Horse-racing identity Simeon Barnard loses his Stormont mansion at Adelaide's Glenelg in game of poker in 1888
South Australian heritage-listed Stormont at Adelaide's Glenelg South was restored to be attracting record real state prices in the 21st Century as one of the last remimnders of the mansionsthat lined the Esplanade in the 19th Century.
Image courtesy City of Holdfast Bay
Stormont, a South Australian state-heritage listed mansion on the Esplanade at Adelaide’s coastal Glenelg South had early notoriety by being lost in 1888 in a poker game by its original owner and horse racing identity Simeon Barnard to another racing figure William Pile.
The loss may have compounded Barnard’s dismay at having sold a horse called The Assyrian only to see it win the 1882 Melbourne Cup – with Pile as the owner. When he won Stormont from Barnard, Pile already owned Albert Hall mansion next door on the Esplanade.
Simeon Barnard, born in Portsmouth, England, in 1844, came to South Australia at 17 with his parents and was educated at St Peter’s College. He became one of Adelaide’s leading auctioneers and a partner in Barnard & Chambers accountants. In 1874, Barnard became secretary of the South Australian Jockey Club that, with influential backers, took up Thomas Elder’s offer of about 160 acres to establish Morphettville racetrack.
South Australian Jockey Club didn’t prosper as expected, largely due to competition from Adelaide Racing Club, based at Victoria Park. In 1884, when the totalizator, introduced to South Australia by Barnard, became illegal again, the club was no longer viable, to the extent of having to run its 1885 Adelaide Cup meeting in Mebourne at Flemington. The club went into recess and held no meetings for four years.
Barnard had successfully raced several horses, notably Totalizator that won the 1881 Adelaide Cup. He had stables constructed between 1877 and 1880 in North Adelaide where he built what became Downer House (later part of St Mark’s college) on Pennington Terrace. Barnard sold the property to John Downer (twice South Australian premier) in 1882 but continued living there at least until 1885, before his move into Stormont at Glenelg.
Stormont, designed by prominent South Australian architect George Klewitz Soward, was built with 12 rooms, two cellars and two bathrooms. William Pile sold both Stormont and Albert Hall in 1906. That year, the South Australian Register mentioned a court insolvency case involving “Simeon Burnard, of Unley, of no occupation, formerly of East Adelaide, dealer”.
James Gleeson Terry, bought Stormont in 1910 and it stayed with his family until the late 1940s. After being a rundown boarding house in the 1960s, Stormont was restored to be commanding record real estate prices in the 21st Century as one of the last reminders of the row of 19th Century mansions along the Esplandade at Glenelg.
