Pre-seminary days Prior to its use as a seminary, the site was used for three different
schools or
colleges - the
North Adelaide Grammar School from 1854 to 1882;
Whinham College from 1882 to 1898, during which time a boarding house (now Hebart Hall) and a
gymnasium-
lecture hall (now the main part of Löhe Memorial Library) were built; and
Angas College, owned by
John Howard Angas, son of South Australian "patriarch"
George Fife Angas and operated as an interdenominational
missionary training school until the army took possession of the site for a repatriation hospital in 1916.
Immanuel College and Seminary In 1922, the
United Evangelical Lutheran Church in Australia purchased the property for only £13,500 on the condition that it was used for
Protestant Evangelical religious education. The college and seminary was opened on 25 February 1923 and remained on the site until during
World War II, when it was given ten days' notice by the Air Force that the college had to move; upon which it transferred to North
Walkerville. The principal was Pastor J. P. Löhe, after whom the library would later be named.
Immanuel Seminary The seminary was able to remain on the North Adelaide site and did so, expansively renovating the old college site to extend the seminary itself at the end of the war. Hebart Hall was used as a residence for lecturers and tertiary boarders and the gymnasium-lecture hall ("Angas Hall") for the chapel until its conversion to the library in 1960.
Luther Seminary With the amalgamation of the UELCA and the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in Australia (ELCA) in 1966 came the amalgamation of the ELCA's seminary (Concordia, where the secondary school is still situated) and the UELCA's North Adelaide seminary. In 1967 extensive building programs began, including additions to the library, the erection of a new boarding house (Graebner Hall) and demolition of the old grammar school to make way for a refectory and extra accommodation (Hamann Hall). The new seminary opened debt-free due to a church appeal which raised $1 million. The increasing number of married students brought the expansion of the campus to include buildings on Jeffcott Street, Archer Street and Ward Court.
Luther Campus Lutheran Teachers College and the Lay Training Centre were moved to the campus in 1989 and with this the name changed to Luther Campus to reflect the change of role of the site. Attempts were made to find suitable sites for relocation for the institution, but these were abandoned in 1990 and the church authorised more works, including the erection of 17 townhouses on Archer Street, a new Student Centre between Graebner Hall and the townhouses. In 1994 the School of Theology (for lay students) joined the campus also.
Back to Luther Seminary In 1998 the three occupants of Luther Campus came under the authority of one institution, three programs in one school, and the name was changed back to Luther Seminary.
Australian Lutheran College The 2003 General
Synod of the church decided to change the name of the institution to Australian Lutheran College beginning 1 January 2004 to reflect the nature of the college as an education facility, not just a seminary. In 2024, the Australian Lutheran Church decided to sell the North Adelaide campus and relocated the college to a new location. ==Academic schools==