Under the provisions of the City of Brisbane Improvement Act 1916 and the Local Authorities Act Amendment Act 1923 the Brisbane City Council contributed significantly to the 1920s building boom, with a programme of city beautification and street improvements, including the cutting down and widening of several of the principal thoroughfares. From 1923 to 1928 the Brisbane City Council implemented its most ambitious town improvement scheme to that date: the widening of Adelaide Street by 14 feet (4.3 m) along its entire length. Resumptions in Adelaide Street had commenced in the 1910s, but work on the street widening did not take place until the 1920s. The work was undertaken in stages, commencing in 1923 at the southern end where the new Brisbane City Hall was under construction. Some buildings had the front section removed and a contemporary facade installed on the new road alignment. Elsewhere, earlier buildings were demolished and substantial new structures took their place. At the northern end of Adelaide Street the cutting down of the hill below St John's Cathedral in 1928 facilitated greater access to Petrie Bight, which, close to new city wharves at the end of Boundary Street, boomed in the 1920s as a warehousing district.[3]
In November 2021 work began on the construction of a tunnel under Adelaide Street. The tunnel provides a link between the South East Busway and the Inner-Northern Busway for Brisbane Metro vehicles and buses.[5]
325 Edward Street: Rowes Building[14] (officially located at 221 Adelaide Street, but this is an L-shaped block of land and the heritage-listed building fronts onto Edward Street)
Cafes of Adelaide Street
The Atlas Café, located at Atlas Chambers, 27 Adelaide Street in Brisbane’s CBD, was operated by Greek migrant George Sklavos, starting some time during the mid-1920s. Sklavos is first listed as the proprietor of the Atlas Cafe in the 1927–1928 edition of the Queensland Post Office Directory.[15]
ANZAC Day parades, in which Australian war veterans (and war veterans of allied nations) march, take place in Adelaide Street, on 25 April every year, and Dawn services are held at the Shrine of Remembrance within ANZAC Square at Adelaide Street.[16][17][18] Adelaide Street is featured on television every year on ANZAC Day, 25 April, with the ANZAC Day Dawn Service and the ANZAC Day Parade (when the full parade is telecast live, including the saluting of the veterans by the Queensland Governor near King George Square, next to Brisbane City Hall).[19]
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^Shrine of Remembrance - Anzac Square, BrisbaneArchived October 12, 2007, at the Wayback Machine – Anzac Day War Memorials official website. The website also includes information about the Shrine of Memories beneath the Shrine of Remembrance, as well as explaining the significance of the number of columns forming the Shrine of Remembrance, and the significance of the number of steps leading to the Shrine of Remembrance from Anzac Square