Indooroopilly – Heritage

This war memorial, though damaged, is significant as an example of a suburban war memorial and provides evidence of the widespread patriotism and grief of communities throughout Brisbane after World War I and their desire to commemorate those who died. The memorial was originally located on the corner of Westminster and Station Roads, Indooroopilly but was damaged in an accident in 1968 and was moved to this site a few years later. It continues to serve as a somber reminder of the sacrifice and bravery of those Brisbane residents who fought and died in World War I. [Brisbane Heritage Register]

 This attractive, California Bungalow style building was originally built circa 1930 as a residence for Ethel Hoey. After her death in 1959, the property had a number of different owners before being purchased by the State Government in 1971 and being converted into a Maternal and Child Welfare Clinic. Similar clinics were first established in Brisbane in the interwar period, albeit many decades after Queensland’s high maternal and child mortality rates had first been brought to public attention. Apart from extensions to the rear of the building in the early 1990s and some internal alterations, the building is reasonably intact and survives as an example of the California Bungalow style of architecture in Indooroopilly. [Brisbane Heritage Register]

This building doesn’t exist anymore.

 This timber and tin Bungalow style residence is a substantial example of a large, late nineteenth century dwelling constructed in the Indooroopilly area. The house appears to have been constructed circa 1892 for James Row Newman Wilson and was shortly after named ‘Ardtarig’. [Brisbane Heritage Register]

 The Church of the Holy Family was built in 1961-63 and designed by Brisbane architectural firm, Douglas and Barnes. Built beside the original timber interwar church it demonstrates the ongoing spiritual needs of the Indooroopilly Catholic community. The church’s striking design is a rare example of Modernist architecture in Brisbane. The church was built under the direction of Archbishop James Duhig and was one of his last major building projects. The church contains several elements that contribute to the cultural heritage significance of the building: the Stations of the Cross painted by Ray Crooke; the external sculptures designed by Erwin. A. Guth; the baptistery mosaic windows designed by Andrew Sibley. [Brisbane Heritage Register]

The former Church of the Holy Family was the first Catholic church and school in Indooroopilly. Built in 1926 and designed by Hall and Prentice, the church was built as a response to Archbishop Duhig’s vision of a Catholic church and school at Indooroopilly. The timber building was designed both as a church and a school. It was not until the arrival of the Brigidine Sisters in 1927 that the building began to be used as a primary school. The design of the building incorporated both ecclesiastical and educational features that are still apparent. The former church retains its use as a Catholic primary school. [Brisbane Heritage Register]

The original brick house, formerly named ‘Warranoke’, was built in 1888/1889 by respected Indooroopilly resident Gilson Fox Leslie Foxton and was designed by prominent Brisbane architectural firm Oakden, Addison and Kemp. In 1926 the property was sold to Archbishop James Duhig on behalf of the Roman Catholic Church. In the same year the Brigidine Sisters were invited by the Archbishop to establish a convent and school on the property. By 1927 the original house was used as a convent by the Brigidine Sisters and in 1929 as the convent, boarding school and high school. This was the first Brigidine convent in Brisbane and as such contributes to the history of the Catholic Church in Brisbane. [Brisbane Heritage Register]

The Holy Family Church Presbytery was built in 1927 and was designed by prominent Brisbane architects Hall and Prentice. The timber presbytery was designed to be incorporated within the Catholic precinct that included the Church of the Holy Family, primary school and the Brigidine Convent. The building shares design features with the (former) Church of the Holy Family, built one year earlier. The Presbytery is important in demonstrating the introduction of a Catholic presence in Indooroopilly in the interwar period. [Brisbane Heritage Register]

Indooroopilly State High School (established in 1954) is important in demonstrating the evolution of state education and its associated architecture in Queensland. The place retains excellent, representative examples of standard government designs (constructed 1953-59) that were architectural responses to prevailing government educational philosophies, set in landscaped grounds with sporting facilities. [Queensland Heritage Register]

One of the earliest golf courses developed in Brisbane. [Brisbane Heritage Register]

The Thomas Park Bougainvillea Gardens, located on Harts Road, Indooroopilly, in Brisbane, were created as a large residential garden by landowner, Henry Thomas from about 1900. For four decades the gardens were a tourist attraction, bringing visitors from throughout Australia and overseas to see their spectacular display of bougainvilleas in flower. During the almost 60 years that Thomas tended the gardens he bred a number of bougainvillea cultivars, which were displayed there. Converted to a park after 1958, the garden’s plan and many of its plants are retained and comprise a good example of a large urban-residential garden from the Federation period. [Queensland Heritage Register]

‘Ross Roy’ was constructed in 1897 to a design by Claude W. Chambers, as a residence for tea merchant Daniel Collings and family. Passed to the Munros around 1910, it was given its current name and used as the family residence as well as the setting for several charitable functions. The house, with six acres of land, was sold to the United Evangelical Lutheran Church in 1945 and repurposed as a secondary Lutheran school. The Langer chapel, designed by important and influential architect Karl Langer, was built for the school in 1967-8. Both buildings have continued to be used by the St Peter’s Lutheran College, which has grown to become the largest co-educational Lutheran school in Australia. [Brisbane Heritage Register]

The Chapel of St Peter’s Lutheran College, Indooroopilly, constructed in 1968, is important in demonstrating the growth and changing practices of Christian liturgies in Queensland between the 1950s and the 1970s, in particular of the Lutheran church, a religious denomination of importance in Queensland since 1838. The chapel in its setting is a strong symbolic gesture embodying the essence of Lutheran education with theology (the chapel) visually linked to learning (the library). The chapel is important in demonstrating the strong influence of European modernist architecture in Queensland. As a highly intact modernist church, the chapel is important in representing modernist ecclesiastical architecture in Queensland during a period of significant re-evaluation and modernisation of Christian religions worldwide. [Queensland Heritage Register]

One of the earliest villa residences in the Indooroopilly area, and a dignified example of 1870s design, the house and its setting provide a glimpse into the way of life of Brisbane’s professional and business families. In addition to its elegant exterior form, the house displays craftsmanship and detailing of a high standard including its cedar joinery and other interior decoration. Its appeal is enhanced by the retention of almost 5000 square metres of landscaped grounds which are free from urban intrusion. Greylands was the home of Graham Lloyd Hart, founder of law firm Flower & Hart which has been prominent in Brisbane legal circles since the 1870s. That this was the location of Vida Lahey’s much admired painting of women working in the laundry, Monday Morning, adds social import to the house. [Queensland Heritage Register]

St Andrew’s church hall was built in 1889 on half an acre of land, as the Indooroopilly Church of England Sunday School. Indooroopilly was originally included in the Parish of Toowong when it was formed in 1870. St Andrew’s Church Hall is important in demonstrating the pattern of Queensland’s history in particular the expansion of the Anglican Church in Brisbane in the late nineteenth century and the development of the Indooroopilly parish and the practice of erecting timber buildings as temporary structures until a masonry church could be erected as a permanent structure. [Queensland Heritage Register]

This large residence was built circa 1888 for notable architect Henry Hunter who was also responsible for its design. It’s construction and design is representative of the diverse residential development of Indooroopilly that occurred during the late nineteenth century and the desirability of the area among professional middle class  residents. Henry’s son Walter obtained title to the property only a couple of years later, renting it out to various tenants for more than 20 years. Since he sold the house in 1919, it has had a number of different owners. [Brisbane Heritage Register]

Henry Hunter, who was one of Tasmania’s most important architects from the 1860s to 1880s. When moved to Brisbane he established the architectural firm with Leslie Gordon Corrie.

Tighnabruaich, overlooking the Brisbane River at Indooroopilly, was constructed c1889 as the home of Henry Charles Stanley, Chief Engineer for Railways in Queensland. The house in its garden setting remains comparatively intact and a good example of a well-designed 19th century middle-class villa. The property is significant for its association with allied interrogation of prisoners of war during World War II and, during the second half of the 20th century, as the showcase residence of officers commanding the Australian Army in Queensland. [Queensland Heritage Register]

Requisitioned in 1942, the site became the Australian headquarters of the Allied Translator and Interpreter Service (ATIS). Japanese and German POWs were brought here for interrogation prior to imprisonment in the southern states. The military purchased the site in 1945. In 1951 it became the Northern Command Provost Company’s barracks. There was a change of name from Indooroopilly Barracks to Witton Barracks during the 1980s. [Brisbane Heritage Register]

Albert Bridge at Indooroopilly is significant as an early, large span metal truss bridge in Australia, and remains the country’s third longest span metal truss bridge. At the time of construction, Albert Bridge was the largest bridge in Australia to be manufactured locally. The Bridge was constructed in 1894-95. It is the second Albert Bridge on the site, replacing an earlier 1876 structure which was washed away in the floods of 1893. Both bridges were named in honour of the Prince of Wales, Prince Albert. [Queensland Heritage Register]

Walter Taylor Bridge is a rare Florianópolis-type bridge, and the only one of its kind in Australia. It also has rarity value as Australia’s longest span suspension bridge, and is significant for its unusual incorporation of residential accommodation into the bridge structure. The bridge was constructed in 1932-36 as a private enterprise. [Queensland Heritage Register]

A ferry ramp had been in use at this site since 1875 and the present remnants are thought to date from the mid 1920s. The ferry service was an important component in communication between Indooroopilly and Chelmer until the completion of the Walter Taylor Road bridge in 1936. [Brisbane Heritage Register]

The Nudgee Junior College at Indooroopilly was blessed and opened on 10 July 1938 by Archbishop Duhig. It was built to ease the boarding accommodation shortage at Nudgee College on the north of Brisbane. During World War II, the Junior College was taken over by the United States military and the US Army Station Hospital – the 153rd was established on the site in April 1942. Since the 1950s, the school has had various alterations and additions and in 1994, the boarding was relocated to Nudgee Senior College and Nudgee Junior became a day school. [Brisbane Heritage Register]

This substantial residence was built circa 1886-1888 for Justin Fox Greenlaw Foxton (1849-1916), notable Queensland politician, barrister and soldier. It provides evidence of the development of Indooroopilly as an elite, riverside, residential suburb of Brisbane in the late nineteenth century. [Brisbane Heritage Register]

‘Woodville’ is a brick nineteenth-century house built by early Indooroopilly resident Samuel Dart. Situated at the top of a hill originally facing Moggill Road, Woodville characterises the growth of wealth and prosperity in the Indooroopilly area in the late nineteenth century. Built between 1886 and 1889, Woodville was initially home to Samuel Dart between 1889 and 1900, then again between 1921 and 1932. Woodville also has associations with Raymond Arthur Dart, Samuel’s son and important anthropologist and anatomist. [Brisbane Heritage Register]

This former rectory was part of the establishment of the Indooroopilly Methodist Church and provided a residence for local minister Rev. Alex Hutchison from 1914 until 1934. The former rectory is opposite and visually related to, the former Methodist Church (now the Uniting Church) which was opened in 1917 at 80 Station Rd. For a number of decades the building was used as a private residence but is now owned by Queensland Health. [Brisbane Heritage Register]

Did you know that this is probably the only church with the ANZAC name? That’s because the foundation stone was inscribed before the government intervened in 1916 and added a regulation under the War Precautions Act to restrict the use of the term.
BCC: “This beautiful brick church was built in 1917 as the Anzac Memorial Methodist Church, in commemoration of those who lost their lives in the ill-fated Gallipoli Campaign. Prior to the construction of this church, an earlier Wesleyan Methodist Church was built in the area around 1891, on the corner of Moggill Road and Rylatt Street.” [Brisbane Heritage Register]

Did you know that Indooroopilly Shoppingtown was the biggest shopping centre in the Southern Hemisphere when opened in 1970? “Chermside Drive-in Shopping Centre was opened in 1957. This was the first of its kind in Australia and allowed shoppers to drive to the suburban shopping centre, park with ease and do their shopping. It heralded a new way for Brisbane residents to shop. Westfield acquired more than 60 properties at Indooroopilly and swiftly demolished houses to make way for Indooroopilly Shopping Centre. On its opening in 1970, the new complex consisted of a department store and more than 250 specialty stores. It was declared to be the largest in the southern hemisphere at the time.”

 By the end of the 19th Century, the semi-rural pocket known as Indooroopilly was transforming into a bustling village. The large estates of the wealthy were subdivided and sold to those belonging to professional and ‘artisan classes’, who wished to establish homes away from the crowded inner-city areas. Before Indooroopilly Shopping Centre was built, this stretch of Station Road was the suburb’s commercial centre. [Brisbane City Council brochure]

On the corner of Westminster and Station Roads once stood Stamford Hall – the centre for Indooroopilly residents’ social life throughout the first half of the 20th Century. Its frontage was to Station Road, beside it was the large Stamford Hotel and on the triangle of road in front of the hall, stood the Indooroopilly War Memorial. [Brisbane City Council brochure]

Although this hotel is known today as the Indooroopilly Hotel, when first built in 1884, it was named the Stamford Hotel and was situated within the recently subdivided housing estate, the Stamford Estate. The hotel was designed by one of Brisbane’s most celebrated architects from this era, Richard Gailey. The Stamford Hotel underwent extensive changes in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Today, it remains a major landmark in Indooroopilly. [Brisbane City Council brochure]

This residence on Westminster Road, Indooroopilly, was constructed in about the 1890s as the home of Louis Stamm, a Brisbane based business man. The building is thought to have been designed by prominent local architect, Richard Gailey. The building was last occupied as a residence in c.1999. Louis Stamm, who later built the residence on Westminster Road, purchased a 42 acre block at Indooroopilly on 21 April 1873 only two years before the opening of a railway station at Indooroopilly. He subdivided the Indooroopilly property in 1875, the year that train services were established, and land was sold from this original allotment during the next twenty years encouraging further growth of the suburb [Queensland Heritage Register]

 The award-winning former Jacobi House, built in 1958, is an excellent example of an innovative house of the 1950s. Designed by significant and influential Brisbane architects Hayes and Scott, it represents a radical departure from traditional Queensland housing styles and materials using simple stylistic elements and new ‘modern’ materials while responding to the dictates of climate and site. [Brisbane Heritage Register]