An Open Lattice Pie that is

Adelaide

We hadn’t yet bought our meagre food shop for the few days we would be in Adelaide so we emerged from our comfy room the next morning onto Waymouth Street and headed for the nearest breakfast bar. I wondered if they meant Weymouth as many streets are named after their UK counterpart.

As Adelaide is tucked underneath Australia on any map and since we are termed as ‘down under’ by folk back home it seems appropriate that I write the next couple of blogs from an upside down perspective. So although we visited three venues next and explored what they had to deliver on the inside I will not go there first, instead I am going to tell you about the street architecture which has something we have not found in any Australian City so far.

Do you remember when we toured from Whangarei south to Napier, Hastings and Tauranga and how the preservation of the art deco architecture in Hastings with all its user friendliness struck us as more determined and dedicated than in Napier where some ugly modernist buildings had appeared on demolished art deco building sites?

Then in Canberra the design was infused with modernist ideas in line with the forward thinking dynamism of a new capital, like Italian Futurism. Well Adelaide has managed both and kept the main streets a truly pleasant and attractive place for pedestrians and shoppers to enjoy.

From the gallery of photos you will see the old buildings sitting comfortably in between modern buildings which themselves pay tribute to numerous schools of architecture from the past and looking to the future.

By using pink stone which is warm and is enhanced by the sun’s rays and creating pilasters (flat pillars) to hide steel girders, pediments and arches of the classical era on modern buildings, little Juliette balconies, the corners cut off the high rise hotel to soften the hard angles and more, a harmonious living space is created that accommodates modern demands for business and lifestyle with efficiency and beauty.

We started out along North Terrace, the main, long and most magnificent street in the town, Broke Back and Crook Foot slowed down by infirmity and awe at the wide vistas, generous pavements and shiny trams all framed with the clean majestic architectural mix.

The old Government House with its Roman arches sits not far from and on the same level as the beautiful Georgian new government house. Rob held the camera high to get the photo over the security wall.

North Terrace continues on past the University and Cultural Precinct towards the Botanical Gardens, onwards to the suburb of Hackney and the eastern hills we could see in the distance, but that would be for another day. Looking at a map of Adelaide the City centre is a lattice of roads laid parallel and at right angles to eachother surrounded by the green of parks, golf courses, a cemetery and the Oval Cricket Ground skirted by the River Torrens; so similar in content to London and an apple pie on the map.

People from all over Australia have finished their life’s work and come to retire in Adelaide and I can see why, no cyclones, no crocs, a pleasant climate (usually, they have had extreme weather recently like everywhere else) and a beautiful, uncrowded city.

We arrived at the trilogy of the State Library of South Australia, the South Australian Museum and the Art Gallery of South Australia and prepared to launch ourselves, tentatively in to explore their wonderful treasures.

But first a look at the outsides. The feel of the area was just as one senses near the Natural History Museum, the Science Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. The benign lofty grandness of the buildings softened by green leafy trees on the outside while knowing there is so much knowledge and intelligence to explore inside. Somewhere to go and learn and appreciate the work of academics, intellectuals, researchers, explorers et al who have done and are doing what we will never do. And it’s all there for us to see and enjoy. Aren’t we lucky?