Wakefield Street is a main thoroughfare intersecting the centre of the

South Australian 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 ...

capital,

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 ...

, 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 are the figure-eight of land spanning both banks of the River Torrens between Hackney and Thebarton and separating the City of Adelaide area (which includes both Adelaide city centre and North Adelaide) from the surro ...

History

The street was named after

Daniel Bell Wakefield Daniel Bell Wakefield (27 February 1798 – 8 January 1858) was born in Burnham-on-Crouch, Essex, England. He practised law in London and was involved in planning a colony in South Australia. He migrated to New Zealand in 1842 where he served as a ...

, the solicitor who drafted the Act which proclaimed Adelaide. Like his brother

Edward Gibbon Wakefield Edward Gibbon Wakefield (20 March 179616 May 1862) is considered a key figure in the establishment of the colonies of South Australia and New Zealand (where he later served as a member of parliament). He also had significant interests in Britis ...

, 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 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 of Australia's states and territories ...

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 1879 an ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

national president of

Woman's Christian Temperance Union The Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) is an international temperance organization, originating among women in the United States Prohibition movement. It was among the first organizations of women devoted to social reform with a program th ...

(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 road in the city centre of Adelaide, the capital of South Australia. It runs north to south from North Terrace to Wakefield Street, parallel to and approximately midway between King William and Pulteney Streets. ...

. 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 ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...

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 Rundle Mall is a pedestrian street mall located in Adelaide, South Australia. It was opened as a pedestrian mall in September 1976 by closing the section of Rundle Street between King William Street and Pulteney Street, to vehicular traffic. ...

in Rundle Street, among others) opened at no. 70 in 1912, featuring

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 until its first

talkie A sound film is a motion picture 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, percep ...

screened in 1930. On Saturday 14 May 1938, after a change of ownership and complete refurbishment, the cinema was opened as the Star, as part of the

Clifford Theatres Circuit Dan Clifford (1887 – 9 December 1942) was a well-known cinema entrepreneur and philanthropist in South Australia. He was also a keen promoter of the cinema industry, and owned 20 cinemas across the state at the time of his death, including s ...

(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 state of South Australia. SAPOL is an independent statutory agency of the Government of South Australia directed by the Commissioner of Police, who reports to the Minister fo ...

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

The cinema was situated adjacent to the

Wakefield Hotel 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 ...

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, from where it continues south as Hutt Road. Flanked by leafy side streets with many late 19th ...

from 1883–4 until January 2020, when the new

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

opened on

Angas Street Angas Street is a main street in the Adelaide city centre, South Australia.Map
of 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 Minimalism (art), minimalist constructions th ...

style completed in 1980.

Location and description

It runs in from east to west between

East Terrace __NOTOC__ East Terrace marks the eastern edge of the Adelaide city centre. It is one of the main north–south thoroughfares through the east side of the city. Although the terrace essentially runs north–south between North Terrace and Sout ...

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, 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 ...

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

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 Ade ...

. 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 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 eastern end of Wakefield Street continues as Wakefield Road across the

Britannia Roundabout The Britannia Roundabout is a roundabout intersection on the eastern side of the City Ring Route near the city centre of Adelaide. Before it was upgraded in 2014, many minor accidents had occurred over the years at this former traffic black spo ...

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. It runs along the south edge of Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park. To the west it becomes ...

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 Catholic Church, Roman Catholic cathedral in Adelaide, South Australia. It is classified as being a Gothic Revival architecture, Gothic Revival building in the Early English Period, Early English style. The ...

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 Hou ...

in the

heritage-listed This list is of heritage registers, inventories of cultural properties, natural and man-made, tangible and intangible, movable and immovable, that are deemed to be of sufficient heritage value to be separately identified and recorded. In many ...

Fennescey House * St Aloysius College, Adelaide * 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 Our Boys Institute (OBI) was a junior branch of YMCA. Opened in 1896, the club was housed in a purpose-built premises at 221 Wakefield Street, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia. The Our Boys Institute included lecture and games rooms, indoor ...

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, and it is now one of three Christian Brothers schools in the state. CBC is predominantl ...

* Former

Calvary Wakefield Hospital 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 ...

Junction list

References

{{Adelaide CBD Streets Streets in Adelaide