Griffiths House (Alice Springs)

Griffiths House was a Methodist children's home and hostel that operated in Alice Springs, in the Northern Territory of Australia, from 1945 to 1965.

Griffiths House was originally designed to be a hostel for young single people who had moved to Alice Springs for work, but by the time it was opened on 5 July 1941, plans had already changed, and it was immediately converted in to a social club for soldiers stationed in Alice Springs.

[1] From 1961 until 1964 demand for accommodation decreased, partially due to severe drought and, by 1964, numbers were down to 33 (21 boys and 12 girls, seven of whom were Aboriginal)[2] and this led to its closure in 1965.

[1] In the 1950s, Fred McKay, superintendent of the Australian Inland Mission, had lobbied the United Church in the Northern Territory to provide more accommodation, and the then Presbyterian, Methodist, and Congregational churches set about creating a new, larger, residential hostel,[5] which opened on 4 April 1965[1] as St Philip's College.

Griffiths House was then re-dedicated as a youth and fellowship centre, and it was also used as a Sunday school, meeting venue, and accommodation for St Philips College staff.