Lady Symon Building

Part of the Union Building Group, which also includes the George Murray Building, Western Annexe and cloisters and the multi-level Union House.

Plans and cost estimates prepared by the architect Walter Bagot of Woods, Bagot, Jory and Laybourne-Smith were presented to a General Meeting of the Adelaide University Union in July 1921.  The selection of a suitable site was subsequently discussed, as was the need to raise funds for the building project, an issue that was to have significant impact  on the progress of the project.

It was not until August 1926 that sufficient funds became available when Sir Josiah Symon, a University Council member, donated 10,000 pounds for the erection of the proposed Women's Union Building, requesting that it be named the Lady Symon Building in honour of his wife, Mary Eleanor Symon (nee Cowle) .  After land was acquired for a suitable site work began in 1927.

The foundation stone of the first part of the Union Buildings complex, the Lady Symon Building, was laid by Sir Josiah Symon on 25 October 1927.  Work also commenced on the Refectory and part of the memorial cloisters and were completed in March 1929.

The Lady Symon Building, which is Georgian in style, was the architectural firm Woods, Bagot, Jory and Laybourne-Smith's second major commission on the University of Adelaide's North Terrace campus and with its subsequent additions is considered a significant contributor to the character of the northern edge of the campus.

Taken from Assessment of Heritage Value.  Union Building Group,  Adelaide University, Victoria Drive, Adelaide, 1999