Hartley Building (originally Adelaide Teachers College), The University of Adelaide

Completed in 1927 as a purpose-built Teachers Training College, in which role it was in continuous use until its transfer to the University of Adelaide in 1991, the Hartley Building is of high historical and architectural significance.As the principal home of teacher training in South Australia for sixty-five years, the building is historically important in the development and expansion of the public education system in South Australia, and for its associations with its first and second principals, Dr A J Schulz and Dr H H Penny, each of whom had a significant influence on teacher training in South Australia.The work of noted South Australian architect George Gavin Lawson, the Hartley Building is a distinctive architectural composition, significant for its rarity as an example of the Inter War Mediterranean ('Spanish Mission') Style. It is an early and unusual example of the use of the Inter War Mediterranean Style in a large institutional building in Adelaide, a style that was more common in domestic architecture in South Australia.Lawson's design incorporated a number of technical innovations in regard to fire protection, including concrete encased escape routes within the building. (Adapted from Bruce Harry & Associates Conservation Plan 1992)

Listing Information

• Date of Listing: 11 September 1986

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