Pirie Street hall last of Methodist South Australian complex; first Prince Alfred College schoolroom

The South Australian state-heritage-listed former hall, used as the first schoolroom for Prince Alfred College in 1869, became the last remnant of 19th Century Methodist headquarters complex, including its "cathedral" church, on Pirie Street, Adelaide city. The hall, used for events and concerts, was owned later by Adelaide city council that took over the Methodist site.
Main image courtesy City of Adelaide

The former hall off Pirie Street, Adelaide city, from 1862, with its church, chapel and manse, formed a complex regarded for many years as “one of the most complete and convenient ecclesiastical establishments” of the Methodist Church in Australia.

The Pirie Street hall was originally part of a Wesleyan chapel – the third for its congregation in Adelaide city.  The first two chapels were in Hindley Street (1838) and Gawler Place (1839). The chapels became too small for the expanding congregation and, in the late 1840s, a bigger building was seriously considered. 

Members of a trust, formed in 1849, canvassed for subscriptions and bought a half-acre site for £600 in Pirie Street. The church – often called the “Methodist cathedral” – was constructed in 1850 at a total cost, including land, in excess of £6,000. As the headquarters of South Australian Wesleyan Methodism, the Pirie Street church and its hall complex hosted the annual state conference and the triennial general conference of the Methodist Church of Australasia when it was in Adelaide. In 1853, a minister's residence was erected next to the church. 

Edmund Wright was the architect in 1862 for a “school room” to be built on to the rear south end of the existing chapel. The builder was Mr. Lines. The style was early English, in keeping with the chapel. The walls were of Dry Creek stone, neatly pointed, with brick dressings, and “to avoid any appearance of lowness, the Architect has thrown up side gables, in which the windows are placed”. The old wall at the rear of the church was cut away and an archway introduced to the height of the two schoolrooms.

A gallery of cedar was placed in the centre of the hall that was entered from a porch in the east side. Heavily stained roof timbers were thrown in strong relief against the blue boarding of the roof. The rich, moulded window arches and the three arched recesses at the platform end were “pleasing and effective”. 

An important element of Methodism was providing a good education for children. The church's Prince Alfred College started in the hall in January 1869. Five months later, 50 pupils moved to their new college building at Kent Town on Adelaide city’s east.

The Pirie Street manse was replaced later by the church's Epworth Building and the church by the council’s Colonel Light Centre.  A new north wall was added to the hall when the chapel was demolished in 1976. The old church hall created a distinctive character within the pedestrian link between Flinders and Pirie streets and was an important element in the historic precinct behind Adelaide Town Hall.  The hall, owned by the city council, continued to be well used  for concerts and events.

• Information from the Heritage of the City of Adelaide: An Illustrated Guide (1996).