King William Street, Adelaide

History

King William Street was named by the Street Naming Committee on 23 May 1837 after King William IV, the then reigning monarch, who died within a month. It is historically considered one of Adelaide's high streets, for its focal point of businesses, shops and other prominent establishments.

In August 1977, the first bus lane in Adelaide opened along King William Street from Victoria Square to North Terrace.

Description

The name King William is applied several times to the continuous stretch of road that begins in the inner southern suburbs and terminates in North Adelaide. Where it runs through the Adelaide city centre from South Terrace to North Terrace, it is named "King William Street"; elsewhere it is named "King William Road".

It starts in the south as King William Road, at the north edge of Heywood Park in Unley Park, and runs through Hyde Park and Unley to Greenhill Road. Through the Adelaide city centre it is King William Street and continues north from North Terrace as King William Road to Brougham Place, North Adelaide.

At approximately 40 m wide, King William Street is the widest main street of all the Australian State capital cities.

The road continues north to National Highway 1 as O'Connell Street, but the name King William is not again used. The northern section called King William Road (connecting the Adelaide city centre with North Adelaide) passes several of Adelaide's landmarks, including Government House, Elder Park, the Adelaide Festival Centre, Adelaide Oval and St Peter's Cathedral. The section from North Terrace over the Adelaide Bridge to Pennington Terrace was named King William Road at the opening of the bridge in 1877.

Until the 1960s, trams used King William Street as a major backbone of the network, with a grand union junction at North Terrace and only one pair of tracks missing between Grenfell and Currie Streets. When most of the tram lines were dismantled in the 1950s, only the Glenelg tram line remained, and it used King William Street between South Terrace and its terminus at Victoria Square.

In 2007, the tram line was extended to run the full length of King William Street again, turning left onto North Terrace and terminating at Adelaide railway station, later extended westwards via Port Road to the Adelaide Entertainment Centre. In 2018, another expansion of the tram routes replaced the turn at the intersection of North Terrace and King William Street with a junction, and a short spur to a stop outside the Adelaide Festival Centre as well as an eastward extension along North Terrace to the Adelaide Botanic Garden. Tracks go in all four directions, but not all turning movements are supported.

Historic buildings

King's Theatre / Ballroom

The King's Theatre, at no. 318, was designed by the brothers-in-law David Williams (1856–1940) and Charles Thomas Good (1864–1926), who, working in their practice Williams & Good, also designed the New Tivoli Theatre (later Her Majesty's. The theatre was located on the north-east corner of King William and Carrington Streets, with main entrances on both, opened in February 1911 and closed in 1928. It had a seating capacity of 1500, on seats upholstered in blue velvet. Its proscenium arch was 26 ft by 28 ft. Intended mainly for vaudeville performances, the theatre was however reported to be a poor venue, "plagued by poor sightlines and inadequate ventilation". Adelaide Repertory Theatre staged at least two performances there, in 1919. The ceiling and other features of the theatre were damaged by fire on 26 September 1927.

The theatre was sold by Majestic Amusements (who had bought it from Fuller Theatres Ltd) in February 1928 to Mr P. J. A. Lawrence, (also referred to as the King's Theatre Ballroom, and Golden Ballroom). With its entrance in Carrington Street, the ballroom was open to "suitably attired" members of the public each Wednesday and Saturday night, and competitions were held there.

A serious fire forced closure in 1975, after which it remained vacant for several years, eventually being transformed into legal offices in the 1980s.

Majestic / Warner Theatre

The building at 100 King William Street was also designed by Williams & Good. It was constructed in 1848, comprising a hotel and concert hall commissioned by proprietor George White and designed by George Strickland Kingston. White's Adelaide Assembly and Concert Room opened on 26 June 1856. It was refitted as Garner's Theatre (proprietor Alfred Garner) in 1886, with decorations by George Gordon. It was taken over by new proprietor Tommy Hudson, and renamed Hudson's Bijou in 1892. In 1900, Harry Rickards purchased the building and reopened it as the Tivoli Theatre, which operated briefly as a cinema, called the Star Theatre.

The Majestic Theatre opened as a picture theatre on 3 June 1916, having undergone a conversion costing £18,000. owned by City Projects Pty Ltd from 1969. Notable performances at the Warner include the Eleo Pomare Dance Company of New York City in 1972, Don's Party in 1975, and The Rocky Horror Show in 1977.

The theatre finally closed on 31 March 1979.

Sands & McDougall building

The facade of the Sands & McDougall Printers and Stationers building at 64 King William Street, Adelaide is an excellent early example of Art Deco architecture in South Australia. The facade of the 19th-century neoclassical building was redesigned in 1933, and was listed on the South Australian Heritage Register in December 2020.

Junctions and street name changes

Between North Terrace and South Terrace, all east-west roads change their names as they cross King William Street. It is said this is because no one was allowed to "cross the path of a monarch".

In popular culture

King William Road was referenced in the John Schumann song "Hyde Park Calling (King William Road Scene 1)" on the 1993 album True Believers.

Gallery

File:Waterhouse Chambers (1847) opp. Beehive Corner, Cnr King William & Rundle Streets, 1866.jpg|The street (running left to right), 1867 File:Samuel Sweet - King William Street Adelaide, looking north from Victoria Square - Google Art Project.jpg|View from Victoria Square, 1870s Image:King_william_street,Adelaide_1889.jpg|–1889. Town Hall on left, Post Office on right Image:King william street, Adelaide 1889 (3).jpg|Sometime between 1869 and 1889. File:King William Road, Adelaide, South Australia 1923.jpg|The street, 1923 File:Adelaide - panoramio (2).jpg|View south from Rundle Mall, 2004 File:King William Street looking south.jpg|King William Street looking south, December 2010 File:Closure for redevelopment, Rundle Mall.jpg|The intersection from King William Street, looking east towards Rundle Mall, 2013. File:Adelaide kingwilliam.jpg|King William Street between North Terrace and Currie Street, looking south-west, November 2006 File:Adelaide-city-centre.jpg|View south from the Festival Centre, before the Festival Centre tram stop was built. File:Looking south towards adelaide CBD.jpg|King William Road, North Adelaide, from the Adelaide Oval, looking south over the River Torrens towards North Terrace, King William Street and the Adelaide city centre, May 2009 File:Wet_and_Grey(9945539375).jpg|King William Street, looking north towards St Peter's Cathedral

Footnotes

References

References

1. "King William Street".
2. "History of Adelaide through street names – Street Names". www.historysouthaustralia.net.
3. Bus Only Lane in King William Street ''[[Among Ourselves]]'' issue 177 October 1977 page 9
4. (2003). "2003 Adelaide Street Directory, 41st Edition". UBD.
5. "Nomenclature of the Streets of Adelaide and North Adelaide".
6. (17 May 1877). "OPENING OF THE ADELAIDE BRIDGE.". [[South Australian Register]].
7. (August 1992). "Trolley Wire". South Pacific Pacific Electric Railway Co-operative Society Limited.
8. Prosser, Candice. (1 December 2017). "Curious Adelaide: Why was Adelaide's tram network ripped up in the 1950s?". Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
9. Gailberger, Jade. (22 November 2017). "Government tries explaining why Adelaide trams could turn right 100 years ago — but not now". The Advertiser.
10. P.L.. (15 October 2017). "SA Heritage & the Entertainment Industry: Theatres in the Central Business District".
11. "Architect Details: David Williams". [[University of South Australia]].
12. (2 February 1928). "King's Theatre sold.". [[The Advertiser (Adelaide)]].
13. "Carrington Street, Adelaide (1928)".
14. (24 March 2017). "Adelaide Entertainment Royalty".
15. (2 September 2021). "Adelaide Repertory Theatre".
16. (30 September 1927). "City fire.". [[West Coast Sentinel]].
17. (20 August 1928). "New Adelaide ballroom". [[News (Adelaide)]].
18. (6 November 1929). "King's Theatre Ballroom". [[The Advertiser (Adelaide)]].
19. (16 November 1929). "Golden Ballroom". [[The Advertiser (Adelaide)]].
20. "Carrington Street, Adelaide (1929)".
21. (20 August 1928). "The King's Ballroom.". [[The Advertiser (Adelaide)]].
22. (27 October 1932). "Championship reveals fine dancing". [[The Advertiser (Adelaide)]].
23. Adelaide Remember When. (21 July 2014). "Just been reading "Lost Theatres of Adelaide" by Louise Harris from the Department of Archaeology, Flinders University...".
24. Byrne, Bob. "Bob Byrne remembers the old theatres of #Adelaide". [[The Advertiser (Adelaide).
25. "Majestic Theatre in Adelaide, AU".
26. (31 May 2021). "Keepers of the legacy: Eleo Pomare's map of artistic social justice and protest".
27. (1973). "Don's party, by David Williamson : [theatre program], NIDA/Jane St. Production. [catalog entry]".
28. "Rocky Horror Picture Show".
29. "Majestic Hotel and Commonwealth Bank buildings".
30. (16 September 2019). "Frontage of Shop (former Sands & McDougall Pty. Ltd. building)".
31. link. (25 March 2017 of the [[Adelaide]] city centre, [[North Adelaide]] and the [[Adelaide Parklands]].)