No Adelaide Fringe Reviews Or Coverage in 2024 - Will Be Back Every Other Year From 2025
The Adelaide Show Podcast putting South Australian passion on centre stage

… and they put up a parking lot.

Looking back… A view of the Grand Central Hotel against the current multi-storey car park. (Photo courtesy State Library of SA)

On the site of the former York Hotel (built 1849) and its various developments under the same name, the Grand Central Hotel stood at the corner of Rundle and Pulteney streets (the south-east corner).

Built in 1910, the hotel was perhaps one of Adelaide’s most prestigious establishments, with guests not only staying for short periods, but some also making the hotel their permanent home.

The hotel played host to some prominent guests, including the Prince of Wales in 1920, and the creator of Sherlock Holmes, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, stayed there for eight days when he visited Adelaide the same year during his Spiritualist lecture tour.

The hotel did not prosper as expected, and in 1926 it was bought by Adelaide department store, Foy and Gibson’s.

Foy and Gibson’s became Cox Foy’s and moved further along Rundle Street (now Rundle Mall), and around 1955 the building was sold to the state government. It was used to house government departments, including the Electricity Trust of South Australia.

Left to fall into disrepair, the once grand old building was finally demolished in the mid-1970s to make way for the multi-storey car park which now stands in its place – with Hungry Jacks underneath, and adorned with the Rundle ‘lantern’.

Here’s a great photograph of the Grand Central Hotel in 1924 and of its predecessor the York Hotel in 1865 (courtesy of the State Library of SA).

You can listen to our chat on the subject in episode 38 of the show.

2 Responses

    1. Hi Tim

      Thanks for that feedback. It was great for you to share while also piercing a stake through Colin’s heart.

      Colin had prepared a segment on the Grand Central Hotel about a month ago and then we changed his topic to Lord Mayors (ahead of Stephen Yarwood’s appearance), then he was sick, and then he saw that Adelaide Remembers When did a piece on it.

      He was distraught and said he’d scrap the topic in case anybody thought he was copying someone else.

      I said, nonsense, share your work, I’ll be surprised if anybody notices.

      And, lo and behold, you just brought these two worlds together.

      Sorry for the long reply, I feel I owe it to Colin.

      🙂

      Steve

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *