| It was planned that each of the original shops would retail
wares from the ground floor, with a workroom on the first floor. Each shop had an inside
staircase to the workroom above. The foundation stone was laid on May 6th 1885 by the
Mayor of Adelaide, William.Bundey.Esq.JP. The Adelaide Arcade was officially opened
by the Governor Sir William Robinson on December 12th 1885. An Orchestra played "The
Adelaide Arcade Polka" which was composed by Signor R Squarise for the occasion.
Lighting was taken care of by sixteen electric lamps of the Seimens patent. Two of
these were mounted outside the entrances and provided considerable illumination. Adelaide
Arcade was one of the first buildings in Adelaide to use this new novelty.
In August 1885, Gay's Arcade was announced in the course of construction with a 100
foot frontage to Twin Street and a depth of 119 feet to Adelaide Arcade. N.W. Trudgeon
built the arcade for 11,000 pounds. The architect was James Cumming.
Adelaide and Gay's Arcades are fine examples of the 1880's boom period. They stand as
testimony to the period to which Rundle Street was transformed into a retail area of world
renown.
The original shareholders of Adelaide Arcade Pty Ltd. were some of Adelaide's most
respected people, Saul Solomon, Jochim Matthias Wendt, Herman Koeppon Carl Wendt, Patrik
Gay, Lewis Henry Berens, Robert Carr Castle, Emanuel Cohen.
The arcade has gone through a few changes since being built.
In 1935 the lease was taken over by Alfred Netter and Alexander Solomon, who
commissioned alterations in an attempt to boost trading. This was the advent of the
central booths and box electric lighting above the shops.
In 1968 extensive alterations occurred with an addition of a walkway at the first floor
level which doubled the number of the shops in the Arcade.
In 1970 the existing tiles needed replacing due to the wear on the marble. The original
pattern was to be retained but the tiles could not be lifted so the new tiles were laid on
top.
On August 3rd 1980, the Adelaide & Gay's Arcade caught on fire. Gay's Arcade was
completely gutted and Adelaide Arcade was extensively damaged to the cost of over 2
million dollars.
In the middle 80s the Arcade underwent some renovation with the removal of
the existing shop fronts and the fitting of new frontages in keeping with the original
character of the Arcade. The floor tiles were also replaced in keeping with the new
theme. This has bought back the charm and grace of the original building.
Gay's Arcade is currently undergoing a complete refurbishment and will again become an
integral part of the Arcade complex.
Like some old buildings Adelaide Arcade is resident to its own ghost! The
Adelaide Arcade caretaker called Beadle, was tragically killed when his head was mutilated
by the electric generator. The newspaper of the time was quite graphic in its detail
of the accident. There have been reports over the years of "sightings" and
"strange footsteps" as well as objects being moved from where they belong.
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