groups * When used in the plural, a New Testament designation for local groups of people following the teachings of Jesus Christ: "...all the churches of Christ greet you", Romans 16:16. * The entire body of Ch ...

congregation in December 1856. This was replaced by a larger bluestone chapel in 1925. The old church was demolished in 1940 and the new one has been used for other than religious purposes for some time, including as a restaurant and entertainment venue.

Grote Street Model School

The Grote Street Model School, on the corner with Morphett Street, was designed by architect

Edward John Woods Edward John Woods F.R.I.B.A. (1839 – 5 January 1916) was a prominent architect in the early days of South Australia. History Woods was born in London and educated at several private schools, then, deciding to become an architect, served ...

in 1872, and built by T. Martin & Son in 1873–74. This was the first of four "model schools" in the city centre, which included Sturt Street Public School (1883),

Flinders Street Model School Flinders Street is a main street in the city centre of Adelaide, South Australia. It runs from the northern end of Victoria Square to East Terrace, Adelaide. It is one of the intermediate-width streets of the Adelaide grid, at wide.

(1878), and

Currie Street Model School Currie Street is a main street in the Adelaide city centre, South Australia.Map
of the

teachers' training college A normal school or normal college is an institution created to train teachers by educating them in the norms of pedagogy and curriculum. In the 19th century in the United States, instruction in normal schools was at the high school level, turni ...

, also designed by Woods (opened June 1876); and the Advanced School for Girls, which was the first state secondary school in the

colony of South Australia In modern parlance, a colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule. Though dominated by the foreign colonizers, colonies remain separate from the administration of the original country of the colonizers, the '' metropolitan state'' ...

, as well as the first state school for girls above primary level (designed by

Owen Smyth Owen may refer to: Origin: The name Owen is of Irish and Welsh origin. Its meanings range from noble, youthful, and well-born. Gender: Owen is historically the masculine form of the name. Popular feminine variations include Eowyn and Owena. ...

in 1890, and built by J. J. Leahy in 1891). In 1908 the Model School and the Training School were amalgamated, forming the Continuation School for Boys, which then amalgamated with the Advanced School for Girls, creating

Adelaide High School Adelaide High School is a coeducational state high school situated on the corner of West Terrace and Glover Avenue in the Adelaide Parklands. Following the Advanced School for Girls, it was the second government high school in South Australi ...

in September 1908. The buildings were then used by the Department of Further Education and the Multicultural Education Centre, later being sold for various private uses. The United Trades and Labor Council (UTLC), established in 1884, constructed a Trades Hall on the northern side of the street, near Victoria Square. Although not financially supported by the colonial government, it was funded by various private donations by parliamentarians, including

Richard Chaffey Baker Sir Richard Chaffey Baker (22 June 1842 – 18 March 1911) was an Australian politician. A barrister by trade, he embarked on a successful career in South Australian colonial politics, serving as Attorney-General of South Australia from 1870 to ...

George Charles Hawker Sir George Charles Hawker (21 September 1818 – 21 May 1895) was a South Australian settler and politician. Early life Hawker was born in London, the second son of Admiral Edward Hawker and his first wife, Joanna Naomi, '' née'' Poore. He w ...

, and

John Howard Angas John Howard Angas (5 October 1823 – 17 May 1904) was an Australian pioneer, politician and philanthropist. Early life and education John Howard Angas was the second son of George Fife Angas and his wife Rosetta née French. He was born in New ...

. The building was officially opened on 4 March 1896, and in the early 1900s

Robert Barr Smith Robert Barr Smith (4 February 1824 – 20 November 1915) was an Australian businessman and philanthropist in Adelaide, South Australia. He was a partner in Elder Smith and Company from 1863 (now now Elders Limited). Early life and education Smi ...

donated £2300 to pay off the outstanding

mortgage A mortgage loan or simply mortgage (), in civil law jurisdicions known also as a hypothec loan, is a loan used either by purchasers of real property to raise funds to buy real estate, or by existing property owners to raise funds for any pu ...

Businesses

Around 1903,

W. H. Bruce Grote Street is a major street running east to west in the western half of Adelaide city centre, in Adelaide, South Australia. It is on the northern border of Chinatown and the Adelaide Central Market, and is a lively centre for shopping and r ...

started a business with a capital of £30 "in a little shop of in the

Central Market Central Market may refer to: *Central Market, a 2009 album by Tyondai Braxton Fresh food markets * Adelaide Central Market, Australia * Cardiff Central Market, Wales *Central Market, Hong Kong * Central Market, Casablanca, Morocco * Riga Central ...

", trading in "

fancy goods Fancy may refer to: Places * Fancy, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, a settlement * Fancy River, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Music Albums * ''Fancy'' (Bobbie Gentry album), 1970 * ''Fancy'' (Idiot Flesh album), 1997 * ''Fancy'' (video ...

", soon moving on to

tailoring A tailor is a person who makes or alters clothing, particularly in men's clothing. The Oxford English Dictionary dates the term to the thirteenth century. History Although clothing construction goes back to prehistory, there is evidence of ...

(which by 1918 was "the largest tailoring concern in Australasia"). He leased a group of two-storey shops with a frontage, built in 1906, for about 20 years. Part of these later became the Empire Theatre. In 1909 Bruce converted the upper storey of two of his shop into an "amusement hall" used for screening films by means of a photo-rotoscope, called Golden Gate Hall. Toys were sold in this hall, with films shown periodically, every afternoon and evening, for free. This lasted for a year before being converted back into a large storage room. Apart from his large retail stores, Bruce also ran what were known as "cheapjack" stalls at the market, basically a type of

lottery A lottery is a form of gambling that involves the drawing of numbers at random for a prize. Some governments outlaw lotteries, while others endorse it to the extent of organizing a national or state lottery. It is common to find some degree of ...

or "sixpenny dip", where buyers would offer a coin for an unknown purchase. Bruce subsequently had a successful career as a businessman though the 1910s, establishing a number of stores in Adelaide and country towns, as well as breeding pigs. In 1918, Bruce amalgamated his considerable business interests in

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

with those in South Australia, forming the company W. H. Bruce Limited, which had a capital value of £150,000, with £47,000 being in fully paid-up shares. Bruce allocated 5,000 shares to current employees of the business, and 1,000 to past employees. He would be the governing director of the new company. At this time he had shops in Kadina and

Port Pirie Port Pirie is a small city on the east coast of the Spencer Gulf in South Australia, north of the state capital, Adelaide. The city has an expansive history which dates back to 1845. Port Pirie was the first proclaimed regional city in South ...

in South Australia, three locations in Victoria, and six in New South Wales. He also had a farm near

Renmark, South Australia Renmark is a town in South Australia's rural Riverland area, and is located northeast of Adelaide, on the banks of the River Murray. The Sturt Highway between Adelaide and Sydney runs through the town; Renmark is the last major town encountered ...

, and was described in '' The Advertiser'' as one "who has long been recognised as one of Adelaide's leading business

magnate The magnate term, from the late Latin ''magnas'', a great man, itself from Latin ''magnus'', "great", means a man from the higher nobility, a man who belongs to the high office-holders, or a man in a high social position, by birth, wealth or ot ...

s". In October 1925 a fire broke out in his Grote Street store and damaged most of his stock of suits. In 1929, having taken over Conrad's butcher in

Hindley Street Hindley Street is located in the north-west quarter of the centre of Adelaide, the capital of South Australia. It runs between King William Street and West Terrace. The street was named after Charles Hindley, a British parliamentarian and soc ...

(possibly upon Conrad's death in 1918), Bruce had butcher shops in Grote Street,

Rundle Street Rundle Street, often referred to as "Rundle Street East" as distinct from Rundle Mall, is a street in the East End of the city centre of Adelaide, the capital of South Australia. It runs from Pulteney Street to East Terrace, where it becomes ...

Port Adelaide Port Adelaide is a port-side region of Adelaide, approximately northwest of the Adelaide CBD. It is also the namesake of the City of Port Adelaide Enfield council, a suburb, a federal and state electoral division and is the main port for the ...

, and Glenelg. He was later described as a "great businessman". There was still a business concern named W. H. Bruce in 1954, which opened a new food store (of meats) at 13–15 Grote Street in December 1954. In 1931, an arcade was constructed through the shops formerly leased by Bruce to create a northern entrance to Adelaide Central Market.

Theatres and cinemas

On 10 April 1909 the first theatre in Grote Street, the Empire Theatre, opened. Designed by A. Barnham Black, the theatre, as of January 1910 run by Messrs Lennon, Hyman, and Lennon, initially featured

vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment born in France at the end of the 19th century. A vaudeville was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a dramatic composition ...

acts and

movies A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...

(then

silent film A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, when ...

s), and continued as a

picture theatre A movie theater (American English), cinema (British English), or cinema hall (Indian English), also known as a movie house, picture house, the movies, the pictures, picture theater, the silver screen, the big screen, or simply theater is a ...

until 1952. It was converted into a Peoplestores store in 1953–4, and still stands today (2022), numbered 61–68 and housing several stores. The Lyric Theatre was a cinema built by owner

, completed during a builders' labourers' strike in 1912 by paying the men the wages asked for by their union. It opened on 21 December with a programme including ''The Price of a Man'' and ''Kathleen Mavourneen''. There was gallery seating at the back at which seats could be reserved, gallery seating down the sides and stalls seating in the middle. The entrance was described as being "under Muirden College". The films were billed as being put on by W. H. Bruce's Pictures in 1912. The cinema was still screening films on 17 January 2014, but soon thereafter advertisements appear for the auction of a variety of goods at the entrance to the Lyric Theatre, including jewellery, suit materials, and Japanese goods. Her Majesty's Theatre, Grote St

The Princess Theatre, built in 1912–13 for Edwin Daw, was immediately leased and renamed as the New Tivoli Theatre, and staged vaudeville acts, stage plays, and other entertainments. After the Theatre Royal in

was closed in 1962, the Tivoli was extensively refurbished and reopened as

, which still stands today. The old Liquor Trades Union Hall at 116 Grote Street was converted into the Promethean Theatre in the early 1980s, which featured productions by small

theatre companies Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perform ...

and drama students, as well as

Adelaide Festival The Adelaide Festival of Arts, also known as the Adelaide Festival, an arts festival, takes place in the South Australian capital of Adelaide in March each year. Started in 1960, it is a major celebration of the arts and a significant cultural ...

and

Fringe Festival Fringe theatre is theatre that is produced outside of the main theatre institutions, and that is often small-scale and non-traditional in style or subject matter. The term comes from the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.Kemp, Robert, ''More that is Fre ...

events. The theatre closed in 2007, but the Promethean continued to operate as a music venue.

Description

Grote Street is in Adelaide city centre. It runs in an east–west direction, as a continuation of

Wakefield Street Wakefield Street is a main thoroughfare intersecting the centre of the South Australian capital, Adelaide, from east to west at its midpoint. It crosses Victoria Square in the centre of the city, which has a grid street plan. It continues as ...

where it crosses Victoria Square. It concludes at

West Terrace West Terrace is a populated place in the parish of Saint James, Barbados. The National Cultural Foundation of Barbados is located in West Terrace. See also * List of cities, towns and villages in Barbados This is a list of cities, towns and ...

; the road which continues is Sir Donald Bradman Drive. The Grote Street–Sir Donald Bradman Drive route is the most direct method of travelling from the CBD to the

Adelaide Airport Adelaide Airport , also known as Adelaide International Airport, is the principal airport of Adelaide, South Australia and the List of the busiest airports in Australia, fifth-busiest airport in Australia, servicing 8.5 million passenger ...

. Today Grote Street is largely occupied by retail outlets, restaurants, and retail outlets. Moonta Street Chinatown is accessible via Grote Street, which is also home to some Chinese restaurants and other businesses owned by

Chinese Australian Chinese Australians () are Australians of Chinese ancestry. Chinese Australians are one of the largest groups within the global Chinese diaspora, and are the largest Asian Australian community. Per capita, Australia has more people of Chinese ...

s and Korean Australians. The northern entrance of the Adelaide Central Markets can also be found on Grote Street. A

paifang A ''paifang'', also known as a ''pailou'', is a traditional style of Chinese architectural arch or gateway structure. Evolved from the Indian subcontinent's ''torana'' through the introduction of Buddhism to China, it has developed many styles ...

, comprising an archway erected by the

city council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, rural counc ...

and two

lions The lion (''Panthera leo'') is a large cat of the genus ''Panthera'' native to Africa and India. It has a muscular, broad-chested body; short, rounded head; round ears; and a hairy tuft at the end of its tail. It is sexually dimorphic; adult ...

donated by the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

, marks the northern entrance to the Chinatown. St Patrick's Church,

, and the rear entrance of the

Adelaide Central bus station Adelaide Central bus station is Adelaide's main terminus for long distance coach services. It is located on Franklin Street. History Terminal 1 of the Adelaide Central bus station was opened in September 1969 on the corner of Franklin and B ...

are also located on this street. Since the 21st century, Grote Street has become the home of various businesses selling items relating to housing construction and renovation, such as

tile Tiles are usually thin, square or rectangular coverings manufactured from hard-wearing material such as ceramic, stone, metal, baked clay, or even glass. They are generally fixed in place in an array to cover roofs, floors, walls, edges, or o ...

built-in furniture A cabinet is a case or cupboard with shelves and/or drawers for storing or displaying items. Some cabinets are stand alone while others are built in to a wall or are attached to it like a medicine cabinet. Cabinets are typically made of wood (so ...

, and

bedding Bedding, also known as bedclothes or bed linen, is the materials laid above the mattress of a bed for hygiene, warmth, protection of the mattress, and decorative effect. Bedding is the removable and washable portion of a human sleeping environm ...

. There are also apartment blocks providing accommodation for university students.

References

{{Authority control Streets in Adelaide