When Adelaide Arcade was built in 1885, it comprised of 50 shops. Today it boasts a diverse range of over 100 specialty retail outlets on the ground floor and balcony level.
The design of Adelaide Arcade was by Withall & Wells and is the most important piece of their work to survive. The builder was W. Pett & Sons who engaged two hundred workmen to complete the task.
It is surprising that it took only five months to build and a further two months to occupy, with the letting and fitting out of the shops. This enabled Adelaide Arcade to be completed by December 1885.

Over two million bricks were required and 50,000 square feet of glass was used. Ornamental cast iron from Messrs Fultn & Co. was used extensively and marble slabs flanking the entrances were supplied from the Kapunda Quarries.

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.

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