Our Buildings
Cunningham Memorial Chapel 2010,
St Aloysius College Archives
Dunlevie Building
In 1901, Mother Clare Murphy received a substantial inheritance from Buenos Aries, which funded the construction of the first purpose-built school in the precinct. It was originally named McAuley House in honour of Catherine McAuley, founder of the Sisters of Mercy. The building was constructed in two stages, with the western section completed in 1904 and the eastern section added in 1922. The school playground was restricted to the courtyard between the school building and the convent. In 1995, McAuley House was renamed the Dunlevie Building after Sr Teresa Dunlevie, the first Australian-born leader of the Mercy Sisters on Angas Street, who served as Principal from 1918 to 1944.
1904
McAuley House
The western wing of McAuley House was erected as a three-storey building at the rear of the convent property, housing classrooms, bathrooms and accommodation for boarders and nuns. A spiral staircase provided access to a rooftop promenade above the third storey which gave views of the hills and coastline. The lookout was destroyed years later in a storm. St Angela’s Select Intermediate School for Girls was relocated there from the Cathedral Hall and renamed St Aloysius High and Boarding School.
1922
Eastern Extension
Acraman House, located on the eastern side of the Angas Street convent was purchased and its former stables and hayloft were demolished to make way for the eastern wing of McAuley House. The ground floor housed three large classrooms for senior students, designed with movable partitions that allowed the entire ground floor to be converted into a spacious assembly hall when required.
1922
Upstairs
Junior and kindergarten classrooms were located on the first floor and boarders’ accommodation on the second floor. The school prospectus highlighted that all rooms were ‘splendidly lighted by electricity’.
21 November 1922
Opening
The building was blessed and opened by Archbishop Robert Spence.
2024
Dunlevie Building Demolished
The original Dunlevie Building was demolished in 2024.
13 August 2026
New Dunlevie Building
The new Dunlevie Building was opened as a purpose-built, four-storey vertical primary school. It includes classrooms for Reception to Year 6, a dedicated STEM space, arts areas and breakout nooks designed to support flexible learning. A ground-floor courtyard extends from the Reception classrooms, while a landscaped rooftop community space provides students with outdoor areas to learn and play.
By Carol Grantham
St Aloysius College Archivist, 2026
References
Gaskell J (1972) The educational work of the religious Sisters of Mercy in South Australia, with special reference to the Convent of Mercy Secondary School Adelaide 1881-1931, [Unpublished manuscript]
McLay, A. (1996). Women on the move: Mercy’s Triple Spiral. Sisters of Mercy Adelaide.
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