Central Hall/Queen's Hall/Embassy Ballroom

Central Hall, at no. 102a Grenfell, was built by a Mrs Phillipson, of Glenelg, for the use of the Adelaide German Club (Allgemeiner Deutscher Verein) in 1894, opening in June of that year.^[6] It was subsequently used for a variety of community events (many unrelated to the club), for around 20 years. Charles Cawthorne took over the lease and reopened it Queen's Hall on 7 August 1915. Its use turned to performances, mainly concerts, operas, dramas, and fundraisers for World War I, and it also hosted occasional variety shows. Its use as a theatre diminished from 1923, and by 1929 it was operating as a dance hall. The building was partially destroyed by fire on 4 November 1929, and it fell into disuse until it was refurbished and reopened in 1933 as the Embassy Ballroom, which had an Art Deco facade. In the 1950s it was converted into a cinema, first called the Plaza Theatre and renamed Paris Cinema in 1965. It was later demolished and Regent Arcade built on the site.^[7][8][9]

Grenfell St Power Station

On the corner of Grenfell Street and East Terrace there is the old Grenfell Street Power Station building. Much of the building now houses the Tandanya National Aboriginal Cultural Institute, facing Grenfell Street, which was heritage-listed on the SA Heritage Register in November 1984,^[10] while the old converter stations face East Terrace. A "Historic Engineering Plaque" is located on a ground level plinth just east of the north-east corner of the Tandanya building, which was dedicated by the Institution of Engineers, Australia, the Electricity Trust of South Australia and the Adelaide City Council on 6 April 1995.^[11]

Pubs

• The Producers Hotel (formerly Old Exchange Hotel, Producers Club Hotel, Woodman's Inn), at no. 233-235,^[12] was built on the site of the first pub built and licensed in the East End, the Woodman, in 1839.^[13][14][15] It was first licensed by John Ragless Jr, and so named because it was the first stop for timber merchants carting timber from "the Tiers" (as the Adelaide Hills were called).^[16] In 1900 it was renamed the Electric Light, after the power station. It was rebuilt for the South Australian Brewing Company in Queen Anne style in 1906 as the Producers.^[17] It was listed on the SA Heritage Register on 5 April 1984.^[18] After the East End markets moved away in 1986, the hotel became the East End Exchange Hotel for a short while before being renamed the Woodman's Inn in the mid-1990s.^[17][16] It became a major venue for live music of many genres,^[19] under its later name, the Producer's Bar, known simply as "The Producers".^[20] It also hosted Adelaide Fringe events, until its closure in 2018.^[21] It was functioning mainly as a nightclub in 2022,^[22] with a large knife fight reported in March of that year.^[23] In 2023 it was known as Friday's Lounge.^[24]
• The Griffins Hotel, built 1886, on the corner of Grenfell Street and Hindmarsh Square (address 40 Hindmarsh Square), is state heritage-listed.^[25]
• Crown and Anchor Hotel, cnr Grenfell/Union (built 1879;^[26][27] extensive alterations in 1929;^[28][29] local heritage-listing in 2001,^[30] facade only^[31])

Other historic buildings

Other state heritage-listed buildings in Grenfell Street include:^[12]

• Parts of the former Adelaide Fruit and Produce Exchange facing the street
• British & Foreign Bible Society office (Bertram Hall)
• Executor Trustee Office, no. 22
• Tattersalls Building, 10-14
• Ferrari House (former Eagle Star Insurance Building), 28-30
• Former Alliance Assurance Company Building, 18

Other local heritage-listed buildings include:^[12]

• Wiggs Building (former home of stationers E. S. Wigg & Son^[32][33])
• Wyatt House, 113-119
• Warehouse, 121-127
• Hindmarsh Buildings, 134-140