Piles Building
146-154 Murray Street, Gawler.
Built in 1877 for owner John Pile by Mr J. J. Peek of Gawler South.[1] The shop on the end that was most recently B Music was built by Taylor and Forgie Carpenters around 1880.[2] This retail shop has been F. Lines and Sons Butchers, W. Miller Butcher, and Arthur T. Hewett Butchers.
The Commercial Bank of South Australia, Stewert Music Emporium, and H.B. Crosby have all occupied the premises; as have many other businesses, including R.J. Lavis Draper and Grocer, Gawler Curtains and Blinds, The Salvation Army, Stratco, Malcolm Buckby M.P., Reminisce Photography and a family-run deli.
International movie connection: Frank Thring Sr. worked at H.B. Crosby, making boots. Thring married Gawler born Grace Wight while they were both actors in the Gawler Theatrical Club. Frank and Grace's daughter, Viola, known as Lola, dated future Australian Prime Minister Harold Holt before dumping him and marrying his father! Thring later founded EffTee Pictures - a massively successful movie house. Frank Thring's son with his second wife Olive, went on to star as Pontius Pilate in Ben-Hur, and starred in the movies The Howling 3, Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome and a host of TV commercials.
In the early 1980s, artist Audrey Emery opened the Brownstone Jazz Cellar, a coffee shop in this basement. The Brownstone Jazz Cellar only lasted a couple of years; it was incredibly successful, but with success came rent increases that priced it out of the cellar. It closed circa 1983.
Go Underground and visit the basements via this link
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