Thorngate, South Australia

Thorngate (coord|34|53|S|138|35|E|region:AU-SA_type:city) is an inner northern suburb of Adelaide 4km from the CBD, in the state of South Australia, Australia and falls under the City of Prospect. It is adjacent to North Adelaide, Prospect, Medindie and Fitzroy. The post code for Thorngate is 5082. It is bounded to the north by Carter Street, to the south by Fitzroy Terrace, in the west by Prospect Road and the east by Main North Road. Thorngate is essentially a residential suburb, overlooking the North Adelaide Parklands. It is one of the smallest but wealthiest suburbs in Adelaide and has only six streets within its boundaries:

*Carter Street
*Churcher Street
*Fitzroy Terrace
*Main North Road
*Prospect Road
*Thorngate Street

This small suburb is one of South Australia's most expensive. Although sales are rare, houses on Fitzroy Terrace and Churcher Street were valued well over $1 million in 2006. Fitzroy Terrace in Thorngate lays claim to the first seven houses on this exclusive road, although there are two small homes and one red-brick house over two blocks. Mansions in Churcher Street, as with Fitzroy Terrace and most homes in the suburb, rarely come on the market.

History

It is thought to be named after the original land grantee "John Batty Thorngate" of Gosport, Hampshire, England, who took up the grant in 1840. It had previously been a part of the suburb of Fitzroy. It mainly consists of expansive 19th century multi-storey mansions and leafy European tree-lined streets, which were the abode of upper-class early South Australian settlers, who lived away from the noise of Adelaide city where the working class lived in cramped cottages.In the early 1900's, the first houses we built along Parkland Terrace (now known as Fitzroy Terrace) and Churcher Street on what was a small swamp. One of the first house constructed was an English Tudor House over two alltoments shortly followed by a large Georgian Double Storey house on Churcher Street. Due to tough laws protecting the heritage of many of these homes, the suburb contains mainly older houses. Instead of redeveloping them, many residents spend substantial amounts of money renovating the houses to their former glory.

Facilities

As Thorngate merely consists of four residential streets, there are no non-residential facilities directly within the suburb. The closest school in the area is the Catholic boys Blackfriars Priory School, and the public Prospect Primary School, both in Prospect. There is a boutique shopping strip on Prospect Road, further north in Prospect, while most other facilities can be easily accessed by entering North Adelaide.

Transport

Prospect Road is served by the 181 and 182 bus services, while Main North Road is served by the 222, 224, 225, 228 and 229 services.

Today

- Thorngate was a feature suburb in The Advertiser property magazine on Saturday February 23, 2008.
- Article Summary
- * Thorngate's new median price surged to $1,675,000 at the end of 2007
- * Only two houses were sold: 7 Churcher St for $2.1m and 2 Fitzroy Terrace for $1.25m. Both large houses, but without pool's or tennis courts.
- * Capital growth was an outstanding 779% over 10 years. The ASX has grown 150% in the same time.
- * This growth, and large median price, makes Thorngate South Australia's most expensive suburb, surpassing Toorak Gradens ($975,000), Springfield ($1,140,000), Unley Park ($871,000) and even Medindie ($1,060,000). [1] -
- More Recently
- Bernard H. Booth sold a large double storey Bluestone residence at 15 Churcher St. for a reported $1.95 million on February 22nd, 2008. Asking price was $2.1m.

Politics

Thorngate is in the South Australian House of Assembly electoral district of Adelaide and the Australian House of Representatives Division of Adelaide. The local electoral booths tend to swing strongly to the Liberal Party, even though the electoral district to which Thorngate belongs is historically marginal or leaning to the Labor Party.

References

1. The Advertiser Newspaper, Saturday Feb. 23, 2008.