Three sets of double doors proudly stand at the entrance.
Two imposing storeys showcase endless lines of arched windows.
One dome sits atop the structure’s roof, its crowning glory.
This is the Jubilee Exhibition Building on Adelaide’s North Terrace.
Or, rather, that was the building.
In 1962, this Adelaide icon, built to celebrate the 50th anniversary of South Australia’s founding and named for Queen Victoria’s golden jubilee, was demolished to make way for the University of Adelaide’s Napier Building.
This year, the century-old state heritage-listed Thebarton Police Barracks are set to be demolished to make way for the new Women’s and Children’s Hospital.
New laws had to be passed to get around heritage legislation first enacted in South Australia in 1978 and updated in 1993.
In the decades before the law was introduced, many significant buildings were lost.
In 1962, the Theatre Royal on Hindley Street, which featured stars including Vivien Leigh and Laurence Olivier, was replaced by a car park.
In 1971, the South Australian Hotel, where The Beatles stayed in 1964 during their infamous Adelaide stay, was demolished to make way for the construction of the Stamford Hotel.
The Brookman Building on Grenfell Street was knocked over in the late 1970s and was replaced by the Grenfell Centre, also known as “the Black Stump” for its dark exterior.
In 1986, Adelaide Steamship Company’s distinctive building on Currie Street, complete with a ship’s hull on its roof, went down for the RAA Tower (until recently known as Westpac House).
The Grand Central Hotel, on the corner of Pulteney and Rundle streets, hosted The Kinks and authors Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (author of the Sherlock Holmes series) and Mark Twain (author of the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn).
In 1976, it too was demolished in favour of a car park.
State Library of South Australia librarian Mark Gilbert said people were incensed about the loss of the Grand Central Hotel when the library shared a photo of it on its Instagram account.
He said there were many reasons the public would wish to keep buildings of cultural significance.
“I think the main reason is that it gives a human scale to the city … It shows how people used to live,” Mr Gilbert said.
“The thing that shouldn’t be forgotten is that these buildings were often built on the sites of previous buildings themselves.
“For example, the Grand Central Hotel was built on the site of the York Hotel, which was quite an attractive building, so things do change.
“But I think we need the right mix of old and new so that we have the history of Adelaide represented at street level.”
The legislation to allow the demolition of the police barracks passed with the support of SA Best and One Nation.
Mr Gilbert said preserving Adelaide’s older buildings went beyond saving things just because they looked nice.
“[Old and new] need to live next door to each other,” Mr Gilbert said.
“If we knock down all our old buildings, we won’t have any character that sets us apart from any other city in the world.
“Buildings often have a shelf-life and there might have been structural issues with it. But if there is the will, there is a way.”