Pirie Street is a road on the east side of the
Adelaide city centre
Adelaide city centre () is the inner city locality of Adelaide, 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 Adelaide l ...
,
South Australia
South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...
. It runs east–west, between
East Terrace
East Terrace is a road that marks the eastern edge of the Adelaide city centre in Adelaide, South Australia.
Description
East Terrace is one of the main north–south thoroughfares through the east side of the city.
Although the terrace esse ...
and
King William Street. After crossing King William Street, it continues as
Waymouth Street. It forms the southern boundary of
Hindmarsh Square
Hindmarsh Square/Mukata (formerly Mogata) is one of five public squares in the Adelaide city centre, South Australia. It is located in the centre of the north-eastern quarter of the city, and surrounds the intersection of Grenfell and Pulten ...
which is in the centre of the north-east quadrant of the city centre.
Pirie Street is served by a stop on the
Glenelg tram line on King William Street. It is mainly occupied by office buildings, restaurants, and nightspots. It is one of the narrower streets of the Adelaide grid, at wide, and has a
bicycle lane
Bike lanes (US) or cycle lanes (UK) are types of bikeways (cycleways) with lanes on the roadway for cyclists only. In the United Kingdom, an on-road cycle-lane can be firmly restricted to cycles (marked with a solid white line, entry by motor ...
.
It has a number of notable buildings, including several
heritage-listed
This list is of heritage registers, inventories of cultural properties, natural and human-made, tangible and intangible, movable and immovable, that are deemed to be of sufficient heritage value to be separately identified and recorded. In ma ...
ones, and was once home to the biggest brewery in the
colony of South Australia
A colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule, which rules the territory and its indigenous peoples separated from the foreign rulers, the colonizer, and their '' metropole'' (or "mother country"). This separated rule was often or ...
, the Adelaide Brewery. In 2019 it was used as a location for the film ''
Escape from Pretoria'', starring
Daniel Radcliffe
Daniel Jacob Radcliffe (born 23 July 1989) is an English actor. Radcliffe rose to fame at age twelve for portraying the title character in the ''Harry Potter'' film series. He starred in all eight films in the series, from '' Harry Potter a ...
, substituting for
Cape Town
Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...
, South Africa.
History and notable buildings

Pirie Street was named after Sir
John Pirie,
Lord Mayor of London
The Lord Mayor of London is the Mayors in England, mayor of the City of London, England, and the Leader of the council, leader of the City of London Corporation. Within the City, the Lord Mayor is accorded Order of precedence, precedence over a ...
and a founding director of the
South Australian Company
The South Australian Company, also referred to as the South Australia Company, was formed in London on 9 October 1835, after the '' South Australia (Foundation) Act 1834'' had established the new British Province of South Australia, with the So ...
.
The
Pirie Street Methodist Church was located on the site that is now the
Adelaide Town Hall
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
Adelaid ...
office building, with the 1862 Methodist Meeting Hall (see below) behind.
The
Adelaide City Council
The City of Adelaide, also known as the Corporation of the City of Adelaide and Adelaide City Council, is a local government area in the metropolitan area of greater Adelaide, South Australia. It is legally defined as the capital city of Sout ...
headquarters are on Pirie Street.
The
Pirie Street Brewery, later known as Adelaide Brewery, occupied a number of buildings down Wyatt Street, as well as no. 113 Pirie, which was occupied by the Hill Smith Gallery from July 1983 for 37 years. While no. 113 has not been
heritage-listed
This list is of heritage registers, inventories of cultural properties, natural and human-made, tangible and intangible, movable and immovable, that are deemed to be of sufficient heritage value to be separately identified and recorded. In ma ...
, the other brewery buildings in Wyatt street were listed on the
South Australian Heritage Register
The South Australian Heritage Register, also known as the SA Heritage Register, is a statutory register of historic places in South Australia. It extends legal protection regarding demolition and development under the ''Heritage Places Act 1993'' ...
on 20 November 1986.
Buildings which are heritage-listed at state level are:
*the Queen's Chambers at no. 19
[
*the Old Methodist Meeting Hall at no. 25][
*Darlington House offices, formerly the ]Salvation Army
The Salvation Army (TSA) is a Protestantism, Protestant Christian church and an international charitable organisation headquartered in London, England. It is aligned with the Wesleyan-Holiness movement. The organisation reports a worldwide m ...
's People's Palace, where Archie Roach
Archibald William Roach (8 January 1956 – 30 July 2022) was an Australian (Gunditjmara and Western Bundjalung people, Bundjalung) singer-songwriter and Aboriginal Australian, Aboriginal activist. Often referred to as "Uncle Archie", Roach wa ...
met Ruby Hunter
Ruby Charlotte Margaret Hunter (31 October 195517 February 2010), also known as Aunty Ruby, was an Aboriginal Australian singer, songwriter and guitarist, and the life and musical partner of Archie Roach.
Early life
Ruby Hunter was born on 31 ...
), and before that the original German Club building (1879)[
*the old Tivoli Hotel at no.248 (state and local listing)][
Other buildings which are heritage-listed as of local heritage interest are:][
*The Epworth Building at 31–35 Pirie Street was built in 1926 as a commercial property for the Methodist Church. Designed by the architectural practice of English and Soward, it is listed among 120 nationally significant 20th-century buildings in South Australia.
* A 1920s ]façade
A façade or facade (; ) is generally the front part or exterior of a building. It is a loanword from the French language, French (), which means "frontage" or "face".
In architecture, the façade of a building is often the most important asp ...
of the former Bank of South Australia
BankSA, formerly known as the Bank of South Australia, the State Bank of South Australia and the Savings Bank of South Australia is the largest bank in South Australia. It is a subsidiary of Westpac.
History
The Savings Bank of South Austra ...
at no. 51; however, in August 2020, developers were given permission to demolish the whole building ahead of the construction of a new Hyatt Regency Adelaide Hotel[
]
Film location
In March 2019 a section of Pirie Street was closed for the day and transformed to represent Cape Town
Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...
in the 1970s, for filming of the thriller film '' Escape from Pretoria'', starring Daniel Radcliffe
Daniel Jacob Radcliffe (born 23 July 1989) is an English actor. Radcliffe rose to fame at age twelve for portraying the title character in the ''Harry Potter'' film series. He starred in all eight films in the series, from '' Harry Potter a ...
.
Junction list
Transportation
Pirie Street is also the location of a stop on the Glenelg tram line.Glenelg Tram Timetable (2018)
, Adelaide Metro
Adelaide Metro is the public transport system of the Adelaide area, around the capital city of South Australia. It is an intermodal passenger transport, intermodal system offering an integrated network of Buses in Adelaide, bus, Glenelg tram, ...
See also
References
{{Adelaide CBD Streets
Streets in Adelaide