Glanville.Tudor Gothic style Glanville Hall built for John Hart in 1856. Tower and ballroom added 1865. Hart became a Premier of South Australia. Now a wedding venue with pretty gardens
Glanville Hall Semaphore.
In 1846 Captain John Hart, who later built the grand flourmills at Port Adelaide, subdivided part of his land to create the suburb of Glanville near Semaphore. Hart began building a grand mansion here in 1856 which he called Glanville Hall after the maiden name of his mother. Apart from his business interests John Hart went on to became a South Australian politician holding various seats for most but not all of the years between 1851 and his death in 1873. He was a minister and Treasurer in the 1850s and eventually became Premier of SA in 1865/66. It is sometimes stated that he was the first Premier of South Australia but that is just an issue of semantics. The first Premier of SA was Boyle Finniss in 1856 but it is true that the first time SA officially used the term Premier for our parliamentary leader was in 1865 when John Hart was the government leader.
The house was built as a grand castle like hall in 1856 with stables and outbuildings at the rear in the Tudor style with 14 main rooms. The castellated tower and billiard room were added in 1865 with the tower serving as a lookout for shipping coming up the Gulf of St Vincent to Port Adelaide. Although John Hart died in 1873 the house was not sold out of his family until 1912 when the surrounding gardens and lands were subdivided for more housing with the main house going to Magnus Wald. Glanville hall is now in Wald Street Glanville.. The Lodge house was sold off in 1926 again with more lands. Then a significant change of function was occurred in 1946 when the Anglican Church bought the house as a hostel for Aboriginal boys and youths. This idea was promoted and led by Anglican priest Percy Smith. Memorials in the grounds tell part of this storey. Many of the Aboriginal boys came from the Northern Territory and they were educated from Glanville Hall. The list of names of youths who lived here include nearly all of the South Australiana and many of the Australian Aboriginal male political and social leaders of the 1960s and 1970s and beyond. They all had to have their mother’s consent to board at St Francis and no one was coerced to live at St Francis House. Percy Smith said it was like a boarding school and not home for abandoned youths. The boys returned to their families at the end of each academic year. Name such as Ken Nayda, Harold Thomas, John Moriarty, Ken Hampton, Vincent Copley, Charlie Perkins etc. These young men were educated between 1946 and 1960 when it was called St Francis House. Glanville Hall was sold to the Port Adelaide Council in 1960 and closed as a boys’ home then. It has had various uses since then but is now a wedding and function centre leased from the Port Adelaide Enfield Council.
Glanville.Tudor Gothic style Glanville Hall built for John Hart in 1856. Tower and ballroom added 1865. Hart became a Premier of South Australia. Now a wedding venue with pretty gardens
Glanville Hall Semaphore.
In 1846 Captain John Hart, who later built the grand flourmills at Port Adelaide, subdivided part of his land to create the suburb of Glanville near Semaphore. Hart began building a grand mansion here in 1856 which he called Glanville Hall after the maiden name of his mother. Apart from his business interests John Hart went on to became a South Australian politician holding various seats for most but not all of the years between 1851 and his death in 1873. He was a minister and Treasurer in the 1850s and eventually became Premier of SA in 1865/66. It is sometimes stated that he was the first Premier of South Australia but that is just an issue of semantics. The first Premier of SA was Boyle Finniss in 1856 but it is true that the first time SA officially used the term Premier for our parliamentary leader was in 1865 when John Hart was the government leader.
The house was built as a grand castle like hall in 1856 with stables and outbuildings at the rear in the Tudor style with 14 main rooms. The castellated tower and billiard room were added in 1865 with the tower serving as a lookout for shipping coming up the Gulf of St Vincent to Port Adelaide. Although John Hart died in 1873 the house was not sold out of his family until 1912 when the surrounding gardens and lands were subdivided for more housing with the main house going to Magnus Wald. Glanville hall is now in Wald Street Glanville.. The Lodge house was sold off in 1926 again with more lands. Then a significant change of function was occurred in 1946 when the Anglican Church bought the house as a hostel for Aboriginal boys and youths. This idea was promoted and led by Anglican priest Percy Smith. Memorials in the grounds tell part of this storey. Many of the Aboriginal boys came from the Northern Territory and they were educated from Glanville Hall. The list of names of youths who lived here include nearly all of the South Australiana and many of the Australian Aboriginal male political and social leaders of the 1960s and 1970s and beyond. They all had to have their mother’s consent to board at St Francis and no one was coerced to live at St Francis House. Percy Smith said it was like a boarding school and not home for abandoned youths. The boys returned to their families at the end of each academic year. Name such as Ken Nayda, Harold Thomas, John Moriarty, Ken Hampton, Vincent Copley, Charlie Perkins etc. These young men were educated between 1946 and 1960 when it was called St Francis House. Glanville Hall was sold to the Port Adelaide Council in 1960 and closed as a boys’ home then. It has had various uses since then but is now a wedding and function centre leased from the Port Adelaide Enfield Council.