Windback Wednesday - Chiverton House
If you're an alumni of St Peter's Girls' School you will recognise Chiverton House, which forms the administrative heart of the school. The house was constructed in 1880 by John Nankivell, a local merchant who soon leased the house to Harry Bickford of the chemist firm A.M. Bickford & Sons.
In 1896, Mrs Jessie Ferguson purchased the property and it was the Ferguson family home for the next forty years. In 1949, the Community of the Sisters of the Church, an Anglican Sisterhood which had established a private school for girls in North Adelaide in 1894, found the Ferguson's estate ideal for the needs of their expanding institution. In 1957, the Sisters moved the St Peter's Collegiate Girls' School to Chiverton House and the school remains at this location today.
Chiverton House is a large two-storey mansion with an encircling veranda, constructed of random bluestone with painted rendered quoins and window and door dressings. The house retains original shutters to the windows and doors of the front elements, but the veranda balustrading has been replaced and the house has been re-roofed. It is currently maintained in excellent condition and additions have been made to the building continuing the original construction materials of stone and rendered dressings. There is a small stable/coach house building at the rear which has been converted for use by St Peter's Girls' School.
In 2023 Chiverton House was given a Heritage Blue Plaque by the City of Burnside, which can be seen at the house today.
Photos (L to R): Chiverton House circa 1910, State Library of South Australia B75462/242. Chiverton House 2023, City of Burnside. Blue Heritage Plaque at Chiverton House 2023, City of Burnside.