Union Hall is at the centre of an almighty tug of war. On one side is sentiment, history and the arts. On the other are academics, science and development.
The building sits in the centre of the University of Adelaide campus. It was designed by renowned architect Louis Laybourne Smith and built in 1958 using university and public funds.
The University of Adelaide has millions to spend on developing its campus. It wants to use $77 million to demolish Union Hall and replace it with The Institute for Photonics and Advanced Sensing (IPAS), which will incorporate a lecture hall and upper levels for teaching and research in a variety of disciplines.
“The University of Adelaide is a small campus. It’s beautiful but it means that if we want to build something new we have to demolish something else first,” said Paul Duldig, the university’s vice president of services and resources.
Mr Duldig said many sites were considered for IPAS before Union Hall was chosen.
“The Union Hall site comes up as the best site for a couple of reasons. One is that it hasn’t been used as a fully functional theatre for some time, but is instead being used as a lecture theatre.”
A safety review was also conducted and it would be difficult to do the repairs necessary to bring it up to standard, he said.
The development application for Union Hall’s demolition is being considered by Adelaide City Council. Under development laws no public notification is required.
Despite this, a cross-section of the community is campaigning to halt the project and preserve Union Hall.
Andrew Cawthorne, spokesperson for the newly-formed Save the Union Hall committee, says the building has historical, architectural and heritage value.
“It’s a watershed building and 20th-century buildings are very much under-represented on the State Heritage Register,” he said.
Union Hall has been considered one of Adelaide’s best-equipped theatres because of its orchestra pit, lighting and rigging facilities.
The arts community has joined heritage supporters in advocating for the building.
“If there are fewer performance spaces it limits the amount of work that is created and that’s really sad,” said Pamela Foulkes, CEO of the State Theatre Company.
Kate Warren from the state’s Gilbert and Sullivan Society has formed a Save our Festival State group to campaign for more consideration of the arts community’s needs.
“If you’re going to knock down theatres then maybe you need to replace them,” she said.
The debate has prompted the government to launch an audit of performance venues, but Union Hall’s best chance of staying upright are the applications which have been made for State Heritage listing.
Mr Cawthorne and the National Trust have made separate applications to add the building to the State Heritage register.
The Save the Union Hall committee will hold a rally on the Barr Smith Lawns at Adelaide University next Friday.
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