Multimillion-dollar makeover for grand Brisbane heritage landmark

A bold, multimillion-dollar plan to restore a rare example of Brisbane’s colonial past has been lodged with Council, but some of the site will have to be sold to pay for it.

One of Brisbane’s last remaining grand colonial homesteads will get a massive makeover, but its new owner says some of the site has to be sold to help pay for it.

Dovercourt, a stunning 1864 Toowong homestead designed by William Henry Elleker, was bought by heritage campaigner Kirsty Faichen and her family last year.

She recently submitted an application to Council to convert the sprawling eight lot, 7036 sqm property into six lots, with five to be sold as houses on 500 sqm blocks at the bottom of the steep block.

About 4000 sqm would be retained, including the historical circular driveway.

Wrap-around verandas at Dovercourt, which will need a multimillion-dollar renovation.

Ms Faichen said it would cost more than $2 million to bring the fading masterpiece back to its former glory, money she simply did not have.

She said the sales brochures indicated up to 21 townhouses or retirement living were allowable options, but she had no interest in intensive development.

“I’m not in this to make money. This will be a family home and people who know me know about my obsession with this house,’’ she said.

“But to fund a proper restoration requires very expensive labour (by people with rare, expert skills). It will cost more than $2 million.

“The side balcony on the downside of the house is coming away from the roof and house.

“I’m in the process of making it safe so it doesn’t tear part of the house away when it falls, which is imminent.

Kirsty Faichen inside one of the gracious rooms. Picture: News Corp/Attila Csaszar

Aerial view of the sprawling property. Five lots totalling 2500 sqm on the right-hand side of this image will be subdivided for character housing.

“There are many rooms that are unusable due to damp, walls separating or because they have no light. Plumbing and electrical matters are ‘interesting’.

“On some of the brick pillars holding up the house you can see through to the core because the mortar has disintegrated.

“I love this house immensely. When I restore it I’m not changing walls, I will only build a small extension out the back so the upstairs and downstairs can be joined without going outside.

“I’m super committed to doing things the right way and have sought out connections with family members of the last two owners.

“I will have access to some late 1800s/early 1900s photos to assist in my restoration endeavours, including plants and restoring the carriageway.’’

Many of the rooms are unusable due to damp and structural problems.

Ms Faichen said it was important to note that all of the trees identified by a heritage landscape architect she had engaged would be protected, including bunya pines and tallowwoods.

A 150-year-old fig and a 120-year-old bunya pine, plus all of the other surviving trees on the 4000 sqm lot, would also be preserved.

“Importantly, the view from the (falling down) veranda will be preserved because you look out over the top of the ‘ditch’,’’ she said.

“The five houses are not townhouses. They are on large blocks and all have to be in keeping with character, with pitched roofs and other features.’’

Grand hallway at Dovercourt, which will need a multimillion-dollar renovation.

One of the stately rooms.

She said while the bottom section of the heavily vegetated block looked lush, it was overgrown with lantana and cat’s claw which had smothered many of the trees.

Ms Faichen, a lawyer, was instrumental in the fight to try to save nearby Endrim House from development.

She donated hundreds of hours of free legal work, letterboxed neighbours and lobbied politicians and Council officers in an effort to save Endrim.

Ms Faichen has commissioned a book on Dovercourt, by Harold and Murray Peacock, and will hold an open house for neighbours in some surrounding streets to showcase her plans.

Huge rooms abound inside Dovercourt.

All the heritage reports she commissioned will be uploaded to Council’s developments online development application portal in the coming few weeks.

Residents will then be allowed to make formal submissions, from June 28. Submissions lodged before then are not formally counted by Council.

Dovercourt was the talk of the town in its day, with its new-age dumbwaiter and enormous bi-fold doors dividing the lounge and dining room.

English architect William Henry Ellerker, who arrived in Brisbane in 1863, bought a 3ha lot at Toowong on which he erected what was then known as ‘Dover Court Cottage’, to his own design.

Ornate ceilings are found throughout the homestead.

One of the unsafe verandas.

During his time in Brisbane, Ellerker was also responsible for the design of a number of commercial properties in Queen St, a villa for Francis Gregory on North Quay, and James Gibbon’s Teneriffe House.

His entry in the competition for the design of the Queensland Parliamentary buildings was actually selected by the judges, but Parliament requested scrutiny by another architect and, after some objections, Ellerker’s design was abandoned.

By the 1890s Dovercourt was in use as a residence for school boarders, before being occupied by three generations of the Bigge family for eight decades.

A fireplace at Dovercourt.