Heinrich Wilhelm Ehmcke was a German migrant who arrived in South Australia in 1848. Trying his hand first at farming and then at the Victorian goldfields, Ehmcke later established his own sawmill and timber yard in Hindmarsh Square. In the 1870s until his death in 1877 he owned the popular Tivoli Hotel. It had an established German clientele and was well known for its music hall entertainment. Ehmcke was a member of the very popular choir, the Liedertafel, which did much to foster German sentiment and culture.
W.H. Gray, a large land speculator throughout South Australia and the Northern Territory, bought the Hutt Street shop, then owned by Maria Ehmcke, in 1877. He owned land in the city of Adelaide, where he had built homes for rent and also hotels – including the Foundry, the Buck’s Head, the Yorke Peninsula and the Ship Inn.
William Gully designed and built a shop and 10 houses in Hutt Street during 1866. The brick shop and is quite elaborate, whereas the adjoining Victoria Terrace is built of bluestone in a much plainer style. However, the rear section of the shop is of similar design and scale to the adjoining Victoria Terrace.
The building now operates as Chianti, a very popular restaurant.