Lion Arts Centre
arts centre in Adelaide, Australia
The Lion Arts Centre, also known as Fowler's Lion Factory and Fowlers Building, with the main music venue within known as the Lion Arts Factory (formerly Fowler's Live), is a multi-purpose arts centre, including studios, galleries, music and performance centres, and offices in Adelaide, South Australia. It is situated on the corner of North Terrace and Morphett Street in Adelaide's West End, in a refurbished and repurposed factory once owned by wholesale grocers D. & J. Fowler Ltd. With its distinctive red brick federation-style architecture, the 1906 building designed by Frank Counsell is state heritage-listed.
After its use as a factory ceased, the building started being used as a performance space. It was known as the Living Arts Centre from about 1986 until 1992, during which time the building was renovated, converted and renamed to Lion Arts Centre.
History
The building
The Fowler's "Lion" Factory, with its distinctive parapet topped by a statue of a lion, was designed by architect Frank Counsell in federation style for D. & J. Fowler Ltd in 1906. The brickwork was built by W. Sander & Sons, while the lion statue took three months to be carved by a Melbourne stonemason, John Patrick Jackson. The building is noted for its high-quality brick detailing and the well-designed composition of the facade. The building was used for packaging Fowler's Lion brand of flour, and the (original and now restored) signage on the parapet still says 'Fowler's "Lion" Factory'. Fowler's wide range of Lion brand products, trademarked in 1886, were very popular.
The public source identifies “Lion Arts Centre” as arts centre in Adelaide, Australia. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Lion, Arts and Centre.
Why this record matters
A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Lion Arts Centre”, the useful work is to connect “arts centre in Adelaide, Australia” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 8, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q85776778. Authority coordinates are -34.922, 138.593. None of the 1 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1906, 1986, 1992 and 1886.
A concise general-reference account can conceal disagreements about scope, terminology or the weight assigned to individual sources. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Lion Arts Centre”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Lion Arts Centre primary sources, Lion Arts Centre archive and Lion research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Lion Arts Centre”?
- What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
- Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Lion Arts Centre” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.