Australia's gorgeous public library: Adelaide

The State Library commemorated important South Australians in its naming of the buildings and rooms. The names were sug­g­ested by sen­ior library staff from among South Austral­ians with con­n­ect­ions to the State Library. Families of the people selected were consulted and formal app­roval involved the Lib­r­aries Board of South Aust­ralia, Geogr­aph­ical Names Board and Minis­ter for the Arts. Spon­sor names were recorded in the foyer.

The State Library spans across 3 buildings. Starting at Kintore Ave and North Terrace see the Institute Building, then the Spence Wing. Finally the Mortlock Wing was designed by col­onial architect EJ Woods amending RG Thomas' original design, and built by Brown and Thompson for £36,395. The building was French Renaiss­ance in style, with a mansard roof. The brick walls were built with Sydney free-stone facings, with decorations in a darker stone. Mort­lock Wing had a chimney on each side of its tower and the original entrance was on the SE corner, facing historic North Terrace.

The official foundation stone ceremony in Nov 1879 incl­ud­ed speeches given by the Governor, Minister of Educ­at­ion, and Chairman of the Governors, South Australian Inst­itute. There was a pamphlet which in­cluded a sketch of the initiat­ion and progress of the South Austr­alian Institute, a descript­ion of the proposed building and of the ceremony. It was opened in Dec 1884 by Gov­ Sir William Robinson.

Heritage of the City of Adelaide* showed the Mortlock Wing was unequalled as a mid-Victorian pub­lic library int­er­ior in Australia. The wing was regularly included on lists of the world's most beautiful libraries, and on travel blogs.

There were two galleries, one supported by masonry columns and one by cast iron br­ack­ets. The bal­con­­ies had wrought iron balustrading ornam­ented with gold, wh­ile the lantern roof was glass-domed so the chamber enjoyed nat­ural light. 2 of the original gas sun­burner lamps survived in the second fl­oor offices, as did some of the orig­inal wall­paper in a ground floor room. Heating vents were fed by hot wat­er pip­es linked to an underground boiler.

 

The Board of Governors loved the grand chamber and de­c­ided it needed a clock. Board member Sir Charles Todd bought one when he went over­seas in 18­85, cost­ing heaps because it was an accurate time-piece from the London Strand. Installed in 1887, the hands were set hourly on a signal from the Observatory where Todd was Post­master-General and Super­intend­ent of Telegraphs. He was the engineer responsib­le for building the Adel­aide-Darw­in Overland Tele­graph Line, and his wife Alice’s name lives on in Al­ice Springs. Todd was also the long­est serving member Governor on the Board, 1866-1910. Today staff wind the clock to keep excellent time.

Todd urged the introduction of electric light by 1884, which the government declined on cost grounds. The Board's An­n­ual Re­port of 1910-11 noted the baneful effects of gas on the pre-WW2 books’ leat­her bind­ings, plus the spoiled air inhaled by stud­ents etc who visit the library at night. Only in 1914 was electric light installed.

The Caledonian Society raised money for the statue of the most fam­ous Scottish poet, Robert Burns, to be placed before the Art Gall­ery. Then pre-WW2, the statue was placed in the entrance plaza to the Library in a prominent posit­ion. North Terrace is wonderful!

In 1984 a heritage study resulted in the architecture being renewed at the state's Jub­il­ee year, 1986. The major building was further redevelop­ed in 2003, when the Lib­r­ar­ies Board named the build­ing the Mortlock Wing to honour the wealthy benefactor’s gift to the state. And note the modern glass façade that is a new (2003) redev­el­opment of the library, an overpass that leads into the Mortlock wing.

The Mortlock Wing now accommodates a range of public functions and services eg exhibitions, conservation services, study spaces on the first gallery with wireless internet access and Crawford Room. It also houses the Royal Geographical Society of South Australia and the National Archives of Australia. The Sir Josiah Symon Library, a C19th gentleman’s library, holds 7,500 law books and his desk used when drafting the first Australian Constitution in the 1890s.