Torrens Building Torrens Building The Torrens Building, named after Sir Robert Richard Torrens, is a State Heritage listed building on the corner of Victoria Square and Wakefield Street in Adelaide, South Australia. Originally known as the Government Offices, the Torrens Building has been home to a number of government departments for most of its existence. Since 2005, it been the site of the University City Adelaide precinct, housing campuses of Carnegie Mellon University, Cranfield University, University College London and Torrens University. The building created some controversy in 1880 when it was reported that the Government of South Australia was going to import
River Torrens after him. In 1867, prison labour from Adelaide Gaol was used to build a wooden dam near the site of the current weir. The dam was poorly constructed and almost immediately the Torrens washed it away. Construction of a permanent concrete weir was begun in November 1880 and completed, at a cost of £7,000, in 1881. The sluice gates were closed to begin filling the Torrens Lake on 1 July 1881. At the lake's official opening on 21 July 1881 an estimated 40,000, almost the entire population of Adelaide, attended. During the 1889 flood, the weir was overwhelmed, its gates