This imposing edifice is Townsend House, opened in 1878 as the new main building of the South Australian Institution for the Blind, Deaf and Dumb. Its original owner, William Townsend, was appalled to discover that there were 34 totally destitute blind people in the colony.

Mayor of Adelaide and a man of considerable influence decided that something had to be done for these poor people to ease their hardship.

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