Wheaton House has been known as Cremona, Lyndhurst Mansions and Kearns Wing, and has been a large private residence, doctor’s rooms, and later divided into seven flats – and that was before it became a school! ••• The property originally consisted entirely of Town Acre 680 and was owned by William Clegg Gover in the original division of land in 1837. It was subdivided in 1871,1925, 1953 and finally in 1967 to the site it now covers.

The Italianate style house was erected in 1882 for Frederick James Blades who, with his brother-in-law William Chambers, owned the Dragon Brewery next to the Green Dragon Hotel. He died in the house in 1895. In 1893 the title of the property was passed to Blades' wife Mary Blades, who owned the property until 1904. From 1904 until 1924 Ada Louise Schomburgh owned the house in which she lived with her husband Otto Heinrich, the state's sheriff and supervisor of gaols. In 1924 the house was purchased by Dr Clement Victor Wells, a medical practitioner, and by 1926 was known as Lyndhurst. ••• Mrs Emma Fischer and Mrs Lilian Louisa Lockhart claimed to have purchased the property from Dr Wells on April 1, 1926. Later in April they submitted plans to Council to enclose some verandahs and to convert the property into six flats. However, by June 3 they had offered to sell the property to Pulteney, although the Council of Governors declined the offer. This was fortunate as the title deeds never formally passed to them. Mesdames Fischer and Lockhart placed a caveat on the property on 28 October, 1926, claiming Dr Wells had agreed to sell the property to them on 1 April 1926.

The 1927 Adelaide City Council Rates Assessment book lists the property as vacant and owned by Dr Wells. By the 1928 assessment it had been divided into seven flats, with additional kitchens and bathrooms on either side of the building. (These were removed in 1989.) ••• Felice Maggi, owner of the adjacent Excelsior Ice Cream factory (on the site of Memorial Building), and his family lived in flat 3. His son, Dominic Maggi remembers living here with his parents, where they entertained visiting Italian dignitaries. A margin note in the 1928 Assessment Book indicates Felice Maggi subsequently bought the property. He claimed to have purchased the property from Mesdames Fischer and Lockhart by indenture of assignment on 4 April 1927, and another caveat was placed on the title in 1929 relating to the disputed ownership. Both caveats were discharged in September 1930. Wells’ ownership of the building continued until his death.

Correspondence with Adelaide City Council, relating to complaints about the adjacent margarine factory, indicates Wells was living at Lyndhurst in 1946 and had recently moved in. Wells died in 1948. The property was managed by the Executor Trustee, until it was transferred to CJ and NR Ryan on 3 March 1954. Pulteney leased the property from the Ryan family from 1955 until purchasing it on June 30 1977. ••• In 1956 the flats were vacated, the internal features were stripped and stored, and the boys took up residence. The building was named Kearns Wing in honour of Philip James Kearns, old scholar and chairman of the Finance committee of the Council of Governors. Initially senior forms were housed here with a staff common room. In 1959 the junior forms moved in and from 1972 to 1976 it was the Prep School. From 1976 – 1988 Kearns Wing housed music tuition rooms, the clothing pool, theatre costume storage and in 1984 the matric centre took up the ground floor.

By the late 1920s the frontage to South Terrace was virtually as it is today, although until 1967 there was a coach house on the north-eastern corner of the land From 1956 until 1967 Pulteney used this variously as a woodwork centre, storage for the scout group, and later the prep boys used the ground floor as an activity room. ••• During 1990 and 1991 Pulteney undertook extensive restoration work on the building and it eventually housed the new senior facility known as one ninety. Today it also houses the Boardroom, Development room and school archives. The Building is on the Register of National Estate and the SA local heritage register.

Allan Wheaton attended Pulteney Grammar School as a choir scholar from 1940 – 1944. He joined the Pulteney Old Scholars’ Association (POSA) in 1945, and was on the committee from 1948 – 1951 and again from 1972, a position he continues to hold. He was POSA President from 1975 – 1977 and is the current Treasurer.In 1972 he was elected to the Council of Governors. He served on the Finance sub-committee from 1972 to 1998 and chaired the finance sub-committee from 1993 to 1998. He resigned from Council in 1998 and has remained a staunch supporter of the school, particularly through his involvement with the old scholars.

My thanks to Samantha Cooper, Archivist for Pulteney Grammar School, who provided this information.