CML Building, Adelaide
The Colonial Mutual Life (CML) building on the corner of King William Street and Hindley Street was Adelaide’s tallest building for three decades.
The building is eleven storeys high (132 feet) which was the highest permitted height permitted at the time by the City of Adelaide by-laws.
The building was constructed in nine months 1934, formally opening on 17 December1934, and was expended along Hindley Street in 1936. The speed of construction being partially due to the availability of labour because of the Great Depression.
The building was constructed using reinforced concrete.
The façade, though appearing to be stone, was a manufactured material called Benedict Stone. A Queensland mine invented the product in the 1920s. The material was made from crushed porphyry which was blended into a mixture that could be poured into moulds. It was trialled on the CML building in Brisbane and used it on their buildings in Adelaide, Wellington, and Port Elizabeth. The CML building in Adelaide used 50 tonnes of the material.
In 1936 radio station 5DN, South Australia’s first commercial radio station, moved into the building. Two 30 metre masts were erected on the roof with the broadcast antenna strung between them. 5DN moved to North Adelaide in 1956 and the antenna were removed.
The building remained as an office building until the early 2000s when the owners planned to convert the building into a hotel and did not renew leases. The building remained empty until it was sold in 2011 and opened as a hotel in 2015.
