Rundle Street, often referred to as "Rundle Street East" as distinct from
Rundle Mall
Rundle Mall is a pedestrian street mall located in Adelaide, South Australia. It was opened as a pedestrian mall in September 1976 after the closing of the western section of Rundle Street between King William Street and Pulteney Street, to ...
, is a street in the
East End of the
city centre
A city centre, also known as an urban core, is the Commerce, commercial, Culture, cultural and often the historical, Politics, political, and geographic heart of a city. The term "city centre" is primarily used in British English, and closely e ...
of
Adelaide
Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...
, the capital of
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 from
Pulteney Street
Pulteney Street is a main road which runs north-south through the middle of the eastern half of the Adelaide city centre, in Adelaide, South Australia. It runs north-south from North Terrace, through Hindmarsh and Hurtle Squares, to South ...
to
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 ...
, where it becomes Rundle Road through the
East Park Lands. The street is close to
Adelaide Botanic Gardens
The Adelaide Botanic Garden is a public garden at the north-east corner of the Adelaide city centre, in the Adelaide Park Lands. It encompasses a fenced garden on North Terrace (between Lot Fourteen, the site of the old Royal Adelaide Hospital ...
,
Rundle Park,
Rymill Park
Rymill Park / Murlawirrapurka (previously spelt Mullawirraburka), and numbered as Park 14, is a recreation park located in the Adelaide Park Lands, East Park Lands of the South Australian capital of Adelaide. There is an artificial lake with r ...
,
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 ...
and
North Terrace.
The street contains numerous cafés, restaurants, shops, cinemas,
clubs, and
hotel
A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a re ...
s. It is one of Adelaide's most popular streets for cafés and fashion. Most of the street has a heritage façade, but has been redeveloped for modern use, with some buildings converted to residences, such as the East End Markets.
Junction list and description
Bent Street and Union Street run through to
Grenfell Street
Grenfell Street () is a major street in the north-east quarter of the Adelaide city centre, South Australia. The street runs west-east from King William Street to East Terrace. Its intersection with Pulteney Street is formed by Hindmarsh Squa ...
on the southern side, Ebenezer Place runs south leading to a
pedestrianised
Pedestrian zones (also known as auto-free zones and car-free zones, as pedestrian precincts in British English, and as pedestrian malls in the United States and Australia) are areas of a city or town restricted to use by people on foot or ...
precinct and turns westwards into Union Street, while the
cul de sac
A dead end, also known as a ''cul-de-sac'' (; , ), a no-through road or a no-exit road, is a street with only one combined inlet and outlet.
Dead ends are added to roads in urban planning designs to limit traffic in residential areas. Some d ...
Synagogue Place, and pedestrianised Vaughan Place (next to
the Exeter). Cinema Place runs off the northern side of Vaughan place, and is home to several businesses and offices, including
The Elephant,
Palace Nova,
Radio
Fresh 92.7 and
MusicSA.
Rundle Street is two-lane, with parking on both sides plus
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 ...
s. It is one of the narrower streets of the Adelaide grid, at wide.
A separate Rundle Street continues from Rundle Road through
Kent Town
Kent Town is an inner suburb of Adelaide, South Australia. It is located in the City of Norwood Payneham & St Peters local government area.
History
Kent Town was named for Benjamin Archer Kent (1808 – 25 November 1864), a medical practition ...
.
Rundle Mall
The western extent of Rundle Street, which originally ran to
King William Street, was closed in 1972 to form the
pedestrian street
Pedestrian zones (also known as auto-free zones and car-free zones, as pedestrian precincts in British English, and as pedestrian malls in the United States and Australia) are areas of a city or town restricted to use by people on foot or ...
of Rundle Mall.
History
The street was named after
John Rundle
John Rundle (1791 – January 1864) was a British Whig politician and businessman.
From 1835 to 1843, he was a member of parliament, representing Tavistock in the House of Commons. He was one of the original directors and financiers of the S ...
, a 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 ...
and member of the
British House of Commons
The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the upper house, the House of Lords, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. The House of Commons is an elected body consisting of 650 memb ...
, by the
Street Naming Committee
The Street Naming Committee was a committee established to decide on names for the streets of the new city of Adelaide in the colony of South Australia in 1837.
Description
The Street Naming Committee was set up to decide the names of the streets ...
on 23 May 1837.
It was installed with the first electric street lighting in South Australia in 1895 at the former intersection of Rundle, King William and
Hindley streets.
The
Malcolm Reid & Co. Ltd building at no. 187-207 was extensively refurbished in 1909.
[(See ]below
Below may refer to:
*Earth
*Ground (disambiguation)
*Soil
*Floor
* Bottom (disambiguation)
*Less than
*Temperatures below freezing
*Hell or underworld
People with the surname
* Ernst von Below (1863–1955), German World War I general
* Fred Belo ...
for further details.)
A tramline ran through the street in the early 20th century.
Grand Central Hotel / Foy & Gibson
The Grand Central Hotel was a magnificent heritage building which was located on the corner of Rundle Street and Pulteney Street, a six-storey Victorian-style building opened in 1911. It was later concerted into a Foy & Gibson
Foy & Gibson, also known as Foy's and later Cox-Foys, was one of Australia's largest and earliest department store chains. A large range of goods were manufactured and sold by the company including clothing, manchester, leather goods, soft fur ...
retail store, designed to complement their adjacent furniture emporium adjacent. The building was demolished in 1975 and the Rundle Street UPark was built there.
The Grand Central in its turn replaced the elegant and exclusive two-storey York Hotel, but despite some high-profile guests (the Prince of Wales
Prince of Wales (, ; ) is a title traditionally given to the male heir apparent to the History of the English monarchy, English, and later, the British throne. The title originated with the Welsh rulers of Kingdom of Gwynedd, Gwynedd who, from ...
in 1920, Arthur Conan Doyle
Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle (22 May 1859 – 7 July 1930) was a British writer and physician. He created the character Sherlock Holmes in 1887 for ''A Study in Scarlet'', the first of four novels and fifty-six short stories about Hol ...
in 1922), it never prospered, and around 1925 was absorbed into the emporium.
The building was sold to the Electricity Trust for showrooms and offices, then in 1975–1976 was demolished to make way for a multi-level car park, an open, austere structure of concrete slabs and iron railings.
Rundle Street siege
In September 1976, a Victoria
Victoria most commonly refers to:
* Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India
* Victoria (state), a state of Australia
* Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital
* Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...
n man, Michael O'Connor, entered Hambly Clark's gun shop (now closed) at 182 Rundle Street, between Pulteney Street
Pulteney Street is a main road which runs north-south through the middle of the eastern half of the Adelaide city centre, in Adelaide, South Australia. It runs north-south from North Terrace, through Hindmarsh and Hurtle Squares, to South ...
and Synagogue Place, and stole two shotguns which he loaded with his own ammunition. He then began shooting indiscriminately. After a lengthy confrontation he was shot by a police sniper and taken to the nearby Royal Adelaide Hospital
The Royal Adelaide Hospital (RAH), colloquially known by its initials or pronounced as "the Rah", is South Australia's largest hospital, owned by the state government as part of Australia's public health care system. The RAH provides tertiary hea ...
but was declared dead on arrival.
Notable buildings and traders
The Garden East apartments were built during the 1990s as part of the redevelopment of old warehouse and office buildings in the East End. "Building D" was designed by Woods Bagot around 1999.
The Palace Nova Eastend, a cinema
Cinema may refer to:
Film
* Film or movie, a series of still images that create the illusion of moving image
** Film industry, the technological and commercial institutions of filmmaking
** Filmmaking, the process of making a film
* Movie theate ...
complex which has hosted the Adelaide Film Festival
The Adelaide Film Festival (AFF, formerly ADLFF) is a film festival usually held for two weeks in mid-October in movie theater, cinemas in Adelaide, South Australia. Originally presented wikt:Special:Search/biennial, biennially in March from 2 ...
, as well as continuing to host series of other annual film festivals created by other organisations, such as the Alliance Française
(; "French Alliance", stylised as ''af'') is an international organization that aims to promote the French language and francophone culture around the world. Created in Paris on 21 July 1883 under the name ''Alliance française pour la propa ...
's French Film Festival, along with regular screenings of other films in their 12 cinemas, including the Eximax, the largest screen in Adelaide. Radio station Fresh 92.7 has its studios and office adjacent to Palace Nova Eastend.
There are many high-end fashion retailers in Rundle Street. Among these is Miss Gladys Sym Choon, owned by a company which retained the name of one of the Sym Choon family's businesses, in existence since the 1920s, when they bought the business in 1985.
Pubs
A pub (short for public house) is in several countries a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption Licensing laws of the United Kingdom#On-licence, on the premises. The term first appeared in England in the ...
in Rundle Street include the Exeter Hotel; The Austral; The Elephant British Pub (in Cinema Place, near the Palace Nova); The Stag Public House (at the junction with East Terrace); and the Belgian Beer Cafe (on Ebenezer Place).
The Austral to Malcolm Reid building group
The Malcolm Reid & Co. Ltd building is part of a group at no. 187-207 originally built for 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 ...
in the early 1880s. The company commissioned architect William McMinn
William McMinn (1844 – 14 February 1884) was an Irish-born Australian surveying, surveyor and architect, based in Adelaide in the colony of South Australia.
Early life and education
McMinn was born in Newry, County Down, Ireland, in 1844. He ...
to design a set of buildings in stages from east to west. The first building, comprising 14 shops and a hotel to provide accommodation in the three storeys above, were completed in January 1880. The section later occupied by Malcolm Reid & Co. was completed last, around 1883. The completed group occupies almost two town acre
In urban planning, the grid plan, grid street plan, or gridiron plan is a type of city plan in which streets run at right angles to each other, forming a grid.
Two inherent characteristics of the grid plan, frequent intersections and orthogon ...
s, and is unusual in Adelaide in South Australia on account of its extent.
The group is solidly constructed, made of sandstone
Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...
with stucco
Stucco or render is a construction material made of aggregates, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a very dense solid. It is used as a decorative coating for walls and ceilings, exterior walls, and as a sculptural and ...
decoration. The original composition was altered slightly by chamfering the corner with Bent Street, and adding a tiered balcony to the hotel (the Austral), and the hotel and the section occupied by Malcolm Reid were later painted.[
The group bordered Foy & Gibson's to the west, with Malcolm Reid opening next door][ in September 1909.][ At this time, number 195 Rundle Street was occupied by W. Storrie and Company , "Importers of British & Foreign Merchandise", with F. Weller & Son leather shop next door. Malcolm Reid premises are located between Wellers shop and Foy and Gibson.] By 1929, Both Storrie and Weller had gone. Storrie closed in 1916.
This part of the building, formerly used as a warehouse by Charles Segar,[ was extensively refurbished in 1909, to create a continuous frontage and almost complete reconstruction of the rear.][ As part of the renovation, a large basement was excavated, measuring by , and the total accommodation doubled, according to ''The Advertiser'' of 14 September 1909. The expansion and opening took place within around a year of Reid and his family having been in England for several years.][
The accommodation behind the Austral and the four adjoining shops remain representative of 19th-century terrace development, with large ]bluestone
Bluestone is a cultural or commercial name for a number of natural dimension stone, dimension or building stone varieties, including:
* basalt in Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, and in New Zealand
* diabase, dolerites in Tasmania, ...
walls along with brickwork
Brickwork is masonry produced by a bricklayer, using bricks and mortar. Typically, rows of bricks called '' courses'' are laid on top of one another to build up a structure such as a brick wall.
Bricks may be differentiated from blocks by ...
.[
]
The facade of the Malcolm Reid Emporium, occupying nos. 187-195, was 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 ...
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 5 June 1986, after a survey of the whole group was undertaken.[ The signage is still retained today.][
The hotel on the corner of Bent Street was opened as Cohen's Family Hotel, in 1898 being renamed to the Astral.][ The Austral Hotel, which was heritage-listed on 5 April 1984, was held by licensees William and Edith Garrett in 1929.] It became known for its illegal betting in the 1950s, undergoing a transformation as a major venue for live music
A concert, often known informally as a gig or show, is a live performance of music in front of an audience. The performance may be carried by a single musician, in which case it is sometimes called a recital, or by a musical ensemble such as an ...
in the 1980s and 1990s. It became the first pub in South Australia to have Coopers beer on tap, and later underwent an extensive restoration in 2020.
Grundy's Shoes
Grundy's Shoes has been in the shoe trade in the East End since 1868, first operating as Judd Shoes, a cobbler
Cobbler(s) may refer to:
*A person who repairs shoes
* Cobbler (food), a type of pie
Places
* The Cobbler, a mountain located near the head of Loch Long in Scotland
* Mount Cobbler, Australia
Art, entertainment and media
* ''The Cobbler' ...
, and continuing as a family business which later imported and sold shoes. The Rundle Street store (built 1896) first traded as H. Grundy and Co making it the longest continuous trader in the street. The company expanded to include Grundy's and Barlows shoe stores across greater Adelaide
Adelaide ( , ; ) is the capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city ce ...
and Victor Harbor. In March 2018, the store celebrated 150 years in operation by a ceremonial transportation of goods by horse and cart from their Glenelg store to their Rundle Street store.[ Grundy's is owned by the Judd and Whittenbury families, who bought the business in 1921.][ It continued to perform strongly through a downturn in the industry in 2019.]
Rundle Lantern
In late 2006, 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 ...
proposed to transform Rundle Street's western approach, the Pulteney Street-Rundle Mall junction, into a Piccadilly Circus
Piccadilly Circus is a road junction and public space of London's West End of London, West End in the City of Westminster. It was built in 1819 to connect Regent Street with Piccadilly. In this context, a ''List of road junctions in the Unite ...
or Times Square
Times Square is a major commercial intersection, tourist destination, entertainment hub, and Neighborhoods in New York City, neighborhood in the Midtown Manhattan section of New York City. It is formed by the junction of Broadway (Manhattan), ...
-type meeting place at a cost of around $1.5 million.[Vlach, Anna. "Adelaide's Times Square", '' The Advertiser'', 13 November 2006.] The proposal, based on ideas expressed in mid-2005 for neon billboards and video screens, included an initial nine design concepts, which were narrowed to two for consideration by the Council in early 2007.
A minimal design called the ''Rundle Lantern'' – a 748-panel LED lighting display wrapping around the façade of the Rundle Street carpark, Upark, – was eventually selected, with the Council deciding that video screens were inappropriate for the location. The Rundle Lantern was designed and developed by a local company, Fusion, with the design strategy focused on creating a "lantern" for the city to use as a dynamic cultural canvas. There has been controversy about crediting artists that have contributed to the lantern.
The Lantern is completely solar-powered
Solar power, also known as solar electricity, is the conversion of energy from sunlight into electricity, either directly using photovoltaics (PV) or indirectly using concentrated solar power. Solar panels use the photovoltaic effect to conve ...
and carbon neutral
Global net-zero emissions is reached when greenhouse gas emissions and Greenhouse gas removal, removals due to human activities are in balance. It is often called simply net zero. ''Emissions'' can refer to all greenhouse gases or only carbon diox ...
, and there is a webcam via which anyone can view the changing digital art
Digital art, or the digital arts, is artistic work that uses Digital electronics, digital technology as part of the creative or presentational process. It can also refer to computational art that uses and engages with digital media. Since the 1960 ...
at night, or what it looks like at any time of day. More than 16 million colours can be projected onto the surfaces of the Lantern.
See also
Footnotes
References
External links
Rundle Street Adelaide
Rundle Street East
{{Adelaide CBD Streets
Streets in Adelaide
Shopping districts and streets in Australia