Parliament House (Adelaide)

The Parliament House in Adelaide is the seat of the Parliament of South Australia. It was built around the crowded Old Parliament House to replace. For financial reasons, the construction of the building took place in a period of more than 65 years in stages. It is one of the largest parliament building in Australia.

History

In 1874, the Governor of South Australia, a commission appointed so to stage a competition to find in this way a design for the building. Edmund Wright, a prominent Adelaider architect, along with his partner Lloyd Taylor won this competition. His plan included columns of the Corinthian order, impressive towers and a large dome. Since the time available financial resources for the full implementation of the concept were not sufficient, the towers and the dome but were ultimately omitted. Occasional efforts, the building still add the dome, were never put into action. As building materials were used from Kapunda marble and granite of West Iceland.

In the construction was started in 1874 with the West Wing. This part of the building was completed in 1889, with the costs amounted to 165 404 pounds. The west wing consisted of a new chamber for the House of Assembly and the associated office space. The meetings of the Legislative Council were still held in the adjacent Old Parliament House. Because of the economic crisis in the 1890s, the construction could not be continued. As a result, plans were made ​​for the east wing in 1913. The First World War, the continuation of the construction project delayed again.

In the 1930s, the project could be resumed by a grant from Sir John Langdon Bonython in the amount of 100,000 pounds. At this time, it also weakened the mass unemployment of the Australia suffered during the Great Depression, from. Work on the east wing began in 1936, when South Australia celebrated its centenary, and was finished in 1939. The costs amounted in this case to 241 887 pounds.

On June 5, 1939, the grand opening of the parliament building was completed in the presence of Lord Gowrie, the former Australian Governor-General instead.