"Adelaide's first serviced apartment building built in two stages 1911 - 1912 & 1914
with appointments creating a luxury benchmark in Australia for its time"
Ruthven Mansions
• State Heritage Place 1271 •
Overview
The Ruthven Mansions are historically and architecturally significant because when first built, represented a benchmark in luxury accommodation in Australia.
The Ruthven (pronounced “Rivven”) Mansions was fitted with all the ‘mod cons’ of the time — central vacuum cleaning, automated doors, mechanical ventilation, electric lights and electric lifts — and was among the earliest of Australia’s multi-storey apartments.
The design is strongly residential in character and is a distinctive full bodied interpretation of the Gothic and Art Nouveau styles without parallel in South Australia.
The apartments were built in two stages (1911–1912 and circa 1914) and later sold to the state government in 1954 after rapidly falling into disrepair.
By 1976, the buildings had lost their distinctive balconettes, the interior had been declared unsafe and the chest clinic that occupied the ground floor had relocated to a new premises.
After lengthy negotiations in the late 1970s, the buildings were saved from demolition and renovated internally and partially externally to resemble their original form.
These days, Ruthven Mansions is more commonly known as ‘Adelaide Mansions Serviced Apartments’, providing stylish hotel-quality serviced accommodation ideal for overseas, interstate or out-of-town guests.
Apartments are privately owned with owners choosing to reside and enjoy CBD life or utilising short term rental platforms like AirBnB or booking direct through the Adelaide Mansions Serviced Apartments website.
N.B. We have recently received a grant from the Adelaide City Council for architectural documentation for much needed facade restoration to our Iconic building. Keep updated on our facebook page and “news” in this website.
Information sourced from:
www.rundlemall.com/visit/things-to-do/ruthven-mansions
heritage-place-information-sheet-17-31-pulteney-street.pdf
image permission: LaLoft
Stage One build - 1911
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Stage two build - 1914
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