Edmund Wright, either individually, or with associates E.J. Woods and Daniel Garlick had already designed several prominent buildings including the Methodist Church Meeting Hall, the Adelaide Town Hall and St Lawrence Church and Priory in North Adelaide. Edmund Wright and Melbourne architect Lloyd Tayler had just won the competition for the South Australian Houses Of Parliament when they also won the Bank Of South Australia design competition. Work commenced in 1875. Costing £63,000 to erect, it was the noblest commercial building erected in colonial Adelaide.
In 1892, the Bank of South Australia was taken over by the Union Bank who then moved into the premises. In 1951, Union Bank merged with the Bank of Australasia to become the ANZ Bank and by 1969 had outgrown the King William Street premises. The building was subsequently sold to Mainline Corporation, a Sydney development group, who intended to build a 19 storey office block on the site.
Negative public reaction met the proposal. Some 67,000 people petitioned against the building’s demolition and a public appeal raised $250,000. After a bitter nine month battle, the South Australian Government, with Premier Don Dunstan at the helm, agreed to purchase the building for $750,000. It was formally listed as a State Heritage Place and the building was restored before being renamed “Edmund Wright House”. Some see this as an injustice to the principal architect Lloyd Tayler. Tayler was seen as the creative of the relationship but little credit is given to his work on the building. His reputation and legacy live on today in Melbourne architecture.
Since its 1972 acquisition by the State Government, the building has played host to various Government departments. For many years it housed the offices of the Registrar Of Births, Deaths and Marriages, with many civil ceremonies conducted within its grand halls. The building became unoccupied for a period in 1995 and was later used by the State History Centre and, more recently, the Migrant Resource Centre. As such, some of the grandeur of the building has been lost behind modern carpeting and internal modifications.
In 2016, the building was offered on the open market on a 99 year leasehold. It is hoped that the future occupant restores the internals of this building to their former glory and it becomes publically accessible once more.
As more and more of our heritage buildings are consumed and destroyed in the name of progress, one should look to “Edmund Wright House” and the support of 67,000 people who believed in heritage preservation enough to pressure the government to intervene. One wonders how the state’s Minister for Heritage, Mr Rau, might react in similar circumstances today.
AUTOPSY OF ADELAIDE 
That is a building that needs to be saved.
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This is a wonderful old building. I remember when I was the Manager at Allans Music, holding a Steinway piano concert here. Was the second location in a series (first location was Carrick Hill). It is a beautiful hall and wonderful acoustics. Shame it’s still not used. Hope it doesn’t go to ruin
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I remember playing a Steinway’s there, for a wedding. Probably mid-80’s? Vague memories that there were multiple pianos in the hall. The had my own wedding at Carrick Hall a decade later, to complete the link to your post!
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Leave it in our hands. It is a wonderful building. We got married in there. Wonderful memories and a fantastic building. Keep it please.
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Marshall has lost my vote. He can only be classed as an iconoclast. The sale of Edmund Wright House must be classed with the desecrations wrought by Henry the 8th of England in destroying England’s cathedrals and monasteries for financial gain. Six million is a paltry sum for such an architectural gem as this building.
And to think that Marshall wants to build a basketball stadium. Edmund Wright House has been gifted to a Chinese investor based in Sydney. Back in Don Dunstan’s day I was one of the contributors to a fund to save the building from demolition. I believed that it would be on our heritage list and belong to the people of this State forever. Our trust has been betrayed.
My husband worked for Births Deaths and Marriages and performed many weddings in this building. The acoustics are wonderful and it should have been retained as a concert hall. Not all of us care about sport – some of us have more cultural aspirations.
You heartless yobbo, Stephen Marshall. And of course, Ayers House is next on the list of disposable assets. And Martindale Hall is another white elephant to be sold to developers. Why have we still got a History Trust if we can toss our heritage out the window so easily? An exquisite piece of South Australian heritage sold for a mess of pottage
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I vote for Margaret Viscigilio I myself use to work there in BDM absolutely loved that place, one has beauty in that building should be use for hire hall etc and ope for public so shame on u guys to toss this one away . It must be remembered as it’s a rarity of this building being stand strong in our hearts
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Edmund Wright House should be preserved for its intricate fittings and restored to its original splendour.Mchael .
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