Little House on Payneham Road

A few weeks ago, someone commented on this post that they wanted to know what the building at these coordinates [34.9152263 S , 138.62305790000005 E] was. I haven't had time to visit in person, but I looked it up on Google Maps and I could just make out some words at the top:

Heating and Water Systems Installed / Gasfitter and Drainage Contractor

The person who commented thought it might have been a general store or even the remains of an old mortuary. No such luck, I'm afraid.

I looked it up in Sands & McDougall's South Australian Directory. The earliest ones were a little too vague to be particularly helpful, so I started with 1901. There weren't many buildings on Payneham Road between Baliol Street and Marlborough Street and I'm as sure as I can be that it was...a plumber's and gas fitter's shop!

In 1901, David Bell - plumber and gas fitter - was listed as living there. In 1918, he was still there and it was now known as '13 Payneham Road'. By 1946, David Bell, plumber, lived at 15 Payneham Road and 13 Payneham Road was the Central Provision Store (but I think the street numbers must have changed...or he could've moved next-door). 

I then went back to 1891 and there were only five listings for Payneham Road between Baliol and Marlborough Streets, and none of these were for gas fitters or plumbers. There was a boot maker, a woodyard, a storekeeper, the East Adelaide Timber Company and Mrs. John Penaluna - who actually lived there until at least the 1940s. 

So, there you are. Not a mortuary, although it might have been a general store but it was most probably a plumber and gas fitter's shop. Of course, there could have been a mortuary on the site in the 19th century; I'll have to do more research before I can totally rule that out.

If you want to look at Sands & McDougall's (and, I mean, who doesn't?! Actually, no, it really is quite interesting!), the State Library has a few of them in their Family History collection.