June 5, 1880
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.
1882
A two-story wing was added to the rear of the Dutton-Green building and named the St Agnes wing. On the ground floor was a refectory and servery, 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.
1889
A vacant block of land on the eastern side of Dutton-Green was purchased. A two-storey wing facing Angas Street was attached to Dutton-Green. 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 on the eastern side of the convent was purchased. The kitchen and laundry were demolished to make way for the Cunningham Memorial Chapel that was to form part of the eastern wing of the present cloisters. The front of Acraman House, which was set back from the convent, was extended towards Angas Street to bring it into alignment.
By Carol Grantham, 2022
References
Gall, E 1903, Convent of Mercy, Angas Street, Photograph, State Library of South Australia P 631/2/1803RG, viewed 9 February 2020, <https://collections.slsa.sa.gov.au/resource/PRG+631/2/1803>.
1996, Women on the move: Mercy’s Triple Spiral, Sisters of Mercy, Adelaide.