State Library of South Australia

Babbage's Castle, St Marys [B 11537] • Artwork

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Summary

Watercolour painting of Babbage's Castle, St Marys (section 41, near Daws Road and South Road).

Restrictions

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Physical description

Artwork (watercolour on card); 28.0 cm x 39.0 cm

Dates / Publication details

Approximately 1929

Artist

Ferries, J

Collection

Part of St Marys Collection

Subject

Babbage, Benjamin Herschel, 1815-1878
Babbage's Castle (House : St Marys, S.A.)
Architecture, Domestic -- South Australia -- St Marys

Catalogue record

Return to catalogue

Historical information

A note pasted the back of painting reads: 'Facts supplied to Mr J. Ferries by Mr F.H. Clare. Mr B. Herschel Babbage's first house was burned down. "The Rosary", afterwards known as Babbage's Castle, was begun in 1875 and was still unfinished at the time of Babbage's death in 1878. It was completed by his relatives. In early life Mr Babbage had erected lime-concrete bridges in the Alps and he tried the experiment of building the "Castle" in the same material. Unfortunately he obtained the gravel from creeks and it contained clay and other objectional matter. Worst still, magnesia water was used and this killed the qualities of the lime. The structure consequently began to crumble soon after its completion, and was, many years later, shaken badly by an earthquake, The tower fell in 1906. Mrs Babbage's daughter, Mrs Clare, left the "Castle" to live at Glenelg in 1896. The property was subsequently acquired by the Adelaide Development Company'.

Digitisation information

Date

12/08/2016

Format

image/tiff

Resolution

6,255 x 4,503 pixels (28.2 MP)

Size

84.52 MB

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