Jubilee Exhibition Building
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The Jubilee Exhibition Building in
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 ...
, South Australia, was built to celebrate the 50th anniversary of
Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in January 1901. Her reign of 63 year ...
's accession to the throne on 20 June 1837. The jubilees of her
Coronation A coronation ceremony marks the formal investiture of a monarch with regal power using a crown. In addition to the crowning, this ceremony may include the presentation of other items of regalia, and other rituals such as the taking of special v ...
on 28 June 1838, and of the
Proclamation of South Australia Proclamation Day commonly refers to the anniversary of the proclamation of government of the province of South Australia, which continues to be celebrated in South Australia on 28 December, although no longer a public holiday. The anniversary of ...
on 28 December 1836, were also invoked on occasion. The building, increasingly referred to as the Exhibition Building, was located opposite the corner of North Terrace and
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 ...
. on what is now the
University of Adelaide The University of Adelaide is a public university, public research university based in Adelaide, South Australia. Established in 1874, it is the third-oldest university in Australia. Its main campus in the Adelaide city centre includes many Sa ...
's North Terrace campus, between
Bonython Hall Bonython Hall is the "great hall" of the University of Adelaide, located in the university grounds and facing North Terrace, Adelaide. The building is on the now-defunct Register of the National Estate and the South Australian Heritage Register. ...
and the old School of Mines building (now
University of South Australia The University of South Australia is a public research university based in Adelaide, South Australia. Established in 1991, it is the successor of the former South Australian Institute of Technology. Its main campuses along North Terrace are ...
's City East campus) on the Frome Road corner. It was opened on 20 June 1887 and was used until the mid 1920s. In 1929 the land and building were transferred to the University, and the building was demolished in 1962 to make way for the Napier building. There were two fountains in front of the building. One is now located in front of the
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 ...
entrance to the
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, the other in the
Creswell Gardens The Creswell Gardens are located in the Adelaide Park Lands between the Adelaide Oval, War Memorial Drive, King William Road and St Peter's Cathedral. They were established in 1909 and named after South Australian sportsman John Creswell. The ...
.


Planning

The idea 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 ...
hosting an international exhibition as a patriotic gesture was promoted in the early 1880s, culminating in a Bill which was passed by Parliament in 1883. Subsequent opposition to the scheme on the grounds of the expense involved saw the Bill being repealed in 1884, and Sir Edwin T. Smith pushed for a less grandiose celebration, which resulted in the Act of 1885, and the voting of £32,000 for a permanent Exhibition Building, which after the Jubilee would become the home of the
South Australian Institute The State Library of South Australia, or SLSA, formerly known as the Public Library of South Australia, located on North Terrace, Adelaide, is the official library of the Australian state of South Australia. It is the largest public research li ...
. As originally conceived by Government Architect E. J. Woods, the new building was to have a dome wide, an art gallery, , a court with a gallery round it of width. A basement below this section high, three open courts for lighting and ventilation, each by high. Height of the dome , from the floor to the crown of the inner dome, and from the floor line to the apex of the dome externally.


Design and construction

The architects chosen were Withall & Wells, and W. Rogers the builder. The corner-stone was laid on 21 June 1886. Interest from exhibitors in the lead-up to the Jubilee meant that the building had to be extended during the construction process, but the building was completed, and filled with manufactures and produce from around the globe, within the year, well in time for the opening of the Festival on 21 June 1887. A
railway line Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of land transport, next to road ...
connecting the
Adelaide railway station Adelaide railway station is the central Terminal station, terminus of the Adelaide Metro railway system. All lines approach the station from the west, and it is a terminal station with no through lines, with most of the traffic on the metropol ...
to the grounds behind the Exhibition Building passed under
King William Road King William Street is the part of a major arterial road that traverses the central business district, CBD and Adelaide city centre, centre of Adelaide, continuing as King William Road to the north of North Terrace, Adelaide, North Terrace and ...
and ran between the
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and
Government House Government House is the name of many of the official residences of governors-general, governors and lieutenant-governors in the Commonwealth and British Overseas Territories. The name is also used in some other countries. Government Houses in th ...
.


Queen Victoria’s Jubilee

During the 1887 Jubilee 789,672 visitors passed through the exhibition. The building housed 2,200 exhibitions (valued at approximately £500,000) from 26 different countries. The
Adelaide Jubilee International Exhibition The Adelaide International Jubilee Exhibition of 1887 was a celebration of the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria, 50th anniversary of Queen Victoria's accession to the throne on 20 June 1837, held in Adelaide, South Australia in 1887. It was also ...
was one of few major exhibitions in Australia where all the costs, totalling £66,000, were covered.


Royal Adelaide Show

The Jubilee Exhibition Building and
Jubilee Oval Jubilee Stadium (also known as Kogarah Oval) is a multi-purpose stadium in Carlton, a suburb in Sydney, Australia. The stadium is mainly used for rugby league and the A-League, and is one of the home grounds of the National Rugby League (NRL) ...
was the home of the
Royal Adelaide Show The Royal Adelaide Show is an annual carnival and agricultural show run by the Royal Agricultural and Horticultural Society of South Australia. It is held at the Adelaide Showground, a dedicated venue located in Wayville, a suburb of Adelaide, ...
from 1895 to 1925.


Other uses

The building and grounds have been used for a variety of events and purposes, including: *In November 1889 the whole of the basement (one third of the building's floor area) was handed over to the South Australian School of Mines and Industries to accommodate the rising demand for quality vocational training. Though timely, this expedient was less than satisfactory, and not solved until 1903, when the purpose-built school was opened on the Frome Road corner. *From 1910 to 1916 the Education Department's Adelaide School of Art, conducted by H. P. Gill, was conducted in the Exhibition Building, though under sufferance, as there was no heating in winter. *On Saturday 2 December 1911,
Wondergraph Wondergraph, Wondergraph Theatre and variations were names given first to a technology, and then to picture theatres run first by the Continental Wondergraph Company (represented by two German men who arrived in Perth, Western Australia, in 1910 ...
opened its new "Picture Pavilion" opposite the Exhibition Building. This was a seated outdoor
picture theatre A movie theater (American English) or cinema (Commonwealth English), also known as a movie house, cinema hall, picture house, picture theater, the movies, the pictures, or simply theater, is a business that contains auditoriums for viewing fi ...
which showed
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. The venue continued to operate for several years until at least 1919, lending itself to other uses as well. *In February 1919 at the outbreak of the
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the Exhibition Building became the Exhibition Isolation Hospital. It was heavily criticised by medical staff and was no longer needed once isolation wards had been opened at the nearby Adelaide Hospital, and by late November 1919 when the last admission to the Exhibition hospital took place, 588 patients had been admitted, of whom 68 died from the disease. *In November 1934,
S.A. Theatres Ozone Theatres Ltd, formerly Ozone Picture Company and then Ozone Amusements Ltd, was a cinema chain based in Adelaide, South Australia, from 1911 until 1951, when it sold its theatres to Hoyts. It was founded by Hugh Waterman and friends, and w ...
opened Adelaide's first outdoor
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 ...
theatre in the Exhibition Grounds, known as the Chinese Gardens owing to the Chinese-themed decor. The last recorded show appears to have taken place in April 1938. *In 1949 the Motor Vehicles Department, with its staff of 100 and records relating to 143,000 vehicles and 147,000 licensed drivers, as well as archived files, moved to the Exhibition Building from the state government offices on Victoria Square. By 1962, just before demolition, the public offices of this department were located in the Railways building.


Demolition

The building was demolished in 1962, making way for the
Napier Building The University of Adelaide is a public research university based in Adelaide, South Australia. Established in 1874, it is the third-oldest university in Australia. Its main campus in the Adelaide city centre includes many sandstone buildings o ...
, part of the
University of Adelaide The University of Adelaide is a public university, public research university based in Adelaide, South Australia. Established in 1874, it is the third-oldest university in Australia. Its main campus in the Adelaide city centre includes many Sa ...
.


See also

*
List of destroyed heritage This is a list of cultural heritage sites that have been damaged or destroyed accidentally, deliberately, or by a natural disaster. The list is sorted by continent, then by country. Cultural heritage can be subdivided into two main types: tang ...


References

{{reflist History of South Australia Buildings and structures completed in 1887 Neoclassical architecture in Australia Victorian architecture in South Australia 1887 establishments in Australia 1962 disestablishments in Australia World's fair architecture in Australia Buildings and structures demolished in 1962 Demolished buildings and structures in South Australia Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria