Ashford House

Ashford House was established by the Crippled Children’s Association of South Australia (CCA) at Ashford in 1952. It replaced the Spastic Centre at Kermode Street, North Adelaide, and provided day schooling and respite care for children with Cerebral Palsy. Ashford House closed in 1976, at the same time as the Somerton Crippled Children’s Home and the children from both institutions moved to the Regency Park Centre.

Ashford House on Anzac Highway, Ashford, opened as a school and home for children with cerebral palsy in 1952. The historic building was purchased at auction for £12,500 by the Crippled Children’s Association of South Australia (CCA), with State Government assistance, on 24 October 1951. Ashford House replaced the Spastic Centre at Kermode Street, North Adelaide that had been operating since late 1949. The Kermode Street centre was a temporary site with a new North Adelaide Spastic Children’s Centre to fit 100 children planned for Finniss Street. However, in 1951 the Association purchased the property on Anzac Highway instead.

Ashford House was set on over one acre of land, had six rooms including two large reception rooms. Its size allowed for the new centre to have separate rooms for speech therapy, physiotherapy, rest and handicrafts. Temporary buildings from the North Adelaide site were transferred to the grounds of Ashford for use as schoolrooms.

Ashford House operated a day school for the education and training of children with Cerebral Palsy. It also provided respite care, accommodating children with disabilities for short periods of time when their parents were ill or in need of a break from caring for their children.

Ashford House was divided into two sections, the Ashford House School for Cerebral Palsied Children, and the Ashford House Activity Centre.

In 1976 Ashford House was closed and the children from Ashford House, along with residents from the Somerton Crippled Children’s Home, were moved to the new Regency Park Centre.