Wakefield Street is a main thoroughfare intersecting the centre of the

South Australian South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a 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 includes some of the most arid parts ...

capital,

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 ...

, 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 Wakefield Road on its eastern side, through the eastern

Adelaide Park Lands The Adelaide Park Lands comprise the figure-eight configuration of land, spanning both banks of the River Torrens between Hackney and Thebarton, which encloses and separates the City of Adelaide area (including both the Adelaide city centre and ...

History

The street was named after Daniel Bell Wakefield, the solicitor who drafted the Act which proclaimed Adelaide. Like his brother

Edward Gibbon Wakefield Edward Gibbon Wakefield (20 March 179616 May 1862) was an English politician in colonial Canada and New Zealand. He is considered a key figure in the establishment of the colonies of South Australia and New Zealand (where he later served as a ...

, he was also involved in the South Australia Association in London, but never visited Adelaide. In 1911 the Willard Hall and Willard Guest House were opened by the

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 ...

n branch of the WCTU, named after

Frances Willard Frances Elizabeth Caroline Willard (September 28, 1839 – February 17, 1898) was an American educator, temperance reformer, and women's suffragist. Willard became the national president of Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) in 187 ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

national president of

Woman's Christian Temperance Union The Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) is an international temperance organization. It was among the first organizations of women devoted to social reform with a program that "linked the religious and the secular through concerted and far ...

(WCTU). The building, previously St Andrew's Presbyterian Church, was situated on the south side of the road, west of the east side of

Gawler Place Gawler Place is a single-lane thoroughfare in the city centre of Adelaide, the capital of South Australia. Somewhat narrower than other busy streets in the Central Business District, it runs north to south from North Terrace to Wakefield Stree ...

. In 1928 an old bell was found in the tower, which was probably the first bell cast in Adelaide and made for the church. A 1939 photograph shows the new

art deco Art Deco, short for the French (), is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design that first Art Deco in Paris, appeared in Paris in the 1910s just before World War I and flourished in the United States and Europe during the 1920 ...

additions to the building, and the premises of Frank J. Siebert, Funeral Director, on the left. Wakefield Street Star

The Central Picture Theatre, designed by R. R. G. (Rowland) Assheton (who also designed the Grand Picture Theatre in Rundle Street, among others) opened at no. 70 in 1912, featuring

silent film A silent film is a film without 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, w ...

s until its first

talkie A sound film is a motion picture with synchronized sound, or sound technologically coupled to image, as opposed to a silent film. The first known public exhibition of projected sound films took place in Paris in 1900, but decades passed befo ...

screened in 1930. On Saturday 14 May 1938, after a change of ownership and complete refurbishment, the

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 ...

was opened as the Star, as part of the Clifford Theatres Circuit (and variously referred to as the New Star Theatre, Wakefield Street; Wakefield Street New Star; and the Wakefield Street Star Theatre.). One reviewer described it as "the most modern theatre in S.A.". Architect Chris Smith had designed the new interior, and furnishings were supplied by John Martin & Co. The refit was in Art Deco style. The Star closed around 1959 or 1960 and reopened in 1962/63 as a Greek theatre, the Pantheon. It was demolished (date unknown) and is now the site of a carpark next to an office block tenanted by

SAPOL South Australia Police (SAPOL) is the police force of the Australian States and territories of Australia, state of South Australia. SAPOL is an independent statutory agency of the Government of South Australia directed by the Commissioner of Po ...

. The building was constructed around 1980, with its address no. 60. Wakefield Hotel B-3276

The cinema was situated adjacent to the Wakefield Hotel on its western side. The hotel had existed on this site, on the corner of Divett Place, since 1864, and the stone building stands at no. 76. In 1927 its licensees were M.G. Henderson and V. Kenny. It is a stone building with cream brick decoration. The first training hospital for nurses in the colony and then state,

Private Hospital, Wakefield Street The Calvary Wakefield Hospital, formerly Private Hospital, Wakefield Street (PHWS) and variants, Wakefield Street Private Hospital, Wakefield Memorial Hospital and Wakefield Hospital, referred to informally as "the Wakefield", was a private ho ...

, occupied various sites between Daly and

Hutt Street Hutt Street is the easternmost of the five major north–south roads running through the City of Adelaide. It runs from Pirie Street to South Terrace, Adelaide, South Terrace, from where it continues south as Hutt Road. Flanked by leafy side st ...

from 1883 to 1884 until January 2020, when the new

Calvary Adelaide Hospital Calvary Adelaide Hospital is a Catholic private hospital on Angas Street in the Adelaide central business district, South Australia, that opened in 2020, taking over and expanding the services of Calvary Wakefield Hospital and Calvary Rehabilit ...

opened on

Angas Street Angas Street is a main street in the Adelaide city centre, South Australia.Map
of the Adelaide CBD, Nor ...

. The Unitarian Christian Church which once stood opposite Francis Xavier's Cathedral was sold to the Public Service Association in 1971. It was replaced with a government building known as the "Wakefield House", a 20-storey building in

brutalist Brutalist architecture is an architectural style that emerged during the 1950s in the United Kingdom, among the reconstruction projects of the post-war era. Brutalist buildings are characterised by minimalist constructions that showcase the b ...

style completed in 1980.

Location and description

It runs in from east to 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 Victoria Square, and is one of the three streets (along with

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

and King William Street) to run through Victoria Square in the middle 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 ...

. The same three streets are also the widest streets in the city centre, at wide (refer to Adelaide city centre#Layout). The western end of Wakefield Street is continued across Victoria Square as Grote Street, which extends to West Terrace. The eastern end of Wakefield Street continues as Wakefield Road across the

to Britannia Roundabout on the

City Ring Route, Adelaide Adelaide has two city ring routes, that loop around the Adelaide city centre and North Adelaide, known as the Inner and Outer Ring Routes. Inner ring route The Inner Ring Route is a collection of major roads signposted as state route R1 (was A2 ...

. Wakefield Road continues on the eastern side of the roundabout as

Kensington Road Kensington Road is a section of road in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and the City of Westminster, London, forming part of the A315 road. Location and description It runs along the south edge of Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park, ...

Notable buildings

Buildings on Wakefield Street include (more or less west to east): *

St Francis Xavier's Cathedral, Adelaide St Francis Xavier's Cathedral is a Roman Catholic cathedral in Adelaide, South Australia. It is classified as being a Gothic Revival building in the Early English style. The foundation stone was laid in 1856 and the building was dedicated i ...

Adelaide Holocaust Museum and Andrew Steiner Education Centre The Adelaide Holocaust Museum and Andrew Steiner Education Centre (AHMSEC) is a museum housed in the historic Fennescey House at 33 Wakefield Street, in Adelaide city centre, just east of Victoria Square/Tarndanyangga. The museum Fennescey Ho ...

in the

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 ...

Fennescey House *

St Aloysius College, Adelaide St Aloysius College is a Catholic, day school for girls, situated in Adelaide, South Australia. St Aloysius College, ''also known as "SAC",'' was established by the Sisters of Mercy in 1880, and educates over 1300 students from Reception to Year ...

* SA Police city branch * Wakefield Hotel (no. 76) *The

South Australian Metropolitan Fire Service The South Australian Metropolitan Fire Service (SAMFS) is the fire service for metropolitan and urban South Australia, as well as large townships. The Metropolitan Fire Service is constituted under the ''Fire and Emergency Services Act''. The M ...

* Our Boys' Institute building, now a boutique hotel *

Christian Brothers College, Adelaide Christian Brothers College (CBC) is a private Catholic school in Adelaide, South Australia. It was founded by a group of Irish Christian Brothers in 1878. It is now one of three Christian Brothers schools in the state, along with St Paul's C ...

* Former Calvary Wakefield Hospital

Junction list

References

{{Adelaide CBD Streets Streets in Adelaide

History

Location and description

Notable buildings

Junction list

See also

References