Early Houses in Toowong Shire A-C

Compiled by Philippa Stanford. Research by Leigh Chamberlain, Nick Feros and Genean Wildestein.

This is an ongoing piece of research and will be updated as we get more information and photos.

Abbotsbury Toowong (Cnr Milton road and Croydon street).

Airdrie on the corner of Coronation Drive and Landsborough Terrace (previously Paradise Ave) near the Regatta Hotel.

Mr Alexander Samson Barr and Mrs Annie Brown Barr lived at Airdrie, River Road, Toowong with their children in 1916.

 

Ardencraig Church St now Jephson St, Toowong.

“Ardencraig” was the residence of FDG Stanley (1838-1897), acclaimed 19th century Queensland architect, and was situated on Church (now Jephson) Street, Toowong. Fashionable Stanley followed the fashion of those who were notable in Brisbane Society by installing a telescope, in common with Toowong resident and architect Richard Gailey who had done likewise at “Glenolive” in Brisbane Street, Toowong.   There were two “Ardencraigs”, actually, as the house Stanley had built burnt down, and was replaced by a second residence.

Ardencraig was the original home of Churchie (Anglican Church Grammar School) in 1912 before it moved to East Brisbane. It was placed for sale in 1924 as part of the Ardencraig House and Grounds Estate. The home was later owned by the MacDonnell family.  Franic MacDonnell was a bookseller in Queen St. Their youngest son John Edward died in France in April 1918 and his name is on the Toowong memorial. Madeleine O’Hagan nee MacDonnell lived at Ardencraig until she married in 1919.

Later owned by Charles Elliott and Family. There was a fire in the mid 1960s which destroyed part of the house. The then owners sold the property and a unit block was built in its place.   The damaged house was removed and restored to its former glory in its new location outside of Brisbane.

 

Arley the Archer family residence in the 1880s.

Alexander and Minnie Archer lived in Toowong and gave their name to Archer Street. Alexander Archer (1828-1890), was the manager of the Bank of New South Wales in Brisbane and a member of the Queensland pioneering Archer family. Sadly the Archer family of Arley, in Archer Street, Toowong died on the RMS Quetta. On February 28th in 1890, the RMS Quetta hit an uncharted granite rock in the Adolphus Channel in Torres Strait at 9.14 pm on a clear night travelling towards Thursday Island from Cooktown. The damage to the hull was a gash 6ft wide by 175 ft. long from the bow to the engine room amidships. She plunged to the bottom in less than three minutes and of the 292 persons on board, 152 were lost and 139 saved.

Arlington/Endrim – c. 1905/1906. 28 Woodstock Rd, Toowong. Home of Badger

Joseph Stillman Badger, General Manager of the Brisbane Tramways Company (BTC) moved to Arlington (as it was then known) around 1904. This was when work commenced upon the extension of the tramline from the gates of Brisbane General Cemetery, down Dean Street, and into Woodstock Road to terminate at the (Toowong) Tram Terminus situated just near his front gate.

For more information about Arlington see here

Auchenflower House – built in 1876 for the ironmonger John Ward. situated on the crest of a hill between the railway line and Milton Road, and Ridley and Dixon Streets.

built in 1876 for the ironmonger John Ward. situated on the crest of a hill between the railway line and Milton Road, and Ridley and Dixon Streets. The property known as Auchenflower was purchased by Mr John Warde who built the original Auchenflower House. The property was then purchased by Sir Thomas McIlwraith in 1880 who extended it and christened it Auchenflower giving the suburb its name. For the ten years between 1880-1980  Auchenflower was a centre of social life for the political leaders and those who aspired to politics.  After McIlwraith’s death in 1900 it was sold to the family of  Sir Arthur Palmer. Later purchased by Mrs. TJ Ryan widow of a Queensland premier. Became a Carmelite Monastery in 1927. When the site was cleared for a church in 1967 auchenflower House’s ballroom and billiard room were rebuilt at Norman Park as the centrepiece of ‘Early Street Historical Village’. The rooms today can be found at Tamborine Estate Winery, in the Beaudesert Shire south-west of Brisbane, where they were moved in the 1990s.

For more information see here 

 

Braelands at Bellevue Parade and Ellerslie Crescent, Taringa (previously South Toowong)

The residence of Helen and James Forsythe and later their niece Miss Helen ‘Ivy’ Philp, daughter of Sir Robert Philp. Braelands was commandeered from Miss Helen ‘Ivy’ Bannister Philip for the use General George H Brett during WWII. Miss Philp went to stay with her sister at Mallow in Toowong. Later Miss Ivy Philp sold the land to a group of men who bought it for Albert Street Methodist Church and it was used as a residential hostel for students at UQ.

For more information about Braelands during the war see here

Clayton House – standing on the back of the hill at the end of Patrick Lane

Standing on the back of the hill at the end of Patrick Lane, Toowong  was Clayton House which was built in 1863. It was previously owned by A. M. G. Patrick who was an officer in the Police Force, but he sold and became the family home of the Dixons ca. 1865. It was the home of Dr   Graham Patrick Dixon (1873-1947) who had a distinguished career as a medical officer in WW1 (Gallipoli and middle east) and, in peace time, as a Brisbane surgeon.   It was also the home of  Dr Dixon’s mother, Louisa Jane Dixon, who died in October 1938 aged 91. The Dixons also operated a boarding house out of Clayton.  JB Fewings boarded here at Clayton before he purchased his property Karslake.

Chatswood on 7 Augustus Street, Toowong.

Chatswood was the home of the Wetherlakes family, George and Elsie Weatherslake and their   daughters, Mavis, Ruth, Marion and Joyce. Marion married the 2nd son of Mr & Mrs Biggs of Dunmore Tce. Biggs was a former councillor for Toowong. The Weatherlakes were the maternal grandparents of Dr Bruce Bigge who had the Fiveways Surgery. The house later became the home of one of the Patterson family.

Curragh Bawn – home of William Landsborough? Curragh Bawn on the hill behind the Current Regatta Hotel