Adelaide Arcade from Rundle Street

Adelaide Arcade was built in 1885, and originally comprised of 50 shops, where the shops would retail from the ground floor and use the space on the first floor as a work or storage room. The thoroughfare between the shops was 24 feet wide and composed of Carrara marble and black and white tiles formed in "elegant designs".

The interior of the arcade was illuminated throughout by electricity provided by a generator located around the area where the Manhattan drycleaners is now situated.

Some of the original features that the arcade boasted included three fountains placed along the main walk way or promenade and an underground tearooms.

In 1935 the lease of the arcade was taken over, and alterations were made including the installation of central booths in the promenade, and box electric lighting above the shops.

In 1968 further and extensive alterations occurred with the addition of a walkway at the first floor level which doubled the number of shops in the Arcade and the addition of mezzanines to the ground floor shops to increase shop space.

The Adelaide Arcade has in recent years been refurbished to highlight its Victorian grandeur and beauty.

The arcade is listed on the Register of the National Estate and the South Australian State Register.

Adelaide Arcade

State Library of South Australia: Mortlock Wing exhibitions. From the ground up August 2004-