85 O’Connell Street – Then and Now
The house on the far right in the top photo was the former home of Rhoda Felgate who was a foundation member and first director of the Twelfth Night Theatre.
For more about houses in East Brisbane see https://kangaroopointhistory.com.au/historic-homes/houses-in-east-brisbane/
49 Northcote Street- Then and Now
This beautiful colonial home was located in the area previously known as Mowbraytown. It was built in the early 1900s and had four bedrooms, a sleepout and a large kitchen, with bathroom and laundry underneath.
It was originally owned by Richard and Catherine Johnston who had seven children at a time when large families were the norm. Richard was a senior inspector for the State Government Department of Machinery, Scaffolding, Weights and Measures located in George Street. His work involved frequent travel all over Queensland visiting landmark buildings and ports.
He and Catherine lived in this home until they died, Richard in May 1947 and Catherine in January 1951. The house was sold by Neville Johnston in the mid 1950s and unfortunately burnt down in a fire some time later.
A block of four units is now located on the 815m2 land. (source: G. Gregory’s archives/news articles/)
Stonemason’s Cottage, 57 Latrobe Street
This beautiful sandstone cottage built in 1886 by stonemason John Steele was one of the first homes built on land (Lot 169- R11228) which was part of the original ‘ Mowbraytown Estate’ originally owned by the Reverend Thomas Mowbray.
The three-level, four-roomed stone cottage is unusual because most late nineteenth century workers cottages in Brisbane were built of timber.
However, as John Steele was an expert stonemason it is not surprising that he chose to ‘craft’ his home out of sandstone. The cottage has a distinctive façade and features an attic opening onto a cantilevered ‘Juliet’ balcony over the verandah.
In 1916 the Steeles sold the property to the Pick family who lived there until 1931 when it was transferred to trustees. From 1940 to the 1980s the Voznesensky family owned the property. While it has been fully restored and updated internally over the years, and the front verandah enclosed, the cottage retains its original charm today.
In recognition of its unique historic character as one of only four surviving artisan stone houses of the 1880s in Brisbane ‘Stonemason’s Cottage’ was entered on the Local Heritage Register on 1 January 2005 to protect its unique stone legacy.
Real Estate promotions have done full justice to this historic gem. An advertisement in the Courier Mail of 20 May 2000 featured it as a “Rare home monument to an ancient craft’ which had ‘ a unique balcony with city views, large lounge with stone fireplace, dining room opening onto a rear deck, three bedrooms, children’s retreat and two rumpus rooms.
In 2010 it was advertised as “1800’S SANDSTONE UNIQUE OPPORTUNITY TO REFURBISH AND PROSPER ” with 5 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms and 1 car space on 355 m2 block of land. It sold for 660,000 on 1 October 2010. Previous sales tell their own story: October 1989: $155,000; March 1993 $226,000; June 2000 $316,000. (realestate.com.au) (Local Heritage Regiter (LHR)/real estate articles)
Lesville (Leaville) 40 Latrobe Street
The land on which Leaville is located dates back to the original estate bought by the Reverend Thomas Mowbray (1812-1867) on 28 January 1854 when Queensland was still part of New South Wales. It became known as the Mowbray Estate and after his death was owned by his wife Williamina who later subdivided and sold large parts at various times starting in 1884.
On 2 June 1910 Arthur John Dickinson (1873-1940), a builder, and his wife Sarah Jane (1874-1956) bought three 1,600 m2 lots 112-114 . They had married in 1897 and had two sons and a daughter. Three months later, in September, Arthur built a bungalow style house on the land for his family, this is now 40 Latrobe Street. He named the house ‘Lesville’ in memory of their six-year-old son Les who had died on 3 September 1910 (the same day the mortgage was placed on the land), after falling off a jetty in Cleveland while trying to retrieve his hat.
On 9 August 1918 tragedy struck again with the death of their daughter Emily Victoria. She used to like running her hands along the balcony and stair railings and then lick her fingers, but developed lead poisoning from the lead-based paint used at the time and died. In January 1920 the Dickinsons sold the house and and moved to 384 Old Cleveland Road, Coorparoo, also built by Arthur. Once again they named their home Lesville.
From 1920 to 2013 Lesville, often called Leaville, at 40 Latrobe Street had fourteen different owners. In 1933 lot 112 was sold leaving the house on Lot 113 and 114. Over the years ownership periods ranged from 6 months to 37 years. Despite various internal alterations the original roofline, cast iron railings and decorative wooden details on the verandah posts are still intact today.
Arthur Dickinson went on to become a highly-regarded building contractor who built some well-known buildings in Queen Street including Barry & Roberts (1920-22), the Wintergarden Theatre (1923-24), Ascot Chambers (1924-25), the theatre auditorium of the Regent Theatre (1928-29) and the Sundae Shop (1928-29) as well as many notable residences in Brisbane.
(sources: Geraint Gregory’s archives/Google)
Scotby Fundraising Function
You never know where your research leads you!
This fundraiser article intrigued me as I was wondering where and what St Martin’s Hospital was. Turns out that it was a hospital built in 1922 by the Anglican Church as a memorial to those who fought in WWI. It was located at 373 Ann Street in the grounds of St John’s Cathedral, the first stage of which had been dedicated on 28 October 1910.
The hospital was named St Martin’s War Memorial Hospital because the Armistice had been signed on St Martin’s day, 11 November, now Armistice/Remembrance Day. It was designed by Lange Leopold Powell after he won a competition held in 1920 for the design of the hospital. It was built by Thomas Keenan at a cost of £46,000 ($92,000).
St Martin’s War Memorial Hospital was officially opened and dedicated on 28 November 1922 by the then Governor of Australia, Lord Forster.
There were seven main wards , several single rooms and two operating theatres. The main kitchen was on the top floor with smaller kitchens on each floor for food distribution. Construction costs were raised by public subscription and many community fundraising events such as those held at Scotby.
St Martin’s was run by the Anglican Sisters of the Sacred Advent, formed in Brisbane in 1892 who also founded St Margaret’s and St Aidan’s schools for girls, and provided free care to men and women who had served in the Great War. It functioned as a hospital until June 1971 when patients were moved to a new hospital at Zillmere.
Plans to demolish the hospital building to give a clearer view of the Cathedral were dropped after a strong and vocal public campaign led by the ‘Save St Martin’s’ Committee. Instead, the building was renovated and is now used as administrative headquarters for the Anglican Diocese. Now known as St Martin’s House, the former hospital building was entered on the Queensland State Heritage Register on 21 October 1992.
(Sources: Queensland Heritage Register/Wikipedia/Trove/anglicanfocus/SLQ)
SCOTBY- 59 Mowbray Terrace
This imposing two-story timber residence on the highest part of Mowbray Terrace previously known as Sinclair’s Hill was built ca. 1910 for Josiah Henry Hancock, and his wife Mary Isabella (nee Peel).
Josiah was the grandson of Thomas Hancock, founder of the timber firm Hancock and Gore. Isabella was the youngest daughter of James Peel of Carlisle, England and had emigrated with her family in 1884. James Peel was co-founder of the successful coachworks business Peels Ltd in Stanley Street, South Brisbane in 1897.
The house was built on four allotments which were part of what was the original ‘Fairy Knowe Estate’ owned by Duncan Sinclair. In keeping with the Peel family tradition it was named Scotby after the village in Cumberland (now Cumbria), England, where Mary’s mother had lived. The original Peel family home in South Brisbane and Josiah and Mary’s previous home in Highgate Hill, which had been sold to the then Premier, William Kidston in May 1910 shared the same name.
The large home and expansive property on 1,897m2 with beautiful garden, accessible from Mowbray Terrace and Balmoral Terrace, was perfect for the lifestyle of the prominent and wealthy Hancock family. A major feature was the grand ballroom which opened out onto a tennis court and could easily accommodate over 200 guests for various social and charity events such as garden parties, fashion parades, bridge parties and concerts.
The Hancock family sold the five-bedroom three-bathroom home ca. 1995. Scotby was entered on the Local Heritage Register on 1 July 2005 as “a striking Federation bungalow house which provides an example of the residential development of prestigious Mowbray Terrace in the early twentieth century. “
(Sources: BCC Local Heritage Register/Australian Dictionary of Biography/Trove articles/https://highgatehill-historical-vignettes.com/https://; www.hancockandgore.com.au/about-us)
Colonial cottage at 12 Lisburn Street
This late colonial timber cottage was built in 1907 on a 460m2 block with narrow frontage and side access to the back of the property. The top photo was taken by Frank Corley and the second is from a real estate listing in 2018.
ESKGROVE – 65 Laidlaw Parade
Timeline of a Colonial Gem: Part 1 of 4: 1853 and the Scottish connection
The story of Eskgrove (also known as Eskgrove Cottage, Scanlan Estate and Grey Eagles) is an important part of the development of the Southside riverine estates in the early 1850s. As one of the oldest remaining pre-separation colonial residences in Queensland its history is both fascinating and significant.
The low-set colonial house was built in 1853 for Archibald Hepburn Hutchinson, a Scottish migrant and former manager of the Commercial Bank in Sydney. In February 1853 he bought allotments 51-53 totalling 12.5 acres (about 5 hectares) for £88/10/1 from surveyor James Charles Burnett. The rustic low-set cottage of hand-chiselled sandstone blocks was built in the same year. It was located downstream from the riverine residences Shafston and Riversdale fronting Lytton Road, with the main entrance facing the river.
Hutchinson called his house Eskgrove, a name which has an interesting history. It is believed that it is named after Eskgrove House, an 18th century mansion on the former Esk Grove Estate in Inveresk, Scotland, dating back to 1736. (It still exists today and is an up-market rental property).
Eskgrove House is a manor house built ca. 1740-1743 on the original Eskgrove Estate of 12 hectares in the village of Inveresk, on the outskirts of Musselburgh, 6 km east of Edinburgh. In 1910 seven hectares of the estate was donated to the Town Council for use as a public park and became the Lewisvale Park. In 1990 the rest of the estate was broken up for housing. Today Eskgrove House is privately owned and used as an upmarket rental property.
Hutchinson was born on 24 December 1820 in Borthwick, 17.7 km from Edinburgh. Inveresk is only 17 km from Borthwick and is located on a slightly elevated ridge on the north bank of a loop of the river Esk.
This ridge of ground, 20 to 25 metres above sea level, was used by the Romans as the location for a fort in the 2nd century AD. Inveresk was designated a ‘conservation area’ in 1969. It derives its name from the Gaelic Inbhir Easq referring to the confluence of the river Esk and the Firth of Forth at Musselburgh, just 1.1 km from Inveresk.
The house consisted of a square stone core with a projecting front room and verandah on three sides, supported by precast aluminium doric columns and a service wing at the back. The steep sloping ‘broken back’ corrugated iron roof featured a pyramid shaped chimney ventilator on top. Internal brick walls divided the four rooms with the two front rooms sharing a back-to-back fireplace. French doors connected the rooms and verandah.
ESKGROVE – Part 2: 1854 – 1885
1854: The next chapter in the history of Eskgrove starts with the sudden death of Alfred Hutchinson at his home Eskgrove on 11 May 1854, barely a year after having built the house and at the age of just 32. The cause of death is unknown. He was buried in the Presbyterian section of the Milton/Paddington Cemetery.
After Hutchinson’s death it is believed that his widow Agnes and their four children returned to Sydney but kept the Brisbane house as a rental property.
Many of the tenants over the years were prominent in the development of early Queensland and included:
1857-58: squatters William Kent Jr
1858-59: squatter Thomas Lodge Murray-Prior
1859-60: Governor George Bowen’s private secretary Abram Moriarty, who read the proclamation which separated Qld from NSW.
1861- ca. 1865 Lieutenant George Poynter Heath, R.N, Portmaster of Queensland
1868 Robert Kerr Acheson
A classified advertisement in the Brisbane Courier, 26 September 1868:
To Let, ESKGROVE Villa, Kangaroo Point, pleasantly situated on the banks of the River, containing six rooms, with kitchen and two servants’ rooms, stables and outhouses attached; stands in a well-grassed 13-acre paddock, and has a good kitchen garden. Apply to Georgie Raff & Co., Brisbane, 3008
1876: William David Nisbet, Chief Engineer forHarbours and Rivers
1877: Catherine Hutchinson listed Eskgrove as her residence when she married in March 1877 indicating that the Hutchinson family kept in contact with their tenants.
1880: Nisbet bought the house and the whole Eskgrove Estate from the Hutchinson family for £2,000.
1885: Title was transferred to businessmen N.J. Howes and A.S .Leslie and the estate was subdivided. An auction was held on 14 March 1885.
1885: Thomas Scanlan, a publican, owner of the Woolloongabba hotel and later alderman for South Brisbane bought the house and about 4 acres [1.2 hectares] of land.
The map shows allotments on Laidlaw Parade, between Lytton Road and the Brisbane River. Cameron and Henzell no. 550A. Map accompanied by a hand written receipt for two pounds, eighteen shillings received from Walter Sydney Smith for half the cost of the dividing fence between allotments 56 and 57. The note is signed by the land owner of allotment 56, possibly ‘W. H. Mewes’ and dated Feb. 25th 1887.
According to an 1885 plan of the Eskgrove Estate, the house comprised a square core with one large rear wing, with a shed and stables located between the house and Lytton Road.
ESKGROVE – Part 3: 1886- 1990s
1886 Sales for parts of the Eskgrove estate continued
1886 – 1892 Thomas Scanlan, former licensee of the Woolloongabba Hotel lived in Eskgrove with his family. He was elected as alderman in the first South Brisbane Muni-cipal Council which was formed on 1 January 1888. He died in December 1892.
1892 – After the death of Thomas Scanlan the house became a rental property again.
1895: The property was put on the market consisting of 2 subdivisions: subdivision 1: a stone house with timber wing and timber outbuildings on 2 roods 33.3 perches, including river frontage. At that time Laidlaw Parade did not yet extend between Scanlan and Eskgrove streets.
subdivision 2: another 3 acres 1 rood 7.1 perches with a long frontage to the Brisbane River : and to Lytton Road.
1895 – 1902 Laidlaw Parade was extended between Scanlan and Eskgrove Streets. Changes were made to the Eskgrove property; the original rear timber wing was replaced and the shed and stables were removed.
1902: Eskgrove was again offered for sale at auction as the Scanlan Estate.
1902-1910 remained a rental property
1910 bought by the Joseph Walter Tritton family
1910 – 1966 owned by the Tritton family
1920 – 1966 became the family home for the Tritton family
1966-1975 property was extended and modified for use as flats and then a nursing home called Grey Eagles.
1975 became a private residence again and was renamed Eskgrove
1992 Eskgrove was entered on the Queensland State Heritage Register on 21 October in recognition of its importance as one of the few remaining pre-separation homes in Brisbane associated with the earliest riverine development of the eastern suburbs.
(Source: Trove/Qld Heritage Register)
ESKGROVE – Part 4: 2000 – 2019
Time for a modern restoration of a colonial gem: The old house in 2010 – neglected and run-down.
Eskgrove in August 2019 after a complete renovation. 
FAIRHOLME, 77 Mowbray Terrace
This beautiful heritage-listed residence was built in 1912 for the Webb family. It is located on Sinclair Hill, the higher ground in East Brisbane where the Anglican Church Grammar School (Churchie) is now. The address then was 24 Sinclair Street and it was a very prestigious residential area at the time.
“In 1911 Reginal John Webb and his wife Hilda (nee Kennedy) purchased five allotments of Duncan Sinclair’s ‘Fairy Knowe’ Estate, running up to the corner of Sinclair Street. Reginald, a dentist, was from a family of doctors, while Hilda was the daughter of a well-known school inspector. Their new high-set residence was perched above a rock wall, only accessible from Balmoral Terrace. The Webbs moved into their new residence ‘Fairholme’ in June 1912, borrowing the name from their old home in Gloucester Street.”(source: BCC Heritage Register).
The three-bedroom home was sold at auction for $4 million in 2017. The new owners intend to renovate it and restore it to its former beauty. You can find out more at:https://www.realestate.com.au/…/property-house-qld-east+bri…
HESTER VILLA, 58 Stafford Street
Hester Villa is a beautiful timber and iron residence built ca. 1901 (a penny nailed above the front doorway records the date) for Captain Robert Pearn. It replaced the original family home built on the site in 1889 which burnt down. It was State heritage-listed on 21 October 1992 as an excellent example of Federation style housing. The house was named after his eldest daughter Hester.
Captain Pearn was at one time involved in “recruiting” labourers from the Pacific Islands to work on Qld sugar plantations, a practice known as “blackbirding” that was outlawed early in the 20th century. He sailed the ‘labour schooners’ Clansman and Lochiel.
He reported to the Portmaster, Captain Heath, owner of another historic home of East Brisbane, Hanworth House . Captain Pearn died in 1910, and the house remained the family home until 1968.
By the late 1970s the house had become dilapidated, but fortunately was acquired by conservation architect Ray Oliver and his wife, who restored and refurbished the house and garden.
HANWORTH -109 Lytton Road
As mentioned in the article on Heath Park, Captain George Poynter Heath, highly respected naval captain, marine surveyor and the first Portmaster of Brisbane, built a large residence on several acres leading down to Norman Creek with views of the Brisbane River. The elegant home was designed by prominent Brisbane architect James Cowlishaw and was built mainly of hand-made bricks. It was named Hanworth after the town in Norfolk, England, where Captain Heath was born. The heritage-listed house has a fascinating and unique history.
This beautifully written article by F.E. Lord, published in The Queenslander on 22 May 1930, is a great introduction to the early days of Hanworth.
BUILT mainly of bricks, long and low in front, like Newstead, is this old house at East Brisbane, once the home of Captain Heath, who was Portmaster of Brisbane in the '70's and '80's of last century. Hanworth was the name Captain Heath gave to this home, which he had built in the comparatively new town of Brisbane. It is now known as The Hospice, having been purchased by Mrs. J. D. Wienholt in about the year 1912 for the purpose for which it is used to-day, a home for elderly gentlewoman; and it is admirably suited to this purpose, not only on account of its age and form, but on account of its aspect. As it faces almost due east, its residents, in the winter mornings, are able to bask in the warmth and comfort of the sun without leaving the verandas, and but three steps take them down into the pleasant garden. The path that leads up from the gates opening on to the main road to the left of the house runs between large, old trees. There are many about the grounds, mostly pines of different varieties; and there is quite a grove of them on that part by which runs the main road; so the old home is very private and secluded and roses and other creeping plants twine about the ornamental iron posts of the veranda. Two wings of the building run out from the back of the house. A veranda runs between these two wings, and in the square of ground beyond this is a grove of mandarin trees. A short staircase leads up from a lobby in the back part of the house to a large room on the southern end with gable windows. From these, in those older days, Captain Heath, was able to keep a lookout for boats. A veranda runs between these two wings, and in the square of ground beyond this is a grove of mandarin trees. A TRACK to the Cleveland-road ran down through the property, which in Captain Heath's time, of course, was much more extensive. I understand that the old home has remained unaltered since its building by the captain with the exception of one or two of the large front rooms being divided into two to suit the purpose for which it is now used. As each resident has brought with her "all her worldly goods," the bedrooms, with their papered walls and some with fireplaces, have been made into bed and sitting rooms combined. In them we find many pretty and interesting treasures—books, fancy work, pictures, and photographs, old china, and some bits of old furniture. What stories they could tell "if they could only speak"? And for their owners what memories they hold! There, in fancy, "They walk with sweet friends in the sunset's glow,and listen to music of long ago."
These photos are from the same article.
Here is a summary of the complete history of this historic property.
COLMSLIE, Lytton Road
A traditional Queenslander, the stately residence ‘Colmslie’ at Lytton Rd, East Brisbane, 1913, was built by Charles Hamilton. The wooden house is on stilts and surrounded by verandahs. Wooden stairs lead to the front verandah and wooden palings enclose the area under the house. (SLQ Collection reference: GS-25 Dalby Family Photograph Albums).
‘One of the very early families in the area was the Cairncross family, who settled in the 1850s. William Cairncross was a baker and confectioner with a business in Queen Street, Brisbane and he purchased land in the Colmslie area and built a residence which he named ‘Colmslie’. It had an observatory and Cairncross used it to report to the authorities on shipping and weather, but sadly the house was later demolished. Cairncross is honoured by the name of the Cairncross graving dock, built during WW2. (source: ABC local stories 2009).
OAKLEA , Heath Street
WORKER’S COTTAGE, 17 Burlington Street
This small workers’ cottage at 17 Burlington Street, East Brisbane is located on what was part of the original Heathfield Estate which was sold in 1885-6. The area was quickly settled by working and lower-middle class residents who mostly lived in workers’ cottages made of timber. However, when labourer Edward Neill bought a small 16 perch (405 m2 ) block in 1887 he had a small brick cottage with corrugated iron roof built on it a year later, making it different from the surrounding timber cottages.
He sold it in 1890 and it has since been mainly a rental property. While the interior has been renovated over the years the basic structure is the original with brickwork painted white.
The cottage was entered on the Brisbane Local Heritage Register on 1 January 2005 as ‘ a rare surviving working-class 19th century brick cottage reflecting the residential growth of East Brisbane in the late 19th century.’ (Brisbane City Council Local Heritage Register)
Classic Queenslander, 42 Mowbray Terrace
This beautiful Queenslander home at 42 Mowbray Terrace was built in 1915. It is located on a large 981m2 elevated block with a 29m frontage. The house has had several owners over the years and been extensively renovated. Since it was photographed in the early 1970s by Frank Corley it was sold in August 1986 for $87,500 and most recently in April 2017 for $1.3million. The two-level home now has 4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, 3 car garage and inground pool and views of the city skyline. (State Library of Queensland/real estate advertisements)
HAROLDTON [Haroldtown] , 80 Mowbray Terrace
This original Queenslander home dating back to 1888 was entered on the Brisbane City Council Local Heritage Register on 1 July 2005 for its aesthetic significance as a well presented, largely intact 1880s residence and an important example of the evolution of the history of the local area.
In May 1886 William James Thompson, a Queensland Government engineer, bought a 36 perch (910m2 ) block of land (L104_RP11234; L105_RP11234 ) when the original Archibald Hepburn Hutchinson Estate was subdivided and became available for sale. In 1888 he built a Queenslander style ‘tin and timber’ home called ‘Haroldton’ on the land and lived in the house for a few years before renting it out and eventually selling it in 1907.
‘The square shaped central core contains a corrugated iron pyramid roof with its overhang supported on a pair of corbelled [projecting] brackets. The external front wall to the central core is single skinned with diamond bracing and exposed studs. The core is surrounded by a separately roofed verandah with twin verandah posts decorated with brackets, capital and astragal [a narrow band or moulding on a column]. The front features a gabled entry that protrudes above the verandah roof and incorporates an attractive fretwork pediment.’ (Local Heritage Register)
The finely detailed pyramidal roof is singled out as an important heritage feature typical of an 1880s residence of the Victorian era. [1860-1890]
(sources: Local Heritage Register/ State Library of Queensland)
16 Lisburn Street – Then and Now
Then: 1972 – A fibro and timber cottage, described as a ‘ classic assymetrical bungalow roofed house probably built around 1905.’ (Frank Corley collection, SLQ)
Now: 2023 – A two level, 4 bedroom, 3 bathroom, double garage home on 226m2 block with all modern conveniences (realestate.com)
Rosetta, 47 Didsbury Street
Three views of the house at 47 Didsbury Street. The first was taken in 1970 by Frank Corley the second is a street view from August 1999 when it was on the market, the third was taken in September 2022.
