T&G Building, Adelaide
The Temperence and General (T&G) Mutual Life Assurance Society was founded in Melbourne in 1876. During the interwar period the company embarked on a program of developing 20 similar landmark buildings in Australia and New Zealand.
T&G purchased the site on the corner of King William Street and Grenfell Street for their new South Australian office in 1912.
T&G engaged the Melbourne architectural firm Henderson, Alsop and Martin to design the buildings throughout Australia including the Adelaide building.
The builder was McLeod Brothers of Sydney.
The building was the first in Adelaide to reach eleven storeys (132 feet) high, the maximum allowed under the City of Adelaide by-laws at the time. It remained Adelaide’s tallest building for several years.
The building is steel framed and concrete construction and incorporated features and techniques new to Adelaide office buildings for lighting and ventilation.
It was opened on 23 November 1925. At the time of the opening the building lifts were in Melbourne as they had been delayed due to a shipping strike.
The building was extensively internally rebuilt and re-opened as an office building in 1982 and converted to serviced apartments in 2000-2001.
References:
Heritage of the City of Adelaide “Former T&G Building 82-88 King William Street”, City of Adelaide undated.
“Engineering a City” City of Adelaide and Engineers Australia, 2009
The Register 23 November 1925 “T&G Building”
The Register 16 November 1925 “T&G Building”
