Athelstone Community Hall

Athelstone Community Hall

Heritage Restoration Work

Athelstone Community Hall, also known as Athelstone Institute, was built in 1870. This was a time when Athelstone was only a small farming village on the banks of the Torrens River. It was originally called Helstone by the miller who built his mill soon after the colony was established in 1840. Athelstone is now a suburb of Adelaide on the eastern side of the city.

Being one of the earliest public buildings built in the Athelstone area, the Institute building has served both the social and educational needs of the local community for over a century. The hall was built with rendered stone and bluesone side walls, a gabled corrugated iron roof and a gabled open entrance porch. The mural at the front of the hall was originally painted in the early 1920’s by a local artist.

Gary Lancaster was hired to restore the heritage mural at the back of the stage area in the hall. He painted and decorated the columns which included the application of gold leaf. At the same time, he restored and painted other decorative features. He uncovered the original stencils on the walls and reconstructed the pattern throughout the hall. At the front of the hall, he hand painted a 3-D trompe loeil of a section of moulding to match the original mouldings in the hall (as pictured above left).