Prominent city Art Deco buildings retained for Adelaide office and apartment towers worth nearly $500m

The facade of two prominent Art Deco buildings will be preserved in major CBD developments worth nearly $500m.

Images of the proposed Quest apartment building at 100 North Tce, Adelaide. Pictures: Mavtect Designs

The facade of two prominent Art Deco buildings will be preserved and incorporated into major developments worth nearly $500m in Adelaide’s city centre.

The State Commission Assessment Panel has given planning consent for an $18m Quest Apartment building incorporating the 1920s Metters Building facade at 100 North Tce, and a $470m office block replacing the Southern Cross Arcade but retaining the 1933 facade of the Sands & McDougall building on King William Street.

The Quest project, between the Oaks Plaza and Oaks Embassy serviced apartment buildings, will have 127 apartments, including two three-bedroom residential penthouse apartments.

A planning report said the proposed development will involve reinstating windows on the

Metters Building’s northern facade referencing “the original spacing and window frame design of the original building”.

“The original canopy over the North Terrace footpath is to be restored and reinstated as part of the proposed building works and should provide an appropriate level of pedestrian amenity and human scale,” the report said.

The proposed Quest apartment building at 100 North Tce, Adelaide, will preserve the facade of the 1920s Metters Building. Picture: Mavtect Designs

Metters and Company – an oven and stove manufacturer founded in 1891 – built its Adelaide headquarters and showroom at the North Tce site in 1927. The existing building is not heritage listed.

The former Sands and McDougall stationary building was in October placed on the provisional state heritage register amid concerns it was to be demolished for the Charter Hall 15-level office building.

Environment Minister David Speirs, who has power to veto any listing, had backed the nomination along with Adelaide City Council.

The former Sands and McDougall shopfront is described on the SA Heritage Register as an “outstanding and early example of Art Deco architecture”.

“The Art Deco remodelling of the facade transformed the nineteenth century classical building, eschewing the past and expressing optimism for the future,” the entry says, noting it was one of the first buildings in SA to feature Art Deco design.

SCAP also approved minor variations to the design of Walker Corporation’s $600m 27-storey Festival Plaza office tower behind Parliament House.

The Charter Hall development incorporating the Sands & McDougall facade on King William St. Picture: Supplied

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