Urrbrae House

Urrbrae House is a beautiful two-storey bluestone mansion, built in 1891 as the home of Peter and Matilda Waite.  It replaced a large single-storey house believed to have been constructed in the early 1850s by Robert Forsyth MacGeorge.  "Urrbrae" was the name given by MacGeorge to land he bought in 1846 in the foothills south of the city of Adelaide: "Urr" after his home parish in Scotland and "brae" denoting a slope or hillside especially near a creek or river.

Peter Waite acquired the Urrbrae estate in the mid 1870s with the assistance of Thomas Elder.  Waite and his family moved into the existing Urrbrae House in March 1877.

The new Urrbrae House was designed by C. H. Marryat and E. J. Woods, built by Nicholas W. Trudgen and the interior decorations were designed by Aldam Heaton, a contemporary of William Morris.  After the death of its founder in 1897, Aldam Heaton & Co. would go on to design much of the interior of the Titanic.  Urrbrae House was his only commission in Australia.

Urrbrae House was the Waite family home until the deaths of Peter and Matilda in 1922.  It was subsequently handed over to the University of Adelaide by their daughters, Lily and Eva Waite in February 1923 from which time it has been used for many purposes.

From 1924 until the end of 1973 Urrbrae House was the residence of Directors of the Waite Agricultural Research Institute and their families.  In the first years of the Waite Institute's existence Urrbrae House also accommodated the administrative offices and library of the fledgling Institute until 1929.

In the late 1960s the Waite Director, Dr James (Jim) Melville suggested that part of the house might be used for the benefit of the staff and students of the Institute.  Through the 1970s and 1980s Urrbrae House was the home of the Waite Staff Club and the Waite Refectory/Cafeteria.  During the 1990s Urrbrae House and its gardens underwent a major revitalisation as its heritage value and its potential as a focus for cultural and social activities for the on-campus community and the general public were recognised by then Director, Professor Harold Woolhouse.

Today, Urrbrae House is an accredited museum with the SA History Trust and part of the University of Adelaide's Office for Community Engagement. 

Please Note: Urrbrae House will be closed from 19 November 2009 - 17 February 2010 for major restoration and conservation work. Additional closures of the house for short periods of time may be required in 2010.