Our Buildings
Cunningham Memorial Chapel 2010,
St Aloysius College Archives
Convent of Mercy
In June 1880, the newly arrived Sisters of Mercy purchased a house in Angas Street that had been built for Eliza Forester in 1871 and later purchased by George Dutton-Green. This formed the western end of the present Convent of Mercy. The house consisted of ten large rooms, bathrooms, side and front entrances and a spacious hall with a staircase to the upper floors. It was of such architectural significance that it was described in the South Australia Register of 3 January 1871.
5 June 1880
Dutton-Green House
Using all their financial resources, the Angas Street property belonging to Mr George Dutton-Green was purchased as the convent for the Mercy Congregation. The largest room of the house was converted into a chapel while another room was used as the fee-paying Convent of Mercy School, educating girls from primary to senior classes.
1882
Expansion
A two-story wing was added to the rear of the Dutton-Green house and named the St Agnes wing. On the ground floor was a refectory with a chapel upstairs. An arched cloister was built on the eastern side of the building with a single-story veranda on the western side of the wing.
1889
Angas Street Wing
A vacant block of land on the eastern side of the Dutton-Green house was purchased. A two-storey wing facing Angas Street was attached to the house. Upstairs were twelve new bedrooms and downstairs, a large community room and an office for the Mother Superior. The façade of this extension closely matched the original building.
1921
Acraman House Addition
Acraman House, on the eastern side of the convent, was purchased. The kitchen and laundry were demolished to make way for the Cunningham Memorial Chapel and the eastern wing of the present cloisters.
1921
Completed Convent
The front of Acraman House, which was set back from the Convent, was extended towards Angas Street. A new façade brought it into alignment with the rest of the Convent.
By Carol Grantham
St Aloysius College Archivist, 2026
References
Gall, E. (1903). Convent of Mercy, Angas Street [Photograph]. State Library of South Australia PRG 631/2/1803. https://collections.slsa.sa.gov.au/resource/PRG+631/2/1803
McLay, A. (1996). Women on the move: Mercy’s Triple Spiral. Sisters of Mercy Adelaide.
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