Urrbrae gatehouse reopens after painstaking rebuild
The state heritage listed Urrbrae gatehouse has reopened in a new location after being dismantled brick by brick to make way for a Cross Road upgrade. See the photos
The former Waite gatehouse, built in 1883 on the corner of Cross and Fullarton Road, reopened today facing Claremont Avenue on the southern portion of the University of Adelaide’s Waite Arboretum.
The new gatehouse features a modern extension at its rear and will serve as a volunteer centre near Urrbrae House.
The state heritage listed gatehouse stood for more than 130 years at its former location but was dismantled in 2022 to make way for a $61 million intersection upgrade of Cross and Fullarton Road.
The status of the gatehouse became the subject of significant public debate in December 2020 when the Marshall Government announced it would bulldoze the entire building for the road project.
Following months of pressure from heritage groups, the University of Adelaide and members of the public, the former government opted to instead move the building to the southeastern side of the Waite Arboretum.
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The Department for Infrastructure and Transport then drew up plans to “carefully demolish” the gatehouse brick by brick to salvage its materials for reuse.
More than 15 different trades were involved in reconstructing the gatehouse with its original materials.
Senior project manager Alex Faggionato, from lead contractor G-Force Building and Consulting, said they conducted a full 3D scan of the building before its demolition.
“Through the deconstruction phase, every single piece of stone, every section of the building was categorised, photographed, numbered,” he said today.
“We gave the building letters as well – A through to L and then one through to nine – and they were dismantled, numbered and then put straight away into shipping containers.
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“So this building was held within around 15 shipping containers and stored until we recommenced and reconstructed the building.”
Faggionato said the modern extension of the building was the easiest part of the rebuild, while the reconstruction was a “slow process”.
He said one of the complexities of the build was replacing its original bluestone footings – the substructure of the building – with a concrete base.
“[We had to make sure] that those imperfections around that bluestone was exactly identical to the new concrete base of this new building, which will last many years to come,” he said.
Acting Premier Susan Close, whose ministerial responsibilities include heritage, said the gatehouse was considered “part of Adelaide’s fabric”.
“It’s important in that case that we do everything we can to preserve it,” she said.
“It’s a pity that it had to be demolished and relocated.
“But at least with the expertise offered by these good people here today, we’ve been able to put it back together and, in fact, in some way improve on it in order to make it really able to be used by volunteers.”
A full breakdown of how the gatehouse was painstakingly deconstructed can be found here.
