Too hard basket: heritage homes in danger of vanishing
They have been beloved local landmarks for decades, but these beautiful old buildings are in danger of being demolished. SEE THE LIST
South West
Don't miss out on the headlines from South West. Followed categories will be added to My News.
The sad news this week that of one of Brisbane’s last Tudor-style homes will be demolished has thrown the spotlight on our heritage woes.
There have been some great wins for history buffs, such as Dovercourt in Toowong, Abbotsleigh in Bowen Hills and Fenton in New Farm.
But despite tougher laws being passed by Council and the State Government in recent years, many grand old houses and pubs are still in danger of disappearing.
We take a look at those we have lost in recent years, or which are at risk.
LINDEN LEA, TOOWONG
A landmark riverfront Brisbane home built by the Websters biscuits family in 1937, this grand Tudor-style home on the top of a hill with sweeping views of the Brisbane River will soon bite the dust unless neighbours convince the State Government to step in with a stop order.
Excavators turned up this week and internal demolition began before asbestos put a temporary stop to their activities.
A neighbour lodged a heritage application in a last-ditch bid to save Linden Lea, which was commissioned by the family made famous through its Shingle Inn teahouse franchise.
Designed by prominent architect Horace Driver, it was included on the local historical society’s walking tours and was believed to have been one of only five such homes left in Brisbane.
The current owners fought Brisbane City Council for four years after it knocked back their application for a full demolition in 2017.
The Planning and Environment Court upheld an appeal by the owners in April, and an excavator showed up on Monday to begin tearing the 40 Archer St house down
LAMB HOUSE, KANGAROO POINT
Repeated “stop orders’’ have been imposed on the rotting clifftop Kangaroo Point house by both the State Government and Council to block any attempt at demolition.
One of Brisbane’s most well known heritage homes, it has fallen into disrepair and numerous attempts by Council, the State government and even property tycoon Kevin Seymour to buy or fix up the sprawling property have been rebuffed by owner Joy Lamb.
Council recently held public consultation for a planning amendment to protect the building.
Lamb House was built between 1901 and 1902, making it one of Kangaroo Point’s oldest surviving homes.
“Unfortunately, over the years (the property has fallen) into disrepair to the dismay of Council and Brisbane residents who want to see it restored to its former glory,” City Planning chair Krista Adams said.
Ms Lamb said the home had been trashed by “squatters, druggies and thieves” but declined Mr Seymour’s offer to renovate the property.
HAWBRYN HOUSE, ANSTEAD
Anstead residents were left distraught after the sprawling property, relocated from Kangaroo Point, was gutted in a suspicious blaze on October 17 last year.
Police are still investigating the cause, but the Hawkesbury Rd house was regularly targeted by vandals.
Pullenvale ward Councillor Greg Adermann said while the homestead could not be saved, adjacent Sugars Cottage — the former residence of a pioneering family of the same name — was unharmed.
Council bought the property four years ago to connect two adjoining bushland blocks and is working on a masterplan.
A local historical group wants the cottage converted to a meeting room but that plan does not appear to have Council support.
At one point the police Special Emergency Response Team used for training, which Council had hoped would help deter vandals.
Moggill Historical Society president Neville Marsh said it was a relief Sugars Cottage survived the fire as it was a fine example of a “vernacular inter-war Queenslander bungalow’’.
Hawbryn House was moved to the site in 1981 by the Burton-Jones family but the cottage, built by Harold Gordon Sugars, has been there since the 1920s.
OLD MOGGILL COUNTRY CLUB, MOGGILL
A 1920s/30s-era cottage on the former Moggill Country Club site fell into disrepair during a long dispute with Council over plans to build a housing estate.
Run as a private golf club since the 1960s, by 2010 the then owner described it as “an overgrown paddock” in its development application asking to subdivide the land into 93 residential lots.
The Planning & Environment Court recently approved a controversial Dickson Properties Pty Ltd subdivision, but ordered it install a warning siren so residents could flee in the event of a major flood.
The order was one of 58 conditions imposed on the Weekes Rd estate after an earlier condition to build a 130-person flood refuge, which Mr Dickson dubbed “Noah’s ark’’, was dropped.
GOLDICOTT HOUSE, TOOWONG
Although the 1885 Sisters of Mercy homestead is safe, for now, last month developer Pikos Group relocated the former St Ignatius College music room where Powderfinger’s Bernard Fanning learned his craft.
In a rare win for residents and heritage buffs, the Planning & Environment Court ruled in May last year that Pikos could not go ahead with plans to rezone and subdivide the sweeping grounds of the heritage-listed property.
Pikos originally floated plans to turn the grounds into a multistorey aged care facility, alarming heritage experts and residents in the traffic choked surrounding streets.
After that idea was blocked, Pikos then floated plans in 2018 for a huge residential unit project.
Goldicott House was an innovative build, featuring Queensland’s first residential poured concrete slab design.
LYTTON RD HOUSES, EAST BRISBANE
A strip of character and pre-1911 Queenslanders were relocated — and some later demolished — as part of Council’s controversial widening of Lytton R.
Opponents claimed in 2018 that Council had “not tried’’ to save the properties.
They included a colonial-style brick cottage the Opposition wanted relocated to adjoining Mowbray Park.
Opposition Infrastructure spokesman Steve Griffiths said although residents had provided proof of the heritage significance of the cottage, council “didn’t try”.
“When you look at how buildings like Captain’s Cook cottage can be shifted 15,000km from England to Australia it just puts it into perspective.
“This Council can’t even move a heritage building a few metres sideways into a park. If the will was there, I believe they could have made it happen.
“Actions speak louder than words and they’ve just let an irreplaceable link to Brisbane’s past fall to the bulldozers.”
The cottage, named “Wirrawa”, was one of few surviving examples of the standard-style cottages that predominated in Brisbane in the 1800s and early 1900s.
WYNNUM TOWER HOUSE, WYNNUM
This iconic, heritage-listed waterfront home on Brisbane’s bayside is at the centre of a legal dispute which is set to hit court.
Council is taking the owners to court after it alleged unapproved demolition works on the almost 100-year-old building.
The “Tower House” sits on the corner of Kingsley Tce and The Esplanade and was built in 1921 for businessman and philanthropist John Darnell.
The single-storey building was placed on the heritage list in November 2019.
Current owners Nathan and Laura Althaus, who bought the property in 2015, submitted a third development application to demolish the property in December, 2018 believing the house was in too poor a condition to renovate.
After submitting the most recent application, Mr Althaus said he respected the history of the house but said there was no option other than demolition.
“The structure of the house has gotten worse and worse since I bought it, it’s just all coming apart,” he said in January, 2019.
“It’s been ripped apart by termites as well, our pest guy said it was one of the worst houses he had seen.”
The matter was scheduled to be heard in the Wynnum Magistrates Court on March 19.
THE PINK HOUSE, YERONGA
Developer Merchant Estates said in 2018 its plans to redevelop “The Pink House’’ would enhance the character of the Kadumba St landmark.
The home was built in 1903 by Stephen Glassop on a large corner block.
Merchant Estates lodged a development application outlining plans to move another pre-1911 house next to the Pink House, which would be raised.
Cr Nicole Johnston (Tennyson) said the character of the distinctive property would be compromised.
“This house is not even listed on the City’s Pre-1911 Character Map and the Lord Mayor refused my request to add it,’’ she said.
Council planners wrote to the developer to say its plans to demolish the chimney, which it said was unsound, and a rear veranda did not comply with by-laws.
“These are considered key integral components of the house and its character,’’ the planners wrote.
ME then agreed to retain the veranda and build a new chimney. ME also said it could have put two new houses on the same lot, but chose not to do so.
“Our intentions are to further enhance our landmark property by increasing and adding to the current cultural and heritage values present in the area,’’ it said.
“It is a unique, rare outcome for the community to have two pre-1911 dwellings of a similar age next to each other on a landmark site.’’
94, 98, 102 LAMBERT ST, KANGAROO POINT
While Council knocked backed plans by the Pikos Group for three 15-storey towers, residents claim Council has broken its own planning code by approving the removal of two pre-1911 houses on the site.
No to 108 Lambert St spokesman Lori Sexton said lawyers for the neighbouring Castlebar Body Corporate had written to council arguing that removing “the pre-1911 dwellings currently located at 94, 98 and 102 Lambert Street does not comply with the Pre-1911 building overlay code”.
Ms Sexton said the application for the remaining house removal was still before Council planning officers and should not be approved.
“The developer did not need to remove these buildings for his original building application,’’ she said.
“ (Pikos) is removing some of the Point’s last remaining heritage buildings to enable (it) to cram as many apartments as possible in an entirely inappropriate site.’’
MAIN RD, WELLINGTON POINT
Time may have run out for this 136-year-old cottage after Redland City Council was advised in January of its proposed demolition, weeks after naming council as a candidate for a heritage listing.
A private certifier approved the demolition of the cottage at Wellington Point in November, which was given to Redland City Council just days after announcing it was of historical significance and suggesting it be added to Redlands Local Heritage Register.
The Main Rd house is one of 10 Wellington Point properties earmarked for the register, including Casuarina Cottage on Fernbourne Rd, near the site of Fernbourne House, which was more than 100 years old when fire razed it to the ground in 2012.
The iconic Wellington Point wooden house, with bullnosed verandas, looked like it was on the home run to being preserved with the council saying in October it had “strong historical values” and was an intact example of an early settlement house.
The Victorian-era house, one of the first built at Wellington Point, was sold for $1.25 million on December 21.
Community group Redlands2030 secretary Chris Walker said the change in plans for the cottage highlighted a “terrible disconnect” in council processes.
“It’s hard to fathom when a building under consideration for a heritage listing was able to have a demolition order signed off against it,” he said.
“The council should been able to ensure that properties with assessed heritage significance are not demolished prior to a final decision about inclusion on its local heritage register.”
An Environment and Science Department spokesman said the state government was unlikely to intervene and halt the demolition as the house was not on a state heritage list.
CONON, LUTWYCHE
This historic home, built before WWI, was moved 15km two years ago to make way for an eight-storey retirement village which is now on ice.
Approval to build a new facility by RetireAustralia on Laura St, Lutwyche required the relocation and restoration of the pre-1911 home to a sporting field in Corinda within a period of three months.
The aged care facility will be built on the former tennis courts established by the well-known Fancutt family.
The home, “Conon’’, is on the State Heritage Register and was built by the McLennan family in 1863.
Ed Slaughter, who grew up in Conon, said he and his father had opposed the removal of Conon and construction of the eight-storey aged care facility.
“(Relocating it) is basically the same as knocking it down,” Mr Slaughter said. “It loses its meaning.”
JONES ST, HIGHGATE HILL
Demolition crews knocked these three Highgate Hill homes down in 2016.
Pre-1911 houses are protected if they are listed on the Brisbane’s City Plan, but not all character properties from that period made it onto the 2014 heritage list.
That allowed a developer to seek approval to tear down the three homes, which were built in 1882, 1894 and 1906, to make way for a five-storey unit block.
Despite both the council and the State Government saying they wanted the houses preserved, the developer was allowed to obtain a demolition permit.
The Government issued a stop work order in an 11th hour bid to halt the bulldozers but the properties had to be listed on the State Heritage Register to be saved.
Doctors alarmed as ‘eco-grief cripples Queensland teens
A chronically ill Brisbane woman has put aside her own pain to help solve a mental health crisis, triggered by climate doom, sweeping over Queensland’s youth.
Mobile cameras to target rogue truckies flouting weight limits
New mobile cameras that pick up number plate details are being rolled out across Queensland highways to detect trucks that are not compliant, with fines of up to $700 for serious breaches.