<p>Redlands is a heritage-listed villa at 154 Stephen Street, Toowoomba, Toowoomba Region, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by architect James Marks and built from 1889 to. It is also known as Concordia College Administration Centre. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 October 1992.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>Redlands, a two-storeyed brick residence, was designed by Toowoomba architect James Marks and built by Henry Andrews in 1889 for Edmund Wilcox, a merchant and prominent citizen of Toowoomba. Redlands was originally built on about 28 acres of land near the Drayton Road, approximately 1? miles from Toowoomba.</p><br>
<p>Wilcox received his early business training with the firm of Messrs Cribb and Foote of Ipswich and with Holberton&#39;s of Toowoomba. Later, Wilcox together with his brother Robert founded the firm Wilcox Brothers merchants, located in Ruthven Street for a number of years. Wilcox Brothers eventually sold out to Messrs Laidlaw and Peak.</p><br>
<p>The outbuildings originally included a 3-stalled stable, harness room, carpenters shop, two bedrooms, fodder room, coach house and hay loft; battened fowl house, piggery, and cow pens, to accommodate Wilcoxs interest in farming pursuits as a hobby at Redlands.</p><br>
<p>The foundations of Redlands are reputedly of local bluestone, the bricks supplied by the local brick and tile company, the glass by Exton and Gough of Brisbane, and the iron railing for the balcony and cresting by the Toowoomba Foundry. Redlands is said to still have the original corrugated iron roof which was imported from England and which bears the stamp of its producer on every sheet.</p><br>
<p>The avenue of Norfolk and Bunya pines lining the approach to Redlands was planted when the house was constructed. It is thought that Wilcox also created the "teardrop" garden at the front of the building, complete with fountain, at around the same time. The original fountain has since been replaced.</p><br>
<p>In 1919, some time after his retirement, Wilcox sold Redlands to Dr Alexander Horn. In 1921 Redlands was sold to Mr Edward Farmer, a grazier. In 1945 the Lutheran Church resolved to purchase Redlands from Farmer&#39;s widow, for a sum of approximately ₤5000.</p><br>
<p>In 1946 Redlands was dedicated as Concordia Lutheran College, a co-educational Lutheran Boarding School.</p><br>
<p>Since the establishment of Concordia College, Redlands has served a number of purposes including a residence for the first Headmaster and his family, offices and other uses associated with the College. A major building program commenced in the 1960s with the addition of several school buildings in the grounds of the College. Redlands is presently used as the central administration block for the College.</p><br>
<h2>Description</h2><br>
<p>Redlands, a two-storeyed brick building, is located on a level site facing a formal garden and is approached via a long avenue of mature pine trees to the north. The building has a U-shaped hipped corrugated iron roof with a central valley, paired eave brackets and verandahs on the east, north and west with unlined curved corrugated iron awnings.</p><br>
<p>The symmetrical north elevation has a projecting double storeyed porch, with a flight of stone steps, surmounted by a cross. The verandahs have timber posts with cast iron balustrade, brackets and valance. The northeast and northwest corners of the ground floor verandahs have decorative coloured glass and pressed metal screens and infill panels.</p><br>
<p>The building has Flemish bond brickwork with painted quoining, step-out sash bay windows on the ground floor and a central arched entry to the north with stained glass fanlight and sidelights. The first floor also has a central entry of French doors with stained glass inserts, featuring painted birds, fanlight and sidelights. The south elevation has been cement rendered.</p><br>
<p>Internally, the building has a central hall with a carved cedar staircase at the south. The ground floor has rendered walls, elaborate pressed metal ceilings of varying designs and cedar joinery. The northwest room has a black marble fireplace surround with hand painted tiles depicting birds. The northeast room has a white marble fireplace surround and other rooms have carved timber surrounds, all with painted tiles. The foyer has an arched internal doorway with patterned glass fanlight and sidelights. The first floor has papered walls, panelled or boarded ceilings and cedar joinery.</p><br>
<p>The formal garden to the north forms a turning circle and consists of a central fountain, flagpole, hedge border, garden beds in the form of the school&#39;s initials and areas of lawn.</p><br>
<p>A covered path links the building to a more recent classroom and staff block immediately to the south. Other school buildings built since the late 1950s, predominantly of two-storeyed brick, are built to the east, south and west. Playing fields are located either side of the entrance drive to the north, leaving the building&#39;s northern outlook open.</p><br>
<h2>Heritage listing</h2><br>
<p>Redlands was listed on the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 October 1992 having satisfied the following criteria.</p><br>
<p>The place is important in demonstrating the evolution or pattern of Queensland&#39;s history.</p><br>
<p>Redlands, erected in 1889, is important in demonstrating the pattern of Queenslands history, in particular the pattern of Toowoombas growth during the late 1880s.</p><br>
<p>The place is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a particular class of cultural places.</p><br>
<p>It is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a large, late 1880s residence.</p><br>
<p>The place is important because of its aesthetic significance.</p><br>
<p>It is important in exhibiting a range of aesthetic characteristics valued by the Toowoomba community, in particular the decorative composition of the building&#39;s facade; the quality and craftsmanship of the cedar joinery, pressed metal ceilings, marble fireplace surrounds and stained glass; and the formal layout of the building, north garden and avenue of pine trees and their contribution to the streetscape of Stephen Street and to the Toowoomba townscape.</p><br>
<p>The place has a strong or special association with a particular community or cultural group for social, cultural or spiritual reasons.</p><br>
<p>Redlands has a strong association with the development of the Concordia College, as the college&#39;s original building and site of dedication.</p><br>
<p>The place has a special association with the life or work of a particular person, group or organisation of importance in Queensland&#39;s history.</p><br>
<p>It has a special association with the life of prominent Toowoomba businessman Edmund Wilcox; and with Toowoomba architect James Marks as a major example of his residential work.</p><br>
<p>68 Stephen Street is a heritage-listed cottage in South Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia. It is one of the earliest surviving dwellings in Toowoomba, the land having been part of one of the first subdivisions when the town was developed. It was built by the mid-1860s for Charles Taylor, who was described in his will as a "well-sinker", and was constructed using laterite, an uncommon material in Toowoomba buildings.</p><br>
<p>The building was originally recorded as being a single-storey four-room stone cottage. The original calico ceilings were lined in the 1910s and the exterior of the cottage was rendered at about this time. A new bathroom, and kitchen/dining area appears to have been added to the rear of the cottage during the 1920s. A toilet and laundry block has also been added at the rear of the cottage. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 20 February 1995.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>Records indicate that this single-storeyed stone cottage was erected by the mid-1860s, replacing an earlier timber building. Erected on part of Portion 46, initially an area of 27 acres acquired by William Shuttlewood and Charles Taylor during the late 1850s, it survives as evidence of the development of Toowoomba from this time.</p><br>
<p>Settlement of the area commenced at Drayton in the early 1840s, Thomas Alford opening a general store in 1843. In the same year, residents of Drayton petitioned the Governor to form a township at Drayton, and a survey of the town was prepared in 1849. In laying out Drayton, Government Surveyor James Charles Burnett was also instructed to mark out suburban allotments for garden and agricultural purposes; his ideal site for the "Drayton Swamp Agricultural Reserve" was an area approximately three to four miles northeast of Drayton where two swampy creeks joined to form the headwaters of Gowrie Creek. The reason for Burnett&#39;s selection of this area has been attributed to an incident whereby Shuttlewood, a timber-getter then living in Drayton, was one of two men sent by William Horton to cut reeds from the nearby swamp, and who upon returning to Drayton, had gossiped... about the potential of the area and been overheard by Burnett. The Agricultural Reserve included 12 allotments bounded by the left bank of the west swamp, and the present Bridge, West and Stephen streets.</p><br>
<p>Six of the 12 "Swamp allotments" were first offered at auction in November 1849, however not all the allotments were sold until 1853 at which time Shuttlewood acquired Suburban Allotment One (SA 1), the southernmost of the Swamp allotments. Further allotments at the Swamp were surveyed in 1856. Portion 46, described as a Suburban Farm, located parallel to, and on the southern side of Shuttlewood&#39;s SA 1, was acquired in July 1858 by Shuttlewood and Taylor.</p><br>
<p>By late 1857, the name "Toowoomba" had gradually taken over from "The Swamp", as the town continued to expand. At the time of its incorporation into a municipality in November 1860, Toowoomba had well outgrown Drayton. Shuttlewood appears to have been actively involved in the development of Toowoomba, in matters including the establishment of the boundaries of the town (possibly because his major land purchases were situated in the vicinity of the proposed southern boundary). In January 1861, Shuttlewood was one of nine aldermen elected to the first municipal council of Toowoomba. Following Shuttlewood&#39;s death in 1894, he was described as...one of the first to arrive in Toowoomba and take up his residence here. From the earliest period of its existence he has known the town and has watched its growth and development.... he took a very prominent interest in all pertaining to the welfare of the district.</p><br>
<p>Little is recorded about Taylor. He appears to have been acquiring land at The Swamp during the 1850s. In 1857, Taylor acquired from Shuttlewood, the western half (15 acres) of SA 1, opposite Portion 46. Taylors name appears immediately below Shuttlewoods on a petition published in the local newspaper in 1859. Taylor&#39;s will described him as a well-sinker of Stephen Street.</p><br>
<p>Shuttlewood and Taylor entered into a Deed of Partition in November 1859, at which time Taylor acquired sub A of portion 46, the western portion of the allotment. Although there are no further references to Shuttlewood in the title documents pertaining to this land, rates records refer to Shuttlewood as the "owner" of the property until the mid 1860s during which period there appears to have been an earlier building on the land, described as a slab and shingle house.</p><br>
<p>Taylor took out a mortgage on the land in February 1866; according to the mortgage documents, the money was used to subdivide the land. Although money was taken for 26 of the 31 allotments auctioned in April that year, not all purchases were paid in full at that time. A deposit was paid on the allotment on which the cottage is located by James Jennings, whose name is recorded in the rate books for the property for 1868-69. Jennings however, does not appear to have ever paid the final balance due on the land.</p><br>
<p>A new building appears to have been erected by the late 1860s, at which time rates records refer to a four-room stone cottage. The stone used for the construction of the cottage has been identified as laterite, a reddish rock material rich in iron and aluminium oxides which is produced through the processes of weathering. Laterite, a soft and easily cut material when quarried, dries and hardens with exposure to the atmosphere, forming an extremely durable brick. Extensive deposits of Laterite, which typically occurs in humid, tropical conditions as well as some drier areas, are found in Toowoomba, including visible deposits at the top of the "Old Toll Bar Road" on the east escarpment of the Main Range. Although no comprehensive survey of stone buildings has been undertaken to establish how many, if any, other dwellings constructed of laterite are extant in Toowoomba, it is considered that this is an uncommon building in Toowoomba.</p><br>
<p>Taylor died in June 1866, and Samuel George Stephens and Thomas Perkins were appointed as Trustees. The resolution of Taylor&#39;s estate was a complex process, and was not finalised until 1902, when the estate was bought under the provisions of the Real Property Act. Rate records indicate continuing occupancy of the cottage during this period from the 1860s to the 1900s, although it is unclear as to the claim the persons being rated may have had on the property. Sale of the allotments on the estate commenced in 1903.</p><br>
<p>The allotment on which the cottage is located was acquired by Ellen Clubley in 1903, and has continued to change hands a number of times. The ceilings, originally calico, were lined during the early 1910s, and the exterior of the cottage was rendered at about this time. A new bathroom, and kitchen/dining area appears to have been added to the rear of the cottage during the 1920s. A toilet and laundry block has also been added at the rear of the cottage. (The cottage was acquired by the present owners in 1975).</p><br>
<h2>Description</h2><br>
<p>68 Stephen Street, a small single-storeyed rendered laterite stone cottage with a steeply pitched hipped corrugated iron roof, is located fronting Stephen Street to the north.</p><br>
<p>The symmetrical northern street facade has a verandah with a corrugated iron skillion awning supported by timber posts, with a timber floor and batten balustrade. The central entry has a timber framed door with glass panels, and is flanked by a sash window to either side. There is a single brick chimney stack on the eastern side, and the building has timber sash windows with arched headers. The laterite stone has been rendered and painted, but the southwest corner wall exhibits evidence of stone coursing and the rough pitted surface of the laterite stone. The walls display large bulges and variation and texture. A timber addition is attached to the rear of the building, and consists of a corrugated iron gabled roofed structure with another timber free standing structure to the south.</p><br>
<p>Internally, the plan consists of four rooms with a central rear foyer. Walls are rendered and painted laterite stone, and display large bulges and variation in texture. The building has boarded ceilings, narrow skirtings, and doors have timber frames. The northeast room has a large fireplace with recessed storage boxes either side, and the floors consist of boards with carpet over.</p><br>
<p>The rear addition contains a kitchen and bathroom, with an early recessed stove and a terrazzo bath and basin. The walls and ceilings are lined with hardboard sheeting with timber cover strips. The rear structure contains a laundry and toilet.</p><br>
<p>A driveway is located on the western side of the house, accessing the rear of the property.</p><br>
<h2>Heritage listing</h2><br>
<p>The Cottage at 68 Stephen Street was listed on the Queensland Heritage Register on 20 February 1995 having satisfied the following criteria.</p><br>
<p>The place is important in demonstrating the evolution or pattern of Queensland&#39;s history.</p><br>
<p>The cottage survives as one of the earliest dwellings in Toowoomba, and is important in demonstrating the evolution of Toowoomba from an agricultural reserve to an important municipal centre, from the 1850s.</p><br>
<p>The place demonstrates rare, uncommon or endangered aspects of Queensland&#39;s cultural heritage.</p><br>
<p>The stone building, an uncommon example of a Toowoomba dwelling constructed of laterite, also represents an unusual use of laterite as a building material in Queensland.</p><br>
<p>Located in one of Toowoomba&#39;s earliest residential subdivisions, the cottage is important in demonstrating unusual 1860s methods of design and construction and makes an aesthetic contribution to the Stephen Street streetscape.</p><br>
<p>The place is important because of its aesthetic significance.</p><br>
<p>Located in one of Toowoomba&#39;s earliest residential subdivisions, the cottage is important in demonstrating unusual 1860s methods of design and construction and makes an aesthetic contribution to the Stephen Street streetscape.</p><br>
<p>Defiance Flour Mill is a heritage-listed mill at 269-291 Ruthven Street, Toowoomba, Toowoomba Region, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by Toowoomba architect William Hodgen and built in 1911 by WT Smith. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 26 February 2002.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The Defiance Flour Mill is located in Ruthven Street on a prominent site adjacent to the Toowoomba Foundry and the Toowoomba Railway Station. The company was established in 1898 by Patrick O&#39;Brien and his wife Ellen, in partnership with George Crisp from Dominion Mill, and initially operated from premises in Russell Street prior to moving to the present site in Ruthven Street in 1899.</p><br>
<p>European discovery of the Darling Downs occurred in 1828 when Allan Cunningham provided a route through the Great Dividing Range which separated the Darling Downs from the Moreton Bay region. In 1840, Patrick Leslie became the first settler on the Downs, quickly followed by others and in 1842, a more accessible route through the Range was opened. Drayton evolved from a stopping place for those reaching the top of the Range, although by 1848 water shortages prompted moves to The Swamp, which was renamed Toowoomba in 1858. From the 1860s Toowoomba prospered as a regional centre with the establishment of many industries.</p><br>
<p>Patrick and Ellen OBrien were both Irish migrants who were married at St Patricks Church in Toowoomba in 1884. They established a produce and grocery store in Russell Street, near the Dominion Flour Mill which was managed by George Crisp. Crisp, who had migrated to Queensland in 1887, was an experienced miller and had also worked in other mills on the Darling Downs.</p><br>
<p>By 1898, the OBriens produce store had developed into a successful business. They decided to finance a new flour mill in Toowoomba and entered into an equal partnership with Crisp, who became the manager and miller. At this stage, there were six other flour mills established on the Downs. Most of these were small operations using steam or water mills. In contrast, the Toowoomba Chronicle described the new Defiance Mill in Russell Street, which was designed by Toowoomba architects Marks & Sons as being "fitted with the latest machinery from England and America by the celebrated firm of Thos. Robinson & Son Ltd, Rockdale England, capable of turning out 16 tons of flour in 24 hours".</p><br>
<p>By November 1901, business had substantially increased and the Defiance Milling Company purchased the former Gisler&#39;s mill in Ruthven Street. Crisp maintained management of both mills, with one of the Gisler brothers remaining as miller-in-charge at the Ruthven Street mill. Further expansion occurred in 1902 when Defiance purchased another a mill in the Fortitude Valley, Brisbane.</p><br>
<p>In 1906 Patrick O’Brien died at the age of 63, leaving Ellen at 48 with 10 children between the ages of 4 and 22, a thriving milling business to run, as well as the grocery shop. Following Patrick OBriens death, his wife Ellen continued to manage the business. Although Patrick had accumulated an impressive estate which included city properties, the mills and the store, Ellen required funding assistance to purchase wheat for the following seasons milling. Raising money became Ellens responsibility from this stage on as "Crisp would have nothing to do with humiliating activities".</p><br>
<p>In 1911, a new milling building was erected on the Ruthven Street site. Designed by Toowoomba architect William Hodgen and built by WT Smith, it comprised a four storeyed brick building which was reportedly substantially damaged by fire less than two years later. The rebuilt building forms the core of the present site. New grain sheds equipped with handling machinery and a storage capacity of 28,000 bags were constructed to the north of the mill building in 1914.</p><br>
<p>Crisps involvement in Defiance ended following the First World War when he sold his share to Ellen prior to retiring to Tasmania with his wife and daughter. The mill was then managed by Thomas Patrick, one of Ellen and Patricks ten children. He was an experienced miller and upon discovering that the mill was in debt, set about producing the highest quality flour to become more competitive with other mills. Quality was a continuing passion, and Thomas often personally selected wheat directly from the farmers, even after the establishment of the Wheat Board in 1920.</p><br>
<p>In 1923, the Brisbane Valley mill was sold, and the Dalby Mill was acquired. The business continued to prosper and remained a family-owned business until 1955 when the Defiance Milling Company Pty Ltd was formed with Thomas Patrick as Governing Director, sister Ellen McCafferty and brother EF OBrien as Directors, and brother PW OBrien as Manager.</p><br>
<p>The 1960s saw much change and development in the flour milling business, largely due to the establishment of English-based company, George Weston Foods in Australia. This brought about greater competition for flour sales, and the development of pre-mixed products for bakeries. In the late 1960s, Defiance constructed a mill at Rockhampton to protect their North Queensland business from other millers who were developing into the region. The 1960s also saw the construction of the first of the silos which now dominate the Ruthven Street site.</p><br>
<p>Following the death of TP O&#39;Brien in 1969, the Directors decided to consolidate the shareholdings of the company. In 1975, Defiance Holdings Pty Ltd was converted to an unlisted public company named Defiance Holdings Ltd, and the company was floated as a listed public company known as Defiance Mills Ltd in 1976. During this stage, the Ruthven Street site underwent a full remodelling.</p><br>
<p>Further expansion was made with the construction of a Melbourne mill to supply southern states, and by 1987 the fully owned mills at Toowoomba, Brisbane and Rockhampton, and the fifty percent owned Dalby mill were producing just over half of all the flour manufactured in Queensland, as well as soya bean and rye products.</p><br>
<p>The main building, originally constructed in 1911 continues to function as a flour mill, with most of the flour now used in other products produced by the mill such as pre-mixed cake and bread mixes. The remainder of the site comprises the pre-mix factory, the retail factory and the office.</p><br>
<h2>Description</h2><br>
<p>The Defiance Flour Mill site is bounded by Ruthven Street on the eastern side, the Toowoomba Foundry on the northern side, the Toowoomba Railway Station on the western side and a laneway on the southern side. The site forms an integral part of the industrial streetscape of the northern end of Ruthven Street and has landmark qualities from both the western and eastern sides.</p><br>
<p>The main entrance to the site is from Ruthven Street, with the 1911 mill building flanked by two face brick buildings on the northern side and three face brick buildings on the southern side.</p><br>
<p>The mill building is constructed of load bearing brick construction and the brick is laid in English bond. It is a three-storey gable roofed building, with the gable end addressing Ruthven Street. This elevation is divided into two bays with pilasters at each end and in the centre. Each storey has a pair of timber double hung windows with painted concrete lintels which run the width of each bay. The words Defiance Milling Co. and Est. 1898 are painted on the gable end.</p><br>
<p>The northern and southern elevations are also divided into bays by engaged pilasters. Timber framed double hung windows with shallow brick arches are located within each bay on each level. The roof is of corrugated iron with regularly spaced transparent fibreglass panels on either side. Five ventilators are located along the ridge. Internally, the mill building has undergone alterations to accommodate new equipment. It still functions as a flour mill over three levels, with an original set of stairs at the eastern end.</p><br>
<p>The buildings on either side of the mill are also of face brick, with timber framed windows and painted concrete lintels. Each building has a regular fenestration pattern, although they vary from building to building. The office building to the north of the mill has a more ornamented facade than the other buildings on the site with a simply moulded parapet and string course, and glazed bricks surrounding the windows. The windows of this, and the adjacent building also feature shallow brick arches above the windows. The rear of these buildings are sheeted with fibro and have corrugated iron roofs. Most internal areas in the office buildings have undergone major alterations, with little evidence of original fabric surviving.</p><br>
<p>To the south of the mill building are the retail and pre-mix factories. They are constructed of a combination of metal and timber frames, with corrugated iron cladding to the rear and side elevations and saw-tooth roofs.</p><br>
<p>Apart from a small landscaped area between the rear entrances of the offices and mill building, the site is sealed. Groups of large storage silos are located at either end of the site and more recent storage buildings are located at the rear of the site.</p><br>
<p>The northern end of the site contains timber framed corrugated iron clad building which originally formed part of the adjacent Toowoomba Foundry site.</p><br>
<h2>Heritage listing</h2><br>
<p>Defiance Flour Mill was listed on the Queensland Heritage Register on 26 February 2002 having satisfied the following criteria.</p><br>
<p>The place is important in demonstrating the evolution or pattern of Queensland&#39;s history.</p><br>
<p>Established in Toowoomba in 1898 the Defiance Flour Mill is important in demonstrating the evolution of Queensland&#39;s history as an example of an early and continually operating flour industry.</p><br>
<p>The place is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a particular class of cultural places.</p><br>
<p>The Ruthven Street site has undergone expansion and development reflecting the evolution of flour milling technology. It demonstrates the principal characteristics of an operational industrial site which has evolved over about 90 years with an early central core. The main 1911 milling building demonstrates the principal characteristics of an early 20th century industrial building. The site is located adjacent to the Toowoomba Foundry and demonstrates the development of the northern end of Ruthven Street as an industrial precinct in close proximity to the Toowoomba Railway Station.</p><br>
<p>The place is important because of its aesthetic significance.</p><br>
<p>The place has aesthetic significance and is a landmark, both from Ruthven Street and from the western side of the Toowoomba Railway Station. The 1911 mill building is of architectural significance as a well composed early industrial building.</p><br>
<p>The place has a strong or special association with a particular community or cultural group for social, cultural or spiritual reasons.</p><br>
<p>Established over 100 years ago in Toowoomba, the Defiance Flour Mill has strong associations for past and present employees, and for the local community.</p><br>
<p>The place has a special association with the life or work of a particular person, group or organisation of importance in Queensland&#39;s history.</p><br>
<p>The place is also readily identifiable with a renowned Queensland product, Defiance flour.</p><br>
<h2>Awards</h2><br>
<p>In 2015, Ellen O&#39;Brien and Defiance Flour were inducted into the Queensland Business Leaders Hall of Fame. Family owned and run for nearly a century and four generations, Defiance Flour became a business with national and international standing, underpinned by innovation, customer care and a loyal workforce.</p><br>
<p>The Exchange Building is a heritage-listed commercial building at 245-253 Margaret Street, Toowoomba City, Toowoomba, Toowoomba Region, Queensland, Australia. It consists of two storeys, with a row of four shops on the first floor with office space above. It was built by 1905, and designed by Toowoomba architect Harry Marks. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 27 October 2000, and is considered significant for its aesthetic contribution to the streetscape of Margaret Street, for its status as surviving evidence of the early development of the commercial centre of Toowoomba, and for its association with Marks. As of February 2013, it was tenanted by a number of shops facing Margaret Street, with offices on the second floor.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The Exchange Building is a two storeyed row of 4 brick shops, constructed by at least July 1905 to a design by prominent Toowoomba architectural firm, J Marks and Son.</p><br>
<p>The Darling Downs was settled by European pastoralists in search of rich grazing land and by the 1840s. The first township which evolved to support these stations was Drayton, west of Toowoomba. However the success of Drayton did not last. The site now known as Toowoomba was eventually considered to be in a more suitable location for access down the range and in 1852, a town survey was secured. The establishment of a new town was strongly supported by the squatters and Toowoomba challenged Brisbane as the new capital of Queensland. Although this status was not achieved, the town rapidly developed and by the 1860s had become the centre of pastoral development on the Downs.</p><br>
<p>As Toowoomba developed a commercial centre emerged in the blocks bounded by Russell, Ruthven and Margaret Streets and the construction of a police station and post office near the Toowoomba Court House (1877) firmly established the upper end of Margaret Street as a government precinct. By the 1890s the Russell, Ruthven, and Margaret Street block was pre-eminent as the commercial centre of Toowoomba.</p><br>
<p>Born and trained in Toowoomba, Harry Marks had entered into partnership with his father James, in 1892. James had commenced practice as an architect in Toowoomba by the early 1880s, and he and Harry have been described as dominating the architectural profession for more than half a century. Although Harry Marks was responsible for designing a number of buildings on both the Darling Downs and in Brisbane, much of his work was in Toowoomba where he designed a variety of buildings including Rodway, St James Parish Hall, and St Luke&#39;s Church Hall, additions to the Toowoomba Maltings, and the Darling Downs Co-operative Bacon Factory. Marks was also described as being gifted with inventive genius, and he devised and patented a number of architectural elements, including roof ventilators, windows and a method of stucco wall construction.</p><br>
<p>The Deed of Grant for the land on which the Exchange Building was to be constructed was issued to William Handcock on 11 May 1854. Title to the property was transferred to Thomas George Robinson in April 1877. T. G. Robinson arrived in Toowoomba in 1859. He established himself as a stock and land salesman in 1860 under the firm name of T. G. Robinson and Co. He was elected as a local alderman at a by-election in 1864 and served as Mayor of Toowoomba in 1865, but did not seek re-election. T. G. Robinson was connected with various progressive movements for advancement of the town and was instrumental in introducing stud stock to the town. T. G. Robinsons son, William Richard, was also involved with his fathers business, taking over as sole proprietor following his father&#39;s death.</p><br>
<p>Following T. G. Robinsons death in 1883, title passed to Frederick Hurrell Holberton in August 1884. Holbertons wife was the aunt of prominent Toowoomba architect, William Hodgen. Hodgen designed the Holberton&#39;s residence, "Tor"), in 1904. Title transferred to James Holmes Robertson in December 1897 and, following his death in July 1904, Transmission by Death was issued to James Campbell Robertson, the third surviving child of James Holmes Robertson, Gordon Holmes Robertson, a minor born on 20 February 1885 and Robert George Wonderly, on 15 July 1904. Robert George Wonderly was the son of Joseph Wonderly, Mayor of Toowoomba from 1868-1869.</p><br>
<p>It was during the time of James Campbell Robertson&#39;s ownership, that the Exchange Building was extended. It was built by at least July 1905, as, at this time, J. Marks and Son, called for tenders for additions to No. 1 Exchange Buildings, Margaret Street.</p><br>
<p>James Campbell Robertson, stockbroker and soldier was born in Toowoomba in 1878. Following a distinguished military career, Robertson returned to Toowoomba where he set up a very successful stockbroking business. In 1936 he passed over the management of the firm to his son, Aylmer, resuming control again in 1939, when Aylmer was appointed to the 2/25th Battalion, AIF. Robertson died in Toowoomba in January 1951.</p><br>
<p>J. C. Robertson first appears in the Post Office Directories in 1929. He is listed as "JC Robertson, Stock and Share Broker". Street numbering appears in Margaret Street in 1931. At this time those listed at 249 Margaret Street are Hertzberg & Co (AM) Merchants; Downs Mercantile Finance Company Ltd; JC Robertson; Ocean Acct Corporate Ltd and GP Jackson, a jeweller and ironmonger.</p><br>
<p>Title for the property passed to Isabella Wonderly, wife of Robert George Wonderly, on 10 December 1905. Isabella held title to the property until her death in August 1956. Isabella leased the site to Robertson & Provan Pty Ltd. The terms were for five years from 2 June 1941. Provan & Co were booksellers in Toowoomba. However, Provan & Co remained at their offices at 403 Ruthven Street from 1942 until at least 1949.</p><br>
<p>The Exchange Building continues to be utilised for commercial shops and offices.</p><br>
<h2>Description</h2><br>
<p>The Exchange Building is a two-storeyed building consisting of a row of four brick shops at street level with offices above. The facade is red brick with contrasting white rendered detailing to the windows and parapets. The upper facade is divided into four with a central section that indicates the central staircase. Each of the individual tenancies is marked by a pair of pedimented casement windows and a triangular pediment in the parapet. The parapet has EXCHANGE BUILDINGS 1, 2, 3, 4 in raised lettering. The pattern of the paired windows, the pediments and interplay between the red brickwork and rendered architectural detailing results in a pleasing and economical composition for a commercial building.</p><br>
<p>Paired, timber, panelled doors lead to the central staircase which leads to offices on the first floor.</p><br>
<h2>Heritage listing</h2><br>
<p>Exchange Building was listed on the Queensland Heritage Register on 27 October 2000 having satisfied the following criteria.</p><br>
<p>The place is important in demonstrating the evolution or pattern of Queensland&#39;s history.</p><br>
<p>Erected in the period at the turn of the century when Russell, Ruthven and Margaret Streets were being consolidated as the commercial centre of Toowoomba. The Exchange Building survives as evidence of the pattern of development of Toowoomba.</p><br>
<p>The place is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a particular class of cultural places.</p><br>
<p>Designed by prominent Toowoomba architect H. J. Marks the Exchange Building displays architectural finesse typical of Marks&#39; design work.</p><br>
<p>The place is important because of its aesthetic significance.</p><br>
<p>The building has a decorative rhythmic facade which makes is a substantial aesthetic contribution to the streetscape of Margaret Street. It is one of a number of extant commercial buildings designed by the Mark&#39;s family that contribute to the architectural character of Toowoomba.</p><br>
<p>The place has a strong or special association with a particular community or cultural group for social, cultural or spiritual reasons.</p><br>
<p>The Exchange Building is significant for its association with the Marks family, a prominent architectural firm.</p><br>
<p>Fernside is a heritage-listed villa at 4-6 Fernside Street, East Toowoomba, Toowoomba, Toowoomba Region, Queensland, Australia. It was built from to. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 October 1992.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>Fernside, a low symmetrical brick building, was built for John Alexander Boyce who arrived in Toowoomba from Brisbane in August 1870.</p><br>
<p>From the mid 1870s, JA Boyce accumulated land around what are now Fernside, Arthur and Curzon Streets, including the transferral of two acres on 1 July 1876 and a further two acres on 20 August 1877.</p><br>
<p>JA Boyce was Clerk of Petty Sessions in Toowoomba from 1870 until at least 1893. In 1895, Boyce was appointed relieving Police Magistrate in Winton and in 1896 was stationed at Thargomindah and Muttaburra. Boyce travelled further afield in later years, holding positions at Barcaldine, Roma and Cunnamulla from 1897 and was appointed Police Magistrate at Townsville in 1903. In 1909, Boyce retired to Sandgate and died in 1927. His obituary was placed in the Brisbane Courier on 8 December 1927.</p><br>
<p>The house remained in the Boyce family for over 100 years, six generations of the family living there over the period of time, from William Boyce, father of JA Boyce to Lesley Anne, Colin, Rodney and Michael, the children of Peter Boyce, JA Boyce&#39;s great grandson.</p><br>
<p>JA Boyce sold Fernside to his daughter-in-law, Margaret Annie Griffiths, in February 1902. Annie owned it until she died in 1969, aged 100 years. Annie Griffiths was the daughter of George Washington Griffiths who established the Toowoomba Foundry in 1871. The Brisbane Courier reports on 8 June 1886 that "three or four years after starting, Mr Griffiths took in his brother and brother-in- law to the business." At this time the Foundry was known as Griffith Bros and Company, later, the name was changed to the Toowoomba Foundry Company Limited.</p><br>
<p>Annie married Gerard Boyce, JA Boyces son in Toowoomba on 21 May 1896. News of the couples marriage was printed in the Toowoomba Chronicle on 4 June 1896. Annie Boyce took out a mortgage on the property in 1915, it is likely that renovations to the eastern elevation were undertaken at this time. By 1955, the street was known as Fernside Street, having been formerly known as Curzon Street.</p><br>
<p>After Annie&#39;s death, Fernside passed to her grandson, Peter Boyce, who owned the property until 1978. In 1978, Fernside was sold to people outside the Boyce family. The current owners have resided at Fernside since 1993.</p><br>
<p>The grandeur and position of the house were recognised as desirable from very early on. Sir Arthur Kennedy, Governor of Queensland from 1877 to 1883, used the house as his summer residence. The use of the residence as a summer retreat for the governor continued the trend of using several Toowoomba residences in this manner. Harlaxton House was rented by Lord Lamington, the eighth governor of Queensland (1896-1901). From 1906-1909, Gabbinbar was used as a place of summer residence by Lord Chelmsford, Governor of Queensland from 1905-1909. Vernon Redwood, Mayor of Toowoomba, MLA, rented Fernside in the early part of this century, as did other Toowoomba notables.</p><br>
<h2>Description</h2><br>
<p>Fernside is built on a levelled area rising from Fernside Street to the west, the levelled area falls away to an escarpment to the east. The siting of Fernside provides views from the Great Dividing Range to the east. Fernside&#39;s well established garden setting incorporates a carriage drive located at the front, or western side of the house and native and exotic conifers.</p><br>
<p>The house is a low, symmetrical, rendered brick building, with a hipped roof clad with colourbond sheeting and gutters. The house has verandahs, under a separate roof, located on the western and eastern sides. Two moulded, rendered brick chimneys are located at the northern and southern elevations of the house. The original section of Fernside was constructed with several additions at later stages, including an enclosed verandah along northern elevation, a bay window and dormer window added to the eastern elevation, possibly and an extension to the southern elevation during the 1990s.</p><br>
<p>The western elevation, the facade to Fernside Street, faces the carriageway, and is accessed via a set of wide concrete steps. The centred porticoed entrance, topped by a timber fretwork gable, supported by paired timber posts with timber brackets, leads to the front entrance, a timber panelled door, with sidelight and fanlight assemblies. Bay windows with simple timber architraves and a verandah rail with wrought iron balustrading, not originally from Fernside, are also located along the western elevation. A second panelled timber door, with sidelight and fanlight assemblies is located at the southern end of the western elevation.</p><br>
<p>The eastern elevation faces magnificent views from the Great Dividing Range. The verandah is supported by timber posts and brackets and the brick is marked out to resemble ashlar. The centred bay window with gabled roof has a French door and three sets of elongated windows with small square paned glass and breezeways. Two other timber, panelled French doors are located in the eastern facade. The dormer window is located to the north of the gabled bay window.</p><br>
<p>The northern elevation is timber framed and enclosed with glass windows and French doors, and houses service facilities. The southern elevation, extended during the 1990s, is timber framed with large windows with breezeway, French doors and a corrugated iron roof.</p><br>
<p>Internally, Fernside&#39;s core remains reasonably intact. Some original detail remains, including moulded pressed metal ceilings in the living and dining rooms. Fireplaces, one with moulded timber surrounds and another with marble surrounds and consoles, are situated in the living and dining rooms.</p><br>
<p>A number of doorways retain original cedar joinery including a door from the living room to the dining room which also has a breezeway with diamond shaped timber panels surrounded by decorative glass.</p><br>
<p>Fernside has a concrete fence with moulded concrete pillars with a non-original cast iron gate at the front.</p><br>
<h2>Heritage listing</h2><br>
<p>Fernside was listed on the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 October 1992 having satisfied the following criteria.</p><br>
<p>The place is important in demonstrating the evolution or pattern of Queensland&#39;s history.</p><br>
<p>Fernside follows the pattern of the construction of substantial houses on the Darling Downs which came to be used as summer resorts by various Governors, demonstrating the development of the Darling Downs from a sparsely populated pastoral region to one of prosperity.</p><br>
<p>The place is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a particular class of cultural places.</p><br>
<p>Fernside is significant as an example of well-to-do domestic building from the 1870s, reflecting the wealth and status of a public servant in Toowoomba, a major regional centre in colonial Queensland.</p><br>
<p>The siting of the house and subsequent landscape works are highly significant. Its location and verandahed design provide spectacular views from the Great Dividing Range, demonstrating the importance of topography for early settlers when choosing a suitable site on which to build.</p><br>
<p>The place has a strong or special association with a particular community or cultural group for social, cultural or spiritual reasons.</p><br>
<p>Fernside has special association with the community of Toowoomba and surrounding area as a well-known early residence and summer resort of Sir Arthur Kennedy, Governor of Queensland from 1877 to 1883.</p><br>
<p>The place has a special association with the life or work of a particular person, group or organisation of importance in Queensland&#39;s history.</p><br>
<p>Fernside has special association with the community of Toowoomba and surrounding area as a well-known early residence and summer resort of Sir Arthur Kennedy, Governor of Queensland from 1877 to 1883.</p><br>
<p>Gabbinbar is a heritage-listed villa at 344-376 Ramsay Street, Toowoomba, Toowoomba Region, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by architect Willoughby Powell for the Rev. Dr. William Lambie Nelson and built in 1876 by Richard Godsall. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 October 1992.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>Gabbinbar Homestead is a low-set, single-storey timber residence built for The Reverend William Lambie Nelson in 1876.</p><br>
<p>Rev Nelson was of Scottish origin and arrived in Australia in 1853 after being invited by the Sydney Presbytery to take spiritual charge of the Presbyterians in the district of Ipswich. He resigned from this position in 1860 to take up pastoral pursuits on the Moonie River. Prior to his resignation, he was encouraging subscriptions for a new Church of Scotland to be built in Toowoomba, and he was identified as a Presbyterian minister in Toowoomba in 1868.</p><br>
<p>Although the title for the land on which Gabbinbar is located was not transferred to Nelson until 1870, it is thought that he purchased it in 1863.</p><br>
<p>The first structure built on the property of approximately 100 acres was a small red brick house, which remains and is now used as the kitchen. In 1876, this initial structure was greatly added to in the form of a long, low set timber residence. Designed by Toowoomba architect Willoughby Powell and constructed by local builder, Richard Godsall, it comprised a central entrance vestibule flanked by two large rooms on either side and a connecting hall at the rear. French doors opened from all rooms onto 10 foot wide verandahs, which surrounded the core. It was described in 1940 as a long cream-walled house, with wide-spreading verandahs and simple gracious lines fronting verdant lawns and gay flower-beds.</p><br>
<p>The setting contributes to the picturesque qualities of the place which is entered through one of two heavily treed driveways. The carriage loop is still evident in front of the house, which is surrounded by rose gardens and many species of mature trees including jacarandas, palms, bunya pines and most notably, an immense Moreton Bay fig at the intersection of the two driveways.</p><br>
<p>In 1881, James Marks tendered for additions, alterations and painting at Gabbinbar. It is thought that this was the addition of the ballroom and guest rooms on the southern side of the house. The ballroom is immense, and was also a venue for family wedding receptions and Christmas parties, and probably for many social events during occupancy by the Governors.</p><br>
<p>In June 1887, the Rev Nelson died and his son Hugh took over Gabbinbar. Sir Hugh Muir Nelson was born in Scotland and migrated to Australia with his family in 1853. He managed many early Queensland stations, including three for his father, and later, Eton Vale for Hodgson and Watts. He later acquired the property of Louden near Dalby with Watts. His first attempt at entering politics in 1879 was unsuccessful, however by 1883 he was a Member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly for Northern Downs. This was the beginning of an active political career during which he served as the first Secretary for Railways and Public Works, Treasurer of Queensland, Premier of Queensland and Lieutenant Governor. It was during Sir Hugh&#39;s time at Gabbinbar that the place became the focus of many social events on the Downs.</p><br>
<p>Sir Hugh died in 1906 and Gabbinbar was passed to his son Duncan, who was at the time managing a family property in Northern Queensland. He did not return to Gabbinbar for some years, and the house was occupied by Lady Nelson and her daughter Maud.</p><br>
<p>From 1906 to 1909, Gabbinbar was the summer residence of the Governor of Queensland, Lord Chelmsford and his family. The publication "Darling Downs: The Garden of Australia", refers to this stating that Toowoomba, the recognised summer resort of Queensland, is thronged with visitors in the warmer months. The State Governor, Lord Chelmsford, has his summer residence, here, leasing "Gabbinbar", the property of Lady Nelson, widow of the late Sir H. M Nelson......for several years, Premier of the State. The use of the residence as a summer retreat for the governor continued the pattern of use of several Toowoomba residences in this manner. Fernside was used as a place of summer residence by Sir Arthur Kennedy, Governor of Queensland from 1877-1883, while Harlaxton House was rented by Lord Lamington, the eighth governor of Queensland (1896-1901).</p><br>
<p>The same publications describes the area in which Gabbinbar was located as comprising suburban farms and gardens apples, pears, apricots, peaches, nectarines, mulberries, oranges, strawberries, plums, loquats, quinces and other fruits. The remembrances of Ellie Pacey who lived near Gabbinbar also describes the area as a fruit growing region. She also remembers a couple living at the lodge (gatehouse) who opened the gates for visitors who rang the bell.</p><br>
<p>The building now known as the school house was moved to the site in 1932. It is thought to have previously been a church, but was used as a billiards room and is sited picturesquely in a wooded area adjacent to the main house.</p><br>
<p>In 1936, Duncan Nelson died, leaving his widow Colina at Gabbinbar. Colina remained at the property until 1970, apart from the period between May 1942 and July 3 when the house was used by the 2/1st Corps Field Survey Company AIF to house the survey, drafting and reproduction sections. At the end of their occupation, the Defence Department commissioned Cliff Williamson to supervise restoration of the house to the condition prior to Army occupation. Colina Nelson sold the property to Treveren and Joan Liesegang in 1970. At this stage, the house had no electricity and inadequate plumbing. Upgrading of these services and much maintenance and repair works was undertaken by the Liesegangs. They ensured the property remained accessible to the public, using it as a venue for various fund raising events.</p><br>
<p>In 1992, another building was moved onto the property at the rear of the main house on what was thought to be the site of an earlier cottage. The new building was previously the cottage of well known naturalist Mr Pat Walker, known locally as the "spider man" due to his scientific work with spiders. Walker was associated with Gabbinbar, having collected funnel-web spiders from the site for use at the Commonwealth Serum Laboratory where a vaccine was developed. He was also long-time friends with the Liesegangs.</p><br>
<p>When the property changed ownership in 1995, it was unoccupied and in a deteriorated state.</p><br>
<p>In about 2000, the property was purchased by Barry Bernoth to convert into a wedding venue. However, it took some time for him to persuade the Toowoomba City Council to allow the house to be used for that purpose. Having eventually gained council approval and after painstaking restoration the property, weddings have been held at Gabbinbar since 2012.</p><br>
<h2>Description</h2><br>
<p>Gabbinbar is located in a picturesque garden setting and is surrounded by a number of buildings and garden elements, some of which are also significant.</p><br>
<p>Access to the house is provided by two driveways, the first of which has a house, known as the gatehouse at its entrance. This building is a small weatherboard structure with a corrugated iron roof and a side verandah with a corner entrance. It is surrounded by mature plantings, including a jacaranda tree and a substantial plot of bamboo.</p><br>
<p>The second driveway leads to the rear of the house, past a small cottage which was relocated to the site. This cottage is a typical late nineteenth century timber house, and a plaque on its front attributes it to the residence of Gerald Walker, naturalist and "spider man" of Toowoomba. The entire interior of this house is unpainted. It is currently unoccupied and appears to be a store for items, possibly from the main house. At the rear of this building is a small garage and further to the rear, a small outbuilding.</p><br>
<p>On the opposite side of the driveway, and nearer to the principal house is a building known as the billiards room, or the schoolhouse. It is of chamferboard construction, with a gable roof of corrugated iron. The front gable is finished with a decorative bargeboard, similar in style to those on the main house. Access is via a central door which is reached by a timber step. Double hung windows are located on either side of the front door, and three evenly spaced double hung windows are located along each side elevation. Internally, the walls are clad in unpainted vertical boarding and a brick fireplace is located at the rear. The ceiling, of which the central section is flat and the sides and ends are angled, is also boarded and painted pale green.</p><br>
<p>The two driveways intersect at one side of the main house and continue to form a carriage loop in front of the house. At the intersection, near the billiards room is an immense fig tree. The carriage loop extends to the fence line on the opposite side of the house, where views extend to the range.</p><br>
<p>A fence also runs parallel to the front of the house and incorporates an early gate. Beyond this is a pagoda and another outbuilding, with recent additions.</p><br>
<p>The main house is surrounded by mature plantings including jacarandas, bunya pines, palms and figs. In the centre of the carriage loop is a circular grassed area with a standard rose in the centre, and to one side is a circular rose garden. On the opposite end of the house to the entrance is a grassed terrace with new plantings around the edges. At one end are large pines which flank a set of stone steps.</p><br>
<p>The principal house faces north and comprises the long and low-set section at the front, with the original kitchen and additions extending at the rear to form a "U" shape. The front section was originally encircled with open verandahs, and although much of these have been enclosed, they are still evident through the retention of verandah posts and the varied pitch of the ceilings. The front or northern face has an open verandah, which is enclosed on either side.</p><br>
<p>Access to the house is via a set of low, wide steps which are centrally located and lead to the verandah. The verandah roof is separate from the main roof and is supported by a series of double posts with simply designed collars and fascias. The verandah projects outward at either end, which coincides with gable roofs running at right angles to the main roof line. Brick chimneys with terracotta stacks are located at either end of the main roof, and a small triangular pediment is incorporated into the verandah roof over the entrance steps.</p><br>
<p>The main entrance door is of cedar with side and fan lights and is flanked by four sets of French doors on either side. The entrance opens into a vestibule from which access is gained through a plaster archway to a hallway beyond. Cedar doors open into large rooms on either side of the vestibule. The hallway runs the length of the house and opens into large rooms at either end. All of these rooms have substantial timber cornices, of varying designs, plaster or metal ceiling roses, cedar joinery and marble or timber fireplaces, also of varying designs and colour. French doors allow access, both to the front open verandah, and in the case of the end rooms, to the enclosed side verandahs. The side verandahs are enclosed with leadlight windows which pivot from the upper and lower edges.</p><br>
<p>Behind the southern end of the house is a substantial ballroom with a decorative plaster ceiling and walk-through windows at either end. These open onto a grassed terrace at the southern end and an enclosed verandah at the opposite end. Extending along the long axis of the ballroom is a hallway with a timber archway at one end and a doorway at the other, which also leads to the grassed terrace. From this hallway opens three rooms, of which the southern one is the largest and incorporates a bay window. These three rooms have French doors which open onto a simple verandah. A bathroom is located at the end of the verandah.</p><br>
<p>The earliest part of the house is the kitchen wing at the rear which is constructed of red bricks. The rear verandah is partially enclosed and lined with plasterboard and now operates as a laundry. Fireplaces and brick ovens remain on either side of a wall which divides the space into two rooms. This section is connected to the principal building by enclosed verandahs. An early verandah post below box guttering remains in this room, as do a series of bells, mounted on what would have been an external wall.</p><br>
<h2>Heritage listing</h2><br>
<p>Gabbinbar was listed on the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 October 1992 having satisfied the following criteria.</p><br>
<p>The place is important in demonstrating the evolution or pattern of Queensland&#39;s history.</p><br>
<p>Gabbinbar demonstrates the pattern of Queensland&#39;s history by following the pattern of the construction of substantial houses on the Downs by the "Pure Merinos" which came to be used as summer resorts by the various Governors. It is also demonstrative of the development of the Darling Downs from a sparsely populated pastoral region to one of prosperity.</p><br>
<p>The place has potential to yield information that will contribute to an understanding of Queensland&#39;s history.</p><br>
<p>Due to the early date of the place, and its relative intactness, the potential exists for further historical and archaeological research which may yield additional information about the site.</p><br>
<p>The place is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a particular class of cultural places.</p><br>
<p>The place demonstrates the principal characteristics of its class through the inclusion of substantial entertaining rooms, associated outbuildings and extravagance of design and materials.</p><br>
<p>The place is important because of its aesthetic significance.</p><br>
<p>It has immense aesthetic significance due to the siting of the buildings in a semi-rural, picturesque environment. The main house has significant architectural merit due to its high degree of materials, detailing and finishes, both internally and externally. Other building are also aesthetically significant, both for their individual merit and for their complimentary association with the main house.</p><br>
<p>The place has a strong or special association with a particular community or cultural group for social, cultural or spiritual reasons.</p><br>
<p>Gabbinbar has special association with the community of Toowoomba as a well-known early residence and summer resort of the Governors of Queensland. It also has a strong association with the 2/1st Corps Field Survey Company, AIF as a base during the Second World War, who recently held a reunion at the house.</p><br>
<p>The place has a special association with the life or work of a particular person, group or organisation of importance in Queensland&#39;s history.</p><br>
<p>The principal section of Gabbinbar was constructed for The Reverend William Lambie Nelson in 1876. It was built as a substantial addition to the first brick house on the property, which is thought to have been constructed.</p><br>
<p>Rev William Lambie Nelson was instrumental in the establishment of a Presbyterian Church in Toowoomba, having previously served in Ipswich. He also owned pastoral properties and purchased the 100 acres on which Gabbinbar was located after passing through the area in the early 1860s.</p><br>
<p>The place is also associated with Willoughby Powell and Richard Godsall, architect and builder respectively of the 1876 section, and with James Marks, architect of the southern extension. It also has special association with early Presbyterian and political family, the Nelsons whose direct descendants resided at Gabbinbar until 1970, and with the Governor of Queensland, Lord Chelmsford, who used the place as a summer resort from 1906 to 1909.</p><br>
<p>Gladstone House and Cottage is a heritage-listed detached house at 1B-3 Gladstone Street, Newtown, Toowoomba, Toowoomba Region, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by Harry Marks for himself and built. It is also known as St Rest. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 13 January 1995.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>This single storeyed timber house, also referred to as St Rest, was completed, for prominent Toowoomba architect, Henry James (Harry) Marks. The Cottage, known also as the former Gate-keeper&#39;s Cottage, was probably erected at around this time.</p><br>
<p>Gladstone House is situated on part of Portion 86, originally an area of 93 acres northwest of the central business district of Toowoomba, located in the former Gowrie Shire. Portion 86, acquired by John Shipman, was one of a number of allotments ranging in size from 22-133 acres on the western side of Toowoomba, which were auctioned in February 1858. The sale of these lots was one of a series of land sales at Toowoomba from 1849, and the success of these early sales provided the stimulus for the development of Toowoomba as the principal town of the district.</p><br>
<p>Shipman&#39;s land was known as Eton Farm, described as the best cultivated farm in the district, on which he grew wheat, oats, barley, lucerne and corn. Shipman also established an orchard, a vegetable garden, a dairy, piggery, stockyards, and a small horse stud on his farm.</p><br>
<p>Shipman died in 1862, and his land was subdivided during the late 1880s. Thomas Jones acquired 90 acres of Portion 86 early in 1889. Jones further subdivided the land into two parts, one of which was transferred to Mrs Ada McDougall, a Toowoomba widow, later in 1889. Mrs McDougall took out several mortgages on the land, before it was acquired by George Wonderley, a Toowoomba solicitor, in 1898.</p><br>
<p>During the late 1880s and early 1890s, the residential area of Toowoomba rapidly expanded, as large holdings in the smaller shires surrounding Toowoomba were subdivided for residential allotments.</p><br>
<p>Wonderley commenced the subdivision and sale of the newly created blocks from early 1899. William Robinson acquired six of these blocks, comprising three acres in 1900. Between 1903-1904, Harry Marks and his wife Katharine acquired four adjoining allotments on the west corner of Gladstone and Jellicoe streets (subs 31-34), and three allotments on the opposite corner of Gladstone Street (subs 63-65). The Marks&#39; sold subs 63-65 in 1907.</p><br>
<p>Born and trained in Toowoomba, Harry Marks had entered into partnership with his father James, in 1892. James had commenced practice as an architect in Toowoomba by the early 1880s, and he and Harry have been described as dominating the architectural profession for more than half a century. Although Harry Marks was responsible for designing a number of buildings on both the Darling Downs and in Brisbane, much of his work was in Toowoomba where he designed a variety of buildings including Rodway, St James Parish Hall, St Luke&#39;s Church Hall, additions to the Toowoomba Maltings, and the Darling Downs Co-operative Bacon Factory. Marks was also described as being gifted with inventive genius, and he devised and patented a number of architectural elements, including roof ventilators, windows and a method of stucco wall construction.</p><br>
<p>Marks incorporated examples of his inventions in the design of St Rest, triangular bay windows and the AUSTRAL window which he designed reputedly for the house.</p><br>
<p>The Town of Newtown was formed in 1913, from part of the Gowrie Shire area. Marks was an alderman on the Newtown Town Council from 1913 until 1917, when it was absorbed into the Toowoomba City area.</p><br>
<p>Following Marks death in 1939, Katharine remained at Gladstone House and commenced subdividing the grounds of Gladstone House during the 1940s. The land on which the Cottage stands was transferred to Marks daughter KM Muir, in 1951. Katharine died in 1954, and her son Charles Beresford Marks, also a Toowoomba architect, was appointed trustee of the property.</p><br>
<p>Gladstone House was acquired by Theodore and Doris Hallop in 1955, and the property has since changed hands a number of times. Alterations undertaken to Gladstone House during the 1970s included the addition of a room at the rear of the house. Gladstone House was sold again in 1990.</p><br>
<h2>Description</h2><br>
<p>The property consists of Gladstone House, the Cottage and associated grounds.</p><br>
<h3>Gladstone House</h3><br>
<p>Gladstone House, a single-storeyed weatherboard residence with a multi-hipped corrugated iron roof and timber stumps with batten infill, is located on a northerly sloping site fronting Gladstone Street to the east. The building has a 1970s split-level addition at the rear.</p><br>
<p>The strong geometry of the building is reflected in the cruciform plan, consisting of a central octagonal living room with three bedrooms projecting to the northwest, northeast and southeast, and a dining room to the southwest. The inside corner of each projecting wing is infilled with a triangular shaped room, with the main entry to the east, bathroom to the south, bedroom to the north, and originally an open deck to the west which has been enclosed and extended to create a kitchen. The 1970s split-level addition is attached to the west of the kitchen.</p><br>
<p>Each projecting wing has a hipped roof with finial, the infill rooms have skillion roofs, and the central octagonal room has hipped dormer skylights to the north, east and south, and a central look-out which was originally accessed via a western stair which is no longer extant. The skylights have centrally pivoted hopper widows, and a pot-bellied rendered chimney stack is located above the southwest wing.</p><br>
<p>The east entry has a central octagonal hipped corrugated iron roofed turret, surrounded by a skillion roofed verandah. The verandah has diagonally patterned timber balustrading, chamfered timber posts and a batten valance, and is accessed via a concrete platform and steps with steel handrails and diagonally patterned balustrade. The entry door is to the side of a central projecting bay, which has a patented Marks&#39; AUSTRAL window, and is flanked by the same to either side.</p><br>
<p>The eastern projecting wings, and northern infill bedroom, have projecting triangular bay units with sash windows and skillion awnings. The upper section of the walls, between window heads and eaves, is finished with hardboard sheeting with spaced vertical battens giving a horizontal band around the building and separating the higher and lower gutter lines. The southern bathroom has a patented Marks&#39; AUSTRAL window, and the dining room has twin sashes. Internally, the building has timber skirtings and cornices, with vertically jointed boarding to walls to all rooms, except the central octagonal room which has horizontal boarding to the fanlight head height and vertical boarding above. Ceilings are boarded, with the central room having skylights located above the ceiling line forming angled recesses. This room has timber doors with glass panes and glass fanlights located below the north and east skylights, and a fireplace located on the southwest wall with an ornate timber surround with tiled inserts and a boarded chimney stack with timber mantle. A doorway has been inserted to the west of the chimney, and accesses the southwest dining room which may have been the original kitchen. This room has a concrete slab which may have been the hearth of a fireplace backing onto the existing living room fireplace.</p><br>
<p>The corners of the triangular infill rooms are squared-off to create small cupboards which are accessed from the adjoining projecting wing rooms. The bathroom has been recently refitted, and the rear kitchen area has undergone a number of alterations and currently links into the 1970s addition and opens onto a deck on the northwest.</p><br>
<h3>The Cottage</h3><br>
<p>The Cottage, now a separate residence, is located at the northeast corner of the northerly sloping site fronting Gladstone Street to the east. This single-storeyed weatherboard structure with a multi-hipped corrugated iron roof with a tall central clerestory skylight, has timber stumps with batten infill, curved timber eave brackets, and sash and casement windows with timber batten brackets and corrugated iron hoods.</p><br>
<p>The building is symmetrical to Gladstone Street, and has an entrance porch at either corner with the main entry being at the northeast and accessed via a timber stair with metal handrail. A small verandah has been enclosed on the northeast corner, which was formerly a rear entry, and a lean-to laundry has been attached at the rear.</p><br>
<p>Internally, the building consists of a central living room dominated by a clerestory skylight, with a bedroom to either side and a kitchen and bathroom at the rear. Ceilings are of hardboard sheeting with timber coverstrips, walls have vertically jointed boarding, doors have timber frames with glass panel inserts and ventilation strips above, and the kitchen has early cabinets and fittings.</p><br>
<h3>Grounds</h3><br>
<p>A driveway accesses the property to the north of Gladstone House, and leads to a recent brick garage built adjacent to the house at the northwest. A chamferboard shed with a corrugated iron skillion roof and timber doors is located to the northwest of the house, and the site contains a number of mature trees, including a large tree to the southwest of Gladstone House.</p><br>
<h2>Heritage listing</h2><br>
<p>Gladstone House and Cottage was listed on the Queensland Heritage Register on 13 January 1995 having satisfied the following criteria.</p><br>
<p>The place is important in demonstrating the evolution or pattern of Queensland&#39;s history.</p><br>
<p>Erected in the early 20th century, in a then outer part of Toowoomba (previously Gowrie Shire), Gladstone House survives as evidence of the growth and residential expansion of Toowoomba from this time, as formerly large estates and farms were subdivided and sold.</p><br>
<p>The place is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a particular class of cultural places.</p><br>
<p>Designed by prominent Toowoomba architect HJ Marks as his private residence, Gladstone House and Cottage, erected, display an individual inventiveness and creativity typical of Marks work in their design. Gladstone House includes examples of the AUSTRAL window designed and patented by Marks. The buildings possess highly articulated geometry in plan, elevation and roof form, containing many design elements associated with Marks work, and reflecting many of his design considerations including the use of natural light and ventilation.</p><br>
<p>The place is important because of its aesthetic significance.</p><br>
<p>Gladstone House, the Cottage and the surrounding plantings make a substantial aesthetic contribution to the streetscape of Gladstone Street, and complement the considerable range of extant HJ Marks buildings in Toowoomba.</p><br>
<p>The place is important in demonstrating a high degree of creative or technical achievement at a particular period.</p><br>
<p>Designed by prominent Toowoomba architect HJ Marks as his private residence, Gladstone House and Cottage, erected, display an individual inventiveness and creativity typical of Marks work in their design. Gladstone House includes examples of the AUSTRAL window designed and patented by Marks. The buildings possess highly articulated geometry in plan, elevation and roof form, containing many design elements associated with Marks work, and reflecting many of his design considerations including the use of natural light and ventilation.</p><br>
<p>The place has a special association with the life or work of a particular person, group or organisation of importance in Queensland&#39;s history.</p><br>
<p>Designed by prominent Toowoomba architect HJ Marks as his private residence, Gladstone House and Cottage, erected, display an individual inventiveness and creativity typical of Marks work in their design. Gladstone House includes examples of the AUSTRAL window designed and patented by Marks. The buildings possess highly articulated geometry in plan, elevation and roof form, containing many design elements associated with Marks work, and reflecting many of his design considerations including the use of natural light and ventilation.</p><br>
<p>Glen Alpine is a heritage-listed villa at 32-36 East Street, Redwood, Toowoomba, Toowoomba Region, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by Toowoomba architect Harry Marks and built. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 11 June 1993.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>Glen Alpine is a two-storey timber residence which is believed to have been built for Albert Rowbotham, of the Toowoomba firm Rowbotham and Co., bootmakers. The house was possibly designed by prominent Toowoomba architect, Harry J. Marks.</p><br>
<p>The land was granted to Thomas Perkins in 1875, then acquired by William Shaw in 1876. It appears that there may have been a previous dwelling also named Glen Alpine on the same site, possibly as early as 1882-83 when Richard Cobb, a Toowoomba builder and contractor acquired the land. Cobb was recorded as living at "The Range" between 1883 and 1887. The land was acquired by David Laughland Brown of the softgoods firm Messrs. D. L. Brown and Co in 1887. Between 1887 and 1910 there were various references in the Post Office Directories and Toowoomba newspapers to Brown and his family at Glen Alpine, Main Range. Rowbotham acquired the land in 1918. The house was purchased in 1931 by Neal Macrossan, then a Barrister-at-law and later a Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. It appears that Neal Macrossan and his wife Eileen (daughter of T.C. Beirne) purchased Glen Alpine as a holiday home, indicative of the way in which Toowoomba was viewed as a "summer resort" for heat-oppressed coastal Queenslanders (including the Queensland Governors), and a weekend escape for day trippers from Brisbane.</p><br>
<p>A swimming pool was built at Glen Alpine in 1931, designed by William Hodgen Jnr. It was one of the first domestic swimming pools built in Toowoomba.</p><br>
<p>Glen Alpine was temporarily occupied by the Australian Army, -42 during World War II.</p><br>
<p>Macrossan died in 1955 and his daughter purchased Glen Alpine from his estate in 1957.</p><br>
<h2>Description</h2><br>
<p>Glen Alpine, built into an eastern slope on the edge of Main Range, appears single-storeyed from the west, on the East Street frontage, but is two-storeyed from the east. The timber residence, the grounds of which fall away to the east and to Redwood Park beyond, faces east to the expansive view of the Brisbane Valley and Table Top mountain.</p><br>
<p>The building has a hipped ribbed metal roof with projecting gables and verandahs to both levels around the southeast and northeast, with chamferboards to verandah walls and weatherboards to exposed walls. The gables have flat sheeting with timber cover strips and eave brackets. Both the east and west elevations are symmetrical.</p><br>
<p>The west elevation, sitting on a brick base with exposed piers, has projecting gabled rooms to the southwest and northwest with shuttered sash windows and a central projecting bay-shaped porch. The porch has a hipped roof, eave brackets, batten railing and arched timber brackets with a concrete stair to a landing which splits into twin steps to the ground. The panelled timber entry door has a fanlight and two side sash windows with rose and clear glass with red glass borders. Low level windows in the brick base, to either side of the porch, light a service corridor behind.</p><br>
<p>The east elevation has a central projecting gabled bay. The upper floor of this bay has a large fixed picture window, divided into three and broken into smaller square panes, with a red glass border, and the ground floor has arched timber casement windows. These windows have metal hoods with deep curved timber brackets.</p><br>
<p>French doors with divided fanlights open onto the verandahs which have timber posts with batten railing to the upper floor and solid timber arched valance and a concrete floor to the ground. The north end of the upper and lower verandahs, and a section of the upper south verandah, have been enclosed with glazing and timber panels.</p><br>
<p>The south elevation has an enclosed gabled room to the upper floor with an arched timber valance and casement windows. This sits on the brick base, the rear retaining wall of which continues south forming a three car garage with a fernery between. The garage has an extended timber front and a skillion roof.</p><br>
<p>Internally, the timber floors are mostly carpeted and the tongue and groove walls and boarded ceilings are painted. The west entry has an arched timber colonnade to the stair and north bay, with a wide hallway running north-south on the west side of the building. At either end of this hallway is a door with patterned glass fanlight and sidelights. Bedrooms, the north room of which has early wallpaper and others have Masonite cladding, open off this hallway with the bathroom at the north end. The stair has timber fretwork railings and leads to the ground floor.</p><br>
<p>The ground floor has a concrete floor service corridor running under the upper hallway, with a brick retaining wall to the west and a single skin timber wall to the eastern rooms. A sitting room is located on the southeast with a remodelled kitchen and sunroom are on the northeast.</p><br>
<p>The grounds include a fenced garden to the west entry with a low brick pier and wrought iron fence; the remains of a carriage drive entering from the southwest and sweeping around the north and east of the building to the garages at the south; a fish pond with brick paving to the east; mature trees along the south, west and north boundaries and sections of hedges along the east.</p><br>
<h2>Heritage listing</h2><br>
<p>Glen Alpine was listed on the Queensland Heritage Register on 11 June 1993 having satisfied the following criteria.</p><br>
<p>The place is important in demonstrating the evolution or pattern of Queensland&#39;s history.</p><br>
<p>The house and grounds of Glen Alpine, erected, are important in demonstrating the pattern of Queensland&#39;s history, in particular the development of the Toowoomba Range as a prestigious residential area.</p><br>
<p>The place is important because of its aesthetic significance.</p><br>
<p>It exhibits a range of aesthetic characteristics valued by the Toowoomba community, in particular the formal symmetry of the building and its siting in relation to the view to the east, and the contribution of the building and grounds to the streetscape of East Street and to the Toowoomba townscape.</p><br>
<p>The place has a special association with the life or work of a particular person, group or organisation of importance in Queensland&#39;s history.</p><br>
<p>It has special association with the life of Chief Justice Neal Macrossan as his Toowoomba holiday house.</p><br>
<p>Gowrie House is a heritage-listed villa at 112 Mary Street, East Toowoomba, Toowoomba, Toowoomba Region, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by architect Henry James  Marks and built. It is also known as Largo. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 25 August 2000.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The low-set brick house, Largo, on the corner of Arthur and Mary Street was designed by Harry Marks for prominent Toowoomba businessman Alexander Mayes and built probably in 1901, and definitely by 1902.</p><br>
<p>Architect Harry Marks was born and trained in Toowoomba and he and his father James Marks have been described as dominating the architectural profession for more than half a century. While Harry Marks designed a number of buildings on the Darling Downs and in Brisbane, most of his work was in Toowoomba. He designed a number of buildings including Rodway, St James Parish Hall, St Luke&#39;s Church Hall and Gladstone House and Cottage. Marks was not only a good architect; he was an inventive one, and he patented some of his innovative solutions such as his Austral window.</p><br>
<p>Alexander Mayes born at Largo, Fifeshire, Scotland, in 1859 came out to Queensland and established himself as a Toowoomba builder and contractor in 1886. He is known to have worked on the Toowoomba City Hall, Toowoomba Post Office, Tooowoomba Masonic Hall, Commercial Bank, Toowoomba Technical College and Vacy Hall and many private homes. He was mayor of Toowoomba in 1896, 1903, 1912 and was the first mayor of the enlarged city of Toowoomba 1916-1917. He was also active in the community serving on the School of Arts and Technical College, East Toowoomba School Committee, was a staunch Mason and was honorary superintendent of the Toowoomba Fire Brigade for 42 years. He was also involved with the Austral Association.</p><br>
<p>Successful and prosperous Alexander Mayes and his wife Helena Agnes, daughter of grazier William Grieve, had moved into their new architect designed home on the corner of Mary and Arthur Mary Street by 1902. This large masonry house reflected the status of the Mayes in Toowoombas society. One of Mayes sons described his boyhood home in The Toowoomba Chronicle of 4 July 1985. He remembered three large bedrooms, two at the front, the drawing room and dining room all opening of the central hallway. At the rear was a large room "furnished with three beds and two long tables end-to-end", while the kitchen, pantry and maids quarters were at the rear. Sons Emeritus Professor Bruce Toowoomba Mayes, Dr Alexander Mayes (involved with founding of St Andrews Hospital Brisbane), Rev Charles Mayes and Hector Mayes were all born in this house.</p><br>
<p>In 1922 Mayes retired to northern New South Wales and Walter Watts occupied the house until Dr Albert Furness acquired it in 1936 and he employed noted Toowoomba architect William Hodgen for alterations. Hodgens specifications include changes to the garage and laundry, adding panelling in the dining room, installing electric light switches and polishing woodwork in the dining room, drawing room and master bedroom. Dr Furness sold it to the Young Womens Christian Association (YMCA) of Toowoomba in 1945.</p><br>
<p>The Young Women&#39;s Christian Association was founded in the 1850s in England to provide accommodation for women and girls. It soon spread to America and Europe, and is now an international organisation. The first Queensland branch was formed in Rockhampton in 1888 and Brisbane in 1890. A branch was established in Toowoomba in 1932 due to the initiatives of Lady Groom, wife of the local Member of the Australian House of Representatives, Littleton Groom.</p><br>
<p>During World War II the Toowoomba YWCA offered leave accommodation to servicewomen. The need for their own large premises saw the 1945 president, and South Girls School headmistress, Miss Aileen Myfanwy Wadley, with a deposit of £50 able to acquire a loan to purchase Largo for the YWCA.</p><br>
<p>Renamed Gowrie House, after Lady Gowrie the wife of the Australian Governor General Alexander Hore-Ruthven, 1st Earl of Gowrie, the site became the Toowoomba Young Women&#39;s Christian Association hostel. Mayor JD Annand officially opened it on 10 November 1945 as a hostel for young working and service girls.</p><br>
<p>The Toowoomba Chronicle of 12 November 1945 described the new hostel, saying how it was ideally situated on an acre of ground with mature shady trees and turf lawn and "should provide a happy atmosphere for many students and Service girls away from home". The solid brick house had a central hall off, which were four spacious rooms with fireplaces and large windows and doors which opened onto wide verandahs. These large rooms with cedar-framed windows, doors and mantle pieces had been converted into dormitories sleeping four to six girls. The veranda on the northern side had also been converted into a dormitory, just off this sleepout was "the bathroom with gas heater, set-in basin, bath and shower". Of three smaller rooms one would be used for the matron and the others for dressing rooms. At the end of the hall was a huge cedar-panelled dining room with eight tables each seating six girls. Facing east it opened onto a fernery and side garden. The staff room, servery and well-equipped kitchen opened off the south side of the dining room.</p><br>
<p>Increase in country girls wanting secondary education and needing accommodation in Toowoomba resulted in construction of Wadley Wing in the late 1950s. Increase in accommodation needs of business and secondary students necessitated further expansion, with a new wing named after past president Margaret Hofmann opened by 1971. It replaced a couple of army huts that had been used by senior girls.</p><br>
<p>With the Education Department&#39;s policy of building country high schools the number of girls requiring accommodation in Toowoomba reduced, however, there was a need for male apprentice accommodation, so in 1979 the branch adjusted to YWCA policy of admitting males and females to Gowrie House.</p><br>
<p>Due to the growth in tertiary education facilities and students in Toowoomba and disabled students needing accommodation in the late 1980s, the YWCA launched a major building appeal programme. The aim was to increase accommodation to 42, erect a new ablution and laundry block, and additions of kitchen, dining room and activities room plus wheelchair facilities. Fund raising, donations and a grant through the Queensland Government Housing Accommodation Assistance Scheme enabled the expansion.</p><br>
<p>Extra facilities and accommodation have been added to the house over time, so that it could cope with pressure of changing times, for example wheel chair access and increased accommodation by adding new wings, as well as modernising and maintaining the complex. The Gowrie House complex is the association&#39;s Toowoomba headquarters and is the only remaining Queensland YWCA owned hostel that continues to provide accommodation to students, disabled persons, travellers and members with its 42 rooms that include single, double and twin rooms.</p><br>
<p>A 1995 survey of Toowoomba&#39;s heritage places, Toowoomba inner residential area heritage study, included Gowrie House as a place of special consideration sites.</p><br>
<h2>Description</h2><br>
<p>Gowrie House is a large, low-set brick residence located on a large block on the corner of Mary and Arthur Streets, Toowoomba.</p><br>
<p>The core of this brick house has a symmetrical front facade; a central entrance porch separating bay windows which extend through the veranda roof and are surmounted by a finial. The steep hipped corrugated iron roof rises to a lace-trimmed widow&#39;s walk.</p><br>
<p>It is built of 23–32 cm thick cavity bricks on foundations of bluestone from Harlaxton quarry, and the limited subfloor has hit-and-miss brick infill. Wide concrete steps lead up to a prominent portico with "Largo" etched in the fretwork gable pediment which is supported by paired timber posts while the wide veranda is edged by intricate iron lace. Use of lighter coloured bricks for quoins framing windows and wall edges is also employed and this emphasises the separation of higher and lower gutter lines as do the timber brackets supporting the superior roof.</p><br>
<p>An arch with a timber panelled base and stained glass above frames the wide six-panel front door. The arch above the door consists of three arcs, stained glass separated by concrete. The U-shaped veranda is enclosed on the northern side, while on the southern side it terminates at a gable-roofed room. Concrete stairs from the veranda give access to the garden while a door surmounted by a fanlight give entrance to a bay-windowed room. The bay window has sash windows with concrete lintel and sill. Attention is drawn to the crenellated roof by the use of coloured brickwork. Above this is a flying gable with a finial.</p><br>
<p>As is typical with such houses, the service facilities are less ornate, so that the room on the other side of this gable-roofed room has the same double sash windows, lintel and sill but has a shallower hip roof. A small porch gives access to this room.</p><br>
<p>The three vented chimneys, unusual exterior sash windows and window decoration are typical of Harry Marks designs.</p><br>
<p>Internally, the building is largely intact. Apart from the modern kitchen, and a door opening between two of the former bedrooms, there are few changes. Surviving details in the house include doors, skirtings, all fire surrounds, plaster ceilings, coving, windows and stained glass. The original gas lamp remains in the entry.</p><br>
<p>Gowrie House is set back from the road and a new garden has been constructed around its western and southern elevations, while the grounds include several mature trees.</p><br>
<h2>Heritage listing</h2><br>
<p>Gowrie House was listed on the Queensland Heritage Register on 25 August 2000 having satisfied the following criteria.</p><br>
<p>The place is important in demonstrating the evolution or pattern of Queensland&#39;s history.</p><br>
<p>Acquired by the Young Women&#39;s Christian Association of Toowoomba in 1945, it offered secure accommodation to young women working and studying in Toowoomba until 1979 when societal changes meant that both sexes could obtain lodgings in this old house. It is the only YWCA owned hostel still operating in Queensland. The use of the building and subsequent additions reflect the changes in accommodation needs for females and value of the YWCA to the community.</p><br>
<p>The place is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a particular class of cultural places.</p><br>
<p>Gowrie House displays the inventiveness and creativity typical of Marks&#39; design work and is an excellent example of the architects work.</p><br>
<p>The place is important because of its aesthetic significance.</p><br>
<p>It is one of a number of extant buildings designed by the Mark&#39;s family that contribute to the architectural character of Toowoomba.</p><br>
<p>The place has a special association with the life or work of a particular person, group or organisation of importance in Queensland&#39;s history.</p><br>
<p>Gowrie House, a large low-set brick building designed by prominent Toowoomba architect HJ Marks for leading building contractor Alexander Mayes. Mayes was a Mayor of Toowoomba and active in community organisations. Gowrie House is significant for its association with both these Toowoomba identities</p><br>
<p>Karingal Chambers is a heritage-listed shopping centre at 386-388 Ruthven Street, Toowoomba, Toowoomba Region, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by Henry James  Marks and built from to. It is also known as Krimmers Chambers and Rowbotham Chambers. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 28 April 1997.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>Karingal Chambers is a two storeyed rendered masonry building erected on the corner of Ruthven and Bell Streets for Charles Rowbotham. It is attributed to Toowoomba architects, James Marks and Sons.</p><br>
<p>Rowbotham was a business man, whose family manufactured and imported all classes of shoes. For some years he was a Toowoomba councillor and was Mayor from 1901-02. He acquired the Ruthven Street site, on which a building apparently already existed, in 1906 and mortgaged the property to the Bank of New South Wales for £5,000. The first recording of the name, Rowbotham Chambers, occurs in 1910, however according to the facade the date of the building is 1913. It is believed that Harry Marks, who used the distinctive triangular bay window on his own home erected in 1906, St Rest (now known as Gladstone House), was responsible for the design of the building. Additions along Bell Street may have been added after 1913.</p><br>
<p>The ground floor contained shops whose tenants included the Frankfort Sausage Co and baker and confectioner, David Webster and later Toowoomba confectioners, caterers, and pastrycooks, TK Lamb and Co Ltd, who operated tea rooms there. The first floor contained offices, including for a number of years, dressmaker, Miss E Rynne and dancing and physical culture teacher, Miss C Marson.</p><br>
<p>In 1925, the property was acquired by William Charles Krimmer and the building became known as Krimmers Chambers. It remained in the Krimmer family until 1974, when it was transferred to members of the Sklavos family and later to Western Properties Pty Ltd. In, alterations were undertaken which involved work to the ground floor of Karingal Chambers so as to form an arcade with the adjoining property, which became known as Karingal Arcade. In 1991 the property was acquired by the current owners. The ground floor is leased to a number of shops owners and the upper floor to a womens clothing manufacturer.</p><br>
<h2>Description</h2><br>
<p>Karingal Chambers is a two-storeyed rendered masonry building with a pitched corrugated iron roof which occupies a corner site bound by Ruthven Street, Bell Street Mall and Bank Lane. The Ruthven Street facade is parapeted, and decorated with classical elements. The building has a long rectangular C-shaped plan running east-west, which wraps around a centrally located service core of toilets, corridor and stairs. A passageway bisecting the eastern end of the building links to the adjacent Karingal Arcade, and gives access to the service core. The ground floor has been extensively refurbished, and contains six shops. The upper floor contains offices, workshop and storage areas. Changes in brickwork, roofline, lintels and internal linings suggest that the building was built in three stages extending to the east.</p><br>
<p>The western end of the upper floor consists of a series of offices (some now used for storage) surrounding a large central storage area which are lined with thin VJ timbers, fine picture rails and timber trims forming panels. The rooms overlooking Ruthven Street have arched timber-framed windows with coloured glass in gridded panes to the upper lights, except the centre room which sits behind a recess in the facade which has new aluminium windows. An office overlooking Bell Street Mall has a triangular shaped bay window which also has coloured glass in gridded panes.</p><br>
<p>The central storage area has a substantial skylight with clerestory lighting, and a smaller, chimney-like skylight. These skylights appear to be unrelated to the organisation of the rooms below them, suggesting that the timber walls are part of an early twentieth century refurbishment. Two larger workrooms extending further to the east are lined with sheeting and coverstrips, and a large workroom to the rear appears to have been refitted s.</p><br>
<p>The elevation to Ruthven St is a symmetrical composition with a central trabeated alcove flanked by tall windows and pilasters, and spanned by a pediment set in a parapet with a balustrade. The pediment has a cornice with dentils, and a ribbon in relief, framing a badge with "1913" on it. The columns and pilasters have corinthian capitals, and meet a substantial cornice decorated with square and rectangular motifs, which is inscribed with the words "Karingal Chambers". The four central windows are arched, with exaggerated voussoirs, while the two outermost windows are surmounted with small pediments.</p><br>
<p>The Bell Street Mall elevation is divided into three by changes in the detailing, brickwork and roofline. The western end has arched doorways with keystones to its base, and flat arched windows with exaggerated voussoirs either side of the triangular bay window above. The rest of the facade has more modest flat arched windows.</p><br>
<p>The building contains some fine interior features, in particular the windows and VJ linings and panels to the western end of the building. The Ruthven Street frontage contributes to streetscape in scale and detail as one of a series of decorative early twentieth century facades on Toowoomba&#39;s main street.</p><br>
<h2>Heritage listing</h2><br>
<p>Karingal Chambers was listed on the Queensland Heritage Register on 28 April 1997 having satisfied the following criteria.</p><br>
<p>The place is important in demonstrating the evolution or pattern of Queensland&#39;s history.</p><br>
<p>The place is one of a number of buildings, including Pigott&#39;s Building and White Horse Hotel contributing to the streetscape of Ruthven Street and demonstrating the development and continuing importance of Ruthven Street.</p><br>
<p>The place is important because of its aesthetic significance.</p><br>
<p>Karingal Chambers in Toowoomba is important in exhibiting a range of aesthetic characteristics valued by the community, in particular the contribution in scale and detail of the Ruthven Street frontage to the streetscape; and the interior which contains some fine decorative elements, including the windows and VJ linings and panels to the western end of the building.</p><br>
<p>In addition, Karingal Chambers forms an important townscape element of the Bell Street Mall.</p><br>
<p>The place has a special association with the life or work of a particular person, group or organisation of importance in Queensland&#39;s history.</p><br>
<p>It is an example of the eclectic range of the commercial work of Toowoomba architects, James Marks and Sons.</p><br>
<p>Kensington is a heritage-listed villa at 126 Russell Street, Toowoomba, Toowoomba Region, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by William Hodgen Junior and built in 1897. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 28 July 2000.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>Kensington is a large, low-set, timber building at 126 Russell Street, Toowoomba. Toowoomba architect William Hodgen Junior designed Kensington in 1897 for successful draper George Pitlow Merry. Purchased in the early 1990s by a legal firm, Victorian architect Jack Clark was responsible for the refurbishment of the house and extension at the rear to create a building suitable for usage as a professional office.</p><br>
<p>William Hodgen established his Toowoomba practice with an advertisement in the Darling Downs Gazette of 6 February 1897 announcing he was a new Toowoomba architect. Growth and development in both Toowoomba and the Downs and his own efficient work meant he soon had a busy and successful practice. While trained in Queensland, his London experiences and knowledge of the Arts and Crafts movement and Edwardian Classicism were expressed in some of his buildings. However, he tended to employ a Free style, modifying the prevailing Queensland vernacular by introducing individualist elements. His English experiences are reflected in the classicist detailing of entrance pediments using timber, joinery and internal fittings. Hodgen was in practice for 43 years and he designed a large number of buildings varying from small cottages to sporting facilities, halls and large complex hotels in Toowoomba and on the Darling Downs.</p><br>
<p>Hodgen designed Kensington as a large timber residence of eight rooms costing £1,035. It was a variation on Hodgens standard cottage plan with corner bay windows that were articulated in the form of the roof, the side elevations with a gable over the dining room bay window and secondary entrance and a box roof over the core. His design also included a butlers pantry, servery and outbuildings.</p><br>
<p>GP Merry established his millinery and dressmaking business in Ruthven Street in 1894. The Darling Downs Gazette and Toowoomba Telegraph of 22 December 1894 in an evaluation of Christmas offerings remarked that Merry had decorated his two windows in the Toowoomba Exchange for his first Christmas in Toowoomba. While he catered for men and women, his windows displayed millinery, dress material and all those articles necessary to complete a lady&#39;s toilet.</p><br>
<p>Merry took the opportunity of acquiring a large allotment when Kensington Estate with 38 cleared allotments between Russell, Margaret, West and Cecil Streets and close to the city, railway station, churches and schools was auctioned 25 March 1897. In his wife Sophias name he acquired land adjoining the late James Taylors Clifford House fence. While GP Merry was in trade, the Merrys were part of the Toowoomba social scene and used their home for entertaining friends. Irish born Mrs Merry a staunch member of the Methodist church was involved in various philanthropic work such as the Ladies Benevolent Society and Brodribb Home. GP Merry sold his business in 1905 and he and his wife took the opportunity to go "home" (England) for a visit.</p><br>
<p>Dr David Horn and his wife Amelia moved into Kensington in 1912. Scottish born David and his brother Alexander established Carlton High School in Christmas Street, Toowoomba, in 1897, but in 1901 the brothers decided to return to Scotland and study medicine at Aberdeen University. On their return in 1907 both established medical practices in Toowoomba.</p><br>
<p>Between February 1919 and August 1922 two different families occupied Kensington. Firstly Mrs Edith Pauline Brasnett wife of William Leslie Brasnett of Murwillumbah then George Harcourt Crowther.</p><br>
<p>Solicitor Arnold E Lavers, his wife Ruby (née Wilcox) and family moved into Kensington in 1922. Arnold Lavers resigned his position of First Clerk in the Crown Solicitor&#39;s Office moving to Toowoomba to become a partner in Groom and Lavers in 1909. He was a prominent member of the Queensland legal profession and in 1977 celebrated 60 years as a solicitor. Lavers, a founding member of the Toowoomba Rotary Club, was actively involved with the community and served on the Toowoomba Ambulance Brigade, Toowoomba Choral Society, Toowoomba Grammar School Trustees as well as being busy with the legal profession. After his death on 9 December 1968, tribute was paid to his long legal service to the Toowoomba City Council and the community. A former chairman of the Downs and South-Western Law Association Lavers was held in high esteem by the legal profession. A friend of George Essex Evans and Hoey "Steele Rudd", he supported the Ladies Literary Society and was well known for his love of poetry.</p><br>
<p>A new owner in 1973 refurbished this private residence. Sold again in 1977, the house became a family residence and doctors surgery. Kensington was up for auction in 1984 and an article "Links with past" in Queensland Grain Grower of 15 February 1984 stated that Kensington had been skillfully refurbished. While upgraded for modern living it retained its cedar doors and archways, marble, ebony and cedar fireplaces, and wide verandahs trimmed with lace panels, however, the kitchen had been modernised. The large master bedroom featured built-in robes and ensuite, the drawing room had a parquetry floor and was large enough for a grand piano. The large garden had exotic shrubs and native trees, while a mature oak tree provided privacy for the swimming pool.</p><br>
<p>Kensington opened as one of Toowoomba&#39;s superior restaurants in 1987. Features of this new restaurant were the entrance with intricate stained glass panels, original cedar doors, windows, architraves and skirting boards, but alterations involved removing a wall and fireplace to create a dining room that could seat 70 comfortably. The size of the house meant the use of the back of house for three bedrooms for the owner/manager and family, with family room, study, rear garden and swimming pool for private use.</p><br>
<p>In 1990 two law firms who combined to become one of the largest in Toowoomba purchased Kensington. They spent over $1,000,000 on restoration, expansion and landscaping using Melbourne architect Jack Clark. The firm moved into the 300 square metre house and rear extension of 450 square metres in July 1991, with the new premises officially opened by Governor-General Bill Hayden on 28 August 1991.</p><br>
<p>In 2017, Kensington is occupied by the Toowoomba-based law firm Hede Byrne and Hall Solicitors.</p><br>
<h2>Description</h2><br>
<p>Kensington is a single storey timber building located on a large block of land facing Russell Street, Toowoomba.</p><br>
<p>Kensington has a symmetrical front facade that combines Classical Revival and Arts and Crafts motifs. A central gabled entrance separates a pair of semi-octagonal corner bay windows that project above the roof. The steeply pitched corrugated iron hip roof rises to a widow&#39;s walk which features a finial at corners and cast iron lace. This roof capping is repeated for bays and side gable. Tall chimneys are symmetrically placed. While low-set it has a "hit-and-miss" brick subfloor.</p><br>
<p>Simple wide concrete steps lead up to a carefully detailed entrance bay, with the classical-style pediment resting on an arch supported by posts. The wide verandah, which wraps around to both sides, is edged with cast iron lace. Simple unadorned posts support the convex verandah roof that is stepped down from the superior roof with its pairs of brackets supporting the guttering. The eastern elevation has a projecting gable for the side entrance.</p><br>
<p>Connected to the house on the eastern elevation is the modern staff area which has a low-pitch hip roof. The extension at the rear of the house is a long rectangular building capped by a low-pitched roof. The encircling verandah employs the same decorative features as used on the older parts.</p><br>
<p>The front and side garden is landscaped and contains mature camellias, pines, palms and other trees, while low hedges edge paths. The long tree-lined drive on the eastern side leads to parking at the sides and rear of the property.</p><br>
<h2>Heritage listing</h2><br>
<p>Kensington was listed on the Queensland Heritage Register on 28 July 2000 having satisfied the following criteria.</p><br>
<p>The place is important in demonstrating the evolution or pattern of Queensland&#39;s history.</p><br>
<p>Kensington a large timber dwelling was designed in 1897 by prominent architect William Hodgen as a private residence for successful draper GP Merry. Its usage as a family home for prominent Toowoomba identities such as solicitor Arnold Lavers, 1980s conversion to a restaurant and refurbished and extended in the early 1990s by Victorian architect Jack Clark for use as professional offices demonstrates the evolution of usage and form that occurs with Queensland houses.</p><br>
<p>Erected in the late 1890s Kensington, illustrates the pattern of Toowoomba&#39;s development as a regional centre for southern Queensland and demonstrates the principal characteristics of an 1890s ornate timber Toowoomba house.</p><br>
<p>The place is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a particular class of cultural places.</p><br>
<p>Kensington is a well designed and finely detailed house. It is an excellent example of a large timber home designed by prominent architect William Hodgen which contributes to the architectural character of Toowoomba.</p><br>
<p>Erected in the late 1890s Kensington, illustrates the pattern of Toowoomba&#39;s development as a regional centre for southern Queensland and demonstrates the principal characteristics of an 1890s ornate timber Toowoomba house.</p><br>
<p>The place is important because of its aesthetic significance.</p><br>
<p>It is an excellent example of a large timber home designed by prominent architect William Hodgen which contributes to the architectural character of Toowoomba.</p><br>
<p>The place has a special association with the life or work of a particular person, group or organisation of importance in Queensland&#39;s history.</p><br>
<p>It is an excellent example of a large timber home designed by prominent architect William Hodgen which contributes to the architectural character of Toowoomba.</p><br>
<p>Ince Blundell Hall is a former country house near the village of Ince Blundell, in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton, Merseyside, England. It was built between 1720 and 1750 for Robert Blundell, the lord of the manor, and was designed by Henry Sephton, a local mason-architect. Robert&#39;s son, Henry, was a collector of paintings and antiquities, and he built impressive structures in the grounds of the hall in which to house them. In the 19th century the estate passed to the Weld family. Thomas Weld Blundell modernised and expanded the house, and built an adjoining chapel. In the 1960s the house and estate were sold again, and have since been run as a nursing home by the Canonesses of St. Augustine of the Mercy of Jesus.</p><br>
<p>The hall is Georgian in style, and consists of a main block with a service block linked at a right-angle to its rear. The hall is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II* listed building. Some of the buildings associated with the hall are also designated at this grade; these are the Pantheon and the Garden Temple, both of which were built by Henry Blundell for his collection of statues, the chapel, and a building known as the Old Hall. In the garden and grounds of the hall are nine structures listed at Grade II; these include the stables, a monument, a sundial, gateways and a lodge, and the base of a medieval wayside cross.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The manor of Ince Blundell was held by the Blundell family from the 12th century. Nevertheless, by legal transactions and advantageous marriages the Blundell family acquired more possessions; by the end of the 18th century they held 15 manors together with other property, some of it as far away as Liverpool and Preston.</p><br>
<p>The present house was built by Robert Blundell (1700–73) who inherited the estate in 1711. Building began in about 1720, and it was finished by 1750. The house was designed by Henry Sephton, who was the "leading mason-architect in the area" at that time. In 1761 Robert Blundell moved from the house to Liverpool, and the estate passed to his eldest son, Henry (1724–1810). Henry then started to extend the house by adding what he described as "a large body of offices" at right-angles to the main block, and he did this "without the help of a Wyat (sic) or any architect". In the grounds he designed and built a stable block and greenhouses, created a kitchen garden, and landscaped the park, which included a lake and a ha-ha. He built a wall around the perimeter of the estate, and designed one, and possibly two, of the gateways.</p><br>
<p>Henry Blundell was a collector, first of paintings and later of statues and antiquities, the collection amounting to over 500 items. In order to house them at Ince Blundell, he constructed a series of buildings in the grounds of the hall. Initially he kept his collection in a series of greenhouses, but in about 1790–92 he built the Garden Temple, a building in Classical style. This was followed in about 1802–05 by a more impressive building, the Pantheon, its design based on the Pantheon in Rome. When Henry died in 1810, the hall passed to his son, Charles. He died childless in 1837, and the estate passed to Thomas Weld, a cousin. He took the name of Thomas Weld Blundell, and restored, refurnished and redecorated the hall. In the mid-19th century a large bay window was added to the west side of the Drawing Room, and a new Dining Room was built at the east end. Ceilings were raised, and interior decoration was carried out by the firm of Crace. Weld Blundell added a new vestibule to connect the Gallery, the Dining Room, and the Pantheon. The portico of the Pantheon became the new main entrance to the hall, and the Pantheon itself the reception hall. What had been the original chapel became the organ loft of a new large two-storey chapel designed by J. J. Scoles.</p><br>
<p>During the Second World War the hall, its buildings and park were used by the War Office and the Admiralty, and additional buildings were erected. Five parachute bombs fell near the hall, one of them blowing out all the windows in the garden front. By 1960 the estate was "seriously dilapidated", and it was decided to sell the hall and the surrounding land. The farms went to the sitting tenants, and the chapel, which had been used as a parish church since 1947, was given to the Archdiocese of Liverpool. The hall was bought by the Canonesses of St. Augustine of the Mercy of Jesus, who adapted it for use as a nursing home. It was officially opened as such on 27 May 1961 by the Rt Revd John Heenan, who was at that time the Archbishop of Liverpool. Much work had to be done to make the building fit for its new purpose, including making it weather-proof, installing central heating, a lift, and a washbasin in each bedroom. A new entrance was created at the back of the hall, with access for wheelchairs. The former Gallery was converted into a chapel for the use of staff and residents. Henry Blundell&#39;s wing is used partly to provide services for the hall, and partly by the sisters as a convent. The sisters and staff of the hall continue to provide nursing and other care for the elderly.</p><br>
<h2>Architecture</h2><br>
<h3>Exterior</h3><br>
<p>Ince Blundell Hall is in Georgian style. It is constructed in brick with sandstone dressings, and has an L-shaped plan. The main block faces southeast; it is in two storeys with an attic, and has a front of nine bays. Richard Pollard and Nikolaus Pevsner describe the front as being in late English Baroque style, and consider that it was "evidently inspired" by the front of Buckingham Palace, London. Between the upper storey and the attic is an entablature with a cornice and a panelled parapet. The central three bays project forward, the lower storeys are flanked by pairs of giant pilasters, and at the sides of the central doorway are giant columns. There are more pilasters at the ends of the building, and in the central three bays of the attic. All the pilasters and columns are Corinthian in style. The windows are sashes and are surrounded by architraves. The ground floor windows in the central bays have segmental heads with keystones, and those in the outer bays have friezes and pediments carried on consoles. Below the upper floor windows are panelled aprons and consoles. The central doorway has a segmental head and a keystone carved with the Blundell arms. At the corners of the front are quoins.</p><br>
<p>To the right of the main block is a 19th-century single-storey wing with five bays, the central three of which are canted. Behind is a single-storey block, linking the main block to the service block, which is at right angles to the rear. The service block is Henry Blundell&#39;s "offices", and is in Palladian style. It faces southwest, is in two storeys, and has a seven-bay front, plus a three-storey three-bay pavilion to the right. The central three bays of the service block project forward under a pediment. Above the central porch is a Diocletian window. There is a clock in the gable, and over the pediment is a cupola carried on Tuscan columns. The windows are sashes with wedge lintels. The central bay of the pavilion is round-headed and recessed, and its windows are a mixture of Diocletian, tripartite, and oculi.</p><br>
<h3>Interior</h3><br>
<p>When the house was first built, the main entrance was through the centre of the southeast face, which led into an entrance hall. Following the alterations carried out by Weld Blundell in the 19th century, the portico of the Pantheon became the new main entrance. When the house was converted into a nursing home, a new entrance was created at the rear. At the time the Weld Blundell family moved from the house, the entrance hall was used as a Library, the Drawing Room was to the left, and a Billiard Room to the right. To the right of this was the Dining Room, and behind it was the Gallery. The Billiard Room has become the Music Room, the former Library is a lounge for the residents, and the former Gallery is the chapel for the staff and residents.</p><br>
<p>The interior of the house has retained much of the decoration carried out by Crace. The ceiling contains Rococo plasterwork dating from about 1750 depicting symbols relating to music and hunting, together with representations of learning and cultivation. On the walls are paintings by Crace. Pollard and Pevsner refer to these as being "delicately pretty Raphaelesque decoration". The former Entrance Hall is "small, simple and sober", and the Staircase Hall behind it is "not a grand space at all". The Dining Room, also decorated by Crace, contains oak panelling on the walls, and painted panels in the ceiling. The oak fireplace replaces the original marble fireplace that was removed when the Weld Blundell family left the house. There is also a scheme of Crace decoration in the former Gallery.</p><br>
<h2>Associated structures</h2><br>
<h3>Pantheon</h3><br>
<p>The Pantheon is at the angle between the main block and the service block. It is built in stone with a lead dome and has a circular plan. On the southeast side is an Ionic portico with four columns, a frieze, and a cornice. On the exterior are niches and panels with reliefs. Inside is an Ionic pilastrade, a frieze decorated with triglyphs and roundels, and niches for statues, four of which are in the shape of Venetian windows. The interior of the dome is coffered, and it has a central glazed oculus, which is the only source of lighting for the building.</p><br>
<h3>Garden Temple</h3><br>
<p>The Garden Temple, which is in the form of a temple, stands in the grounds to the south of the hall. It was probably designed by William Everard, and it was restored in about 2000. The building is mainly in stuccoed brick with stone dressings, and has a hipped roof. On the front is a Tuscan portico with four columns, reliefs, and busts, and in the pediment is a mask. The frieze contains a Latin inscription, which translates as "In this place it is summer and winter all year round", referring to the fact that the building was heated by air from external fireplaces. Behind the portico is a three-bay palistrade, and a central entrance flanked by niches and with a relief above. Inside there are recesses for statues, two in the shape of Venetian windows. Some Roman masks and relief panels have been set into the walls.</p><br>
<h3>Old Hall</h3><br>
<p>Despite its name, this was not the previous hall, as the present hall was built on the site of the older hall. Its original purpose is unknown, and in the 19th century it was used for drying hops. The building stands in the grounds to the southwest of the hall. It is in brick with stone dressings, and has a roof partly of stone-slate and partly of slate. The building has three storeys and a front of five irregular bays. The windows are mullioned, and the entrances have quoins and large lintels with slight Tudor arches.</p><br>
<h3>Church of the Holy Family</h3><br>
<p>The church is at right angles to the north end of the service block. It was originally the family chapel, and has since been used as a Roman Catholic parish church. It was built in 1858–60 and designed by J. J. Scoles. The church is in brick with stone dressings and has a slate roof. The exterior is relatively plain, but the interior is elaborately decorated, some of which may have been executed by Crace; there are also paintings by Gebhard Flatz.</p><br>
<h3>Stables</h3><br>
<p>The stables are in the grounds to the southwest of the hall. They were built in about 1800–14, and are in brick with stone dressings and a hipped slate roof. The stables are in two storeys and have a nine-bay front, the central three bays projecting forward under a pedimented gable. In the centre is a recessed round-headed entrance with angle pilasters, an archivolt, and a keystone. Above this is a Diocletian window. Elsewhere the windows in the ground floor are sashes with wedge lintels, and those in the upper storey are oculi. There are more round-headed recesses in the end bays, and a 20th-century garage to the north.</p><br>
<h3>Garden structures</h3><br>
<p>In the garden to the south of the main block is a monument in the form of a marble Tuscan column on a stone plinth. It carries an eagle, and dates from the early 19th century. To the southwest of the hall is a sundial dated 1741. This consists of a stone baluster, and its metal plate is missing. Further to the southwest is an octagonal structure built into the wall of the kitchen garden. It is in stuccoed brick with a slate roof, and has a round-headed entrance and a keystone decorated with an acanthus. This flanked by recesses, and there are more recesses inside. Also within the grounds of the hall is the base of a medieval wayside cross, which is a scheduled monument.</p><br>
<h3>Gates and lodge</h3><br>
<p>The most impressive entrance to the grounds is the Lion Gate on the A565 road to the south of the hall. It was designed by Henry Blundell in the 1770s, its Baroque style design copied from a gateway in the background of one of his paintings, the Marriage of Bacchus and Ariadne by Sebastiano Ricci. The gate is constructed in sandstone and consists of a central round-arched entrance and two flat-headed pedestrian entrances. The central entrance is in Doric style with columns, and an entablature with a triglyph frieze including bucrania and rosettes. On the top is a broken pediment containing a cartouche and an urn decorated with ram&#39;s heads and festoons. The pedestrian entrances have rusticated surrounds. Above one is a statue of a lion, and above the other is a lioness. The entrances contain cast iron gates. The East Gate dates from the 1770s, and was probably also designed by Henry Blundell. It has a round-headed central entrance and flat-headed pedestrian entrances, and is simpler than the Lion Gate. The central entrance is flanked by Ionic pilasters, there is a fluted frieze with a decorated central panel, and a pediment. Above the pedestrian entrances are tented caps decorated with festoons and rosettes.</p><br>
<p>The West Lodge, also on the A565 road, is to the north of the Lion Gate. Dating from the middle of the 19th century it is in French Renaissance style, built in brick with stone dressings and a slate roof. The lodge has three bays, the central lodge with two storeys, and the outer lodges with one storey and attics. The central bay is flanked by pilasters, and has a round-headed entrance with archivolts, a keystone, and decorated spandrels. The windows are round-headed sashes; there is a pair above the entrance, and one in each of the outer bays. In the attics are dormers with ball finials. The outer bays have hipped roofs, the central bay has a pyramidal roof, and all have spike finials. The simplest entrance is the Northeast Gate, dating from the 1770s, consisting of a pair of gate piers with later gates. The rusticated piers are in stone and have moulded caps and flattened ball finials.</p><br>
<h2>Appraisal</h2><br>
<p>Ince Blundell Hall is described by Pollard and Pevsner as a "splendid Georgian house", although they consider Blundell&#39;s service block is "a rather plodding Palladian affair". The hall was designated a Grade II* listed building on 11 October 1968. Also listed at this grade are the Pantheon, the Garden Temple, the Old Hall, and the Church of the Holy Family, along with the park and garden surrounding the hall. Other structures are listed at Grade II, the lowest grade, which is applied to "buildings of national importance and special interest". These are the stables, the column carrying an eagle, the sundial, the octagonal structure, the Lion Gate, the East Gate, the West Lodge, the Northeast Gate, and the base of the wayside cross.</p><br>
<p>The former Defence House is historic office building in Wellington, New Zealand. For many decades the building housed the New Zealand Defence Force, and after a period of vacancy and subsequent extensive refurbishment, it is now occupied by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment.</p><br>
<p>The building is classified as a Category 2 historic building by Heritage New Zealand.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>In 2007, the New Zealand Defence Force moved out of the building after tenanting the building since its construction in the 1940s. The building was no longer fit-for-purpose, and according to the Defence Force: "Despite refurbishments the décor remained dull and dated and the building’s services were inefficient." The Defence Force flags were taken down on 23 February 2007 in a ceremony to close of the building.</p><br>
<p>In December 2012, it was announced that the building would be bought by Argosy Property Management for $33.2 million. A 12-year tenancy agreement was signed between Argosy and the New Zealand Government in January 2013.</p><br>
<h3>Occupation by MBIE</h3><br>
<p>In late 2014, about 2,000 Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment employees moved from five Wellington buildings into the 15 Stout Street building.</p><br>
<p>The relocation had a capital budget of over $18 million, but ultimately $16 million was spent. Operational expenditure on the move was $688,000. The costs involved with the refurbishment were controversial, including the almost $70,000 cost of the MBIE sign outside the building, and the $360,000 cost of office furniture ($1800 per staff member).</p><br>
<p>The Tinau is a Class- II category River originating from the Mahabharat Mountains and flowing through the Siwalik Hills and Terai Plain at Butwal, Nepal before entering the Indian Territory to join the Ganges.</p><br>
<h2>River morphology</h2><br>
<p>The length of the Tinau is 95 km starting from Palpa to Indo-Nepal Border at Marchawar. The catchment area of the river is about 1081 sq. km up to the border.</p><br>
<h2>River flow</h2><br>
<p>The minimum flow of the river is about 2.2 m3/s in April while the calculated 100 years return period flow in 2500m3/s.</p><br>
<p>The maximum recorded flow at DHM station no 390 is as follows:</p><br>
<h2>Floods</h2><br>
<p>1981</p><br>
<p>In 1981, there was a huge flood that destroyed two suspension bridges and the powerhouse shaft of Himal Hydro.</p><br>
<p>2007</p><br>
<p>In the flood of 2007 at least 500 households of Butwal municipality were displaced.</p><br>
<p>2008</p><br>
<p>In 2008, due to outburst of Koshi embankment, about 250 households were displace in Butwal municipality due to the flood.</p><br>
<p>Thomasville Downtown Historic District is a national historic district located at Thomasville, Davidson County, North Carolina. The district encompasses 46 contributing buildings, 1 contributing site, 2 contributing structures, and 2 contributing objects in the central business district of Thomasville. It includes commercial and governmental buildings built between 1871 and 1938. Located in the district is the separately listed Thomasville Railroad Passenger Depot. Other notable contributing resources include The Big Chair , the former City Hall , the former Davidson County Office Building, the former United States Post Office ,  Davidson County Office Building , the Dr. Orien R. Hodgin Dental Office, the North State Telephone Warehouse , First National Bank of Thomasville , C. R. Thomas Block , and the Lambeth Furniture Company/Thomasville Chair Company.</p><br>
<p>It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2005.</p><br>
<p>Lexington Residential Historic District is a national historic district located at Lexington, Davidson County, North Carolina. The district encompasses 804 contributing buildings, 1 contributing site, and 1 contributing structure in a predominantly residential section of Lexington. They were built between about 1854 and 1957, and include notable examples of Queen Anne and Bungalow / American Craftsman style architecture. The subdivisions in the district are Park Place, Robbins Heights, Courtenay, Rosemary Park, Hillcrest, Oak Crest, and Westover Heights; along with the Lexington City Cemetery. Notable buildings include Hillside , Brookshire House , Wennonah Mill houses , N. Earl and Daphne Rose House , Charles M. and Jean Wall House , Parkview Apartments , Lexington Shirt Corporation Factory/Hulin Lumber Company , and Nicholson Supermarket .</p><br>
<p>It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2007.</p><br>
<p>The Allin House is a historic house located at 515 Columbia Street in Helena-West Helena, Arkansas.</p><br>
<h2>Description and history</h2><br>
<p>It is a two-story brick structure, with a hip roof topped by a flat section once surrounded by either iron or wooden railings. The main facade has a two-story porch, supported by six simple wooden posts, with an ornate entablature and paired brackets in the cornice above the posts. The main roof line also has paired brackets. The house was probably built in the 1850s, and is noted for its transitional Italianate-Queen Anne styling. It is also notable as the home from 1868 to his death in 1881 of Henderson Robinson, an African-American who served in a variety of county offices during the Reconstruction Era after the American Civil War.</p><br>
<p>The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on June 4, 1973.</p><br>
<p>Men&#39;s Toilet is a heritage-listed public toilet at Russell Street, Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia. It was built in 1919. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 6 June 1994.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The urinal was built in 1919 and is situated in Russell Street opposite the Toowoomba railway station. The immediate social context for the urinal is to be found in the relevant history of Toowoomba. By the late nineteenth century, the lack of sanitation in Toowoomba became a pressing local issue. Earth closets were in a disgraceful condition and typhoid fever was prevalent. It was in these circumstances that Toowoombas health program, and that of Queensland generally, began to take shape. Boards of Health were established but no real success was achieved until the first years of the twentieth century. Despite improved sanitary services, Toowoomba had 98 cases of enteric fever (typhoid) in 1916 although by 1918 this had dropped to 17. The foremost mover in these plans was Dr Thomas Arthur Price, public health advocate and mayor of Toowoomba in 1919. The lack of a sewerage system had a major effect upon the provision and type of sanitation, especially for public toilets. Until a sewerage system was installed, all public toilets either had to be in a location where they could be cleaned by a pan service or else operated purely as urinals where the urine could be flushed away to a drain as normal dirty water. A pan service could scarcely be provided in the middle of busy city streets. It is for this reason that womens toilets were located in buildings or some discreet spot, while men could enjoy the use of dedicated urinals in the streets. This was the situation in Toowoomba until 1919. Public toilets with closets were available at the Toowoomba railway station for both men and women and there were a number of iron urinals for men in the streets of the city. These iron urinals were equipped with a water tank for the purposes of cleansing. They operated successfully, but in 1918, the Council recommended their removal and planned better facilities. This is when the new toilet in Russell Street was planned and built.</p><br>
<p>The original plans are unsigned but were probably drawn by the Toowoomba City Engineer, Mr Creagh. The urinal stalls were originally connected to the nearby drain; the closet was cleaned by a pan changing service. The whole ensemble was only connected to the sewerage system in 1926. The manhole covers at the rear of the toilet may date from the time of the sewerage connection. In 1933 plans were made to alter the building but these were not carried out. The building was originally set in a "rockery and garden" which may have been destroyed after the Second World War. Certainly nothing now remains of the original rockery except perhaps the palm trees at the rear of the toilet.</p><br>
<p>Several factors were involved in the choice of the site. The building was an independent and free-standing toilet which needed both a urine draining system and a pan cleansing service. It therefore had to be near a drain and there had to be space and cover for the pan-changing operation. This may account partly for the location and the associated garden. Not only was the toilet built practically on top of a main drain, it was an easily accessible location, both for users and for the sanitary service men, and with sufficient room for a little garden of modesty and salubrity. A second factor concerns urban design. Dr Price wanted "... a healthy city, a convenient city - good roads, good footpaths, and an easy way of getting about, a beautiful city with trees and parks and gardens." This linking of urban health to urban beauty fits the urinal neatly into a scheme for making the area around the railway station more attractive. There were plans to improve the railway precinct and these may have influenced the decision to site the little building with its garden at the city end of the railway station. The street facade of the urinal is certainly handsome enough to suit an urban beauty program. Indeed, this secondary role of urban design may explain why the toilet has quite such a delightful facade. In this sense, urban beauty became a sign of urban health.</p><br>
<p>Being between the railway station and the main part of the city, the toilet was very handy for as many people as possible provided, of course, they were men. There were womens toilets in the city, but generally more public toilets were provided for men than for women. The Russell Street urinal, taken in this context, is a visible example of the difficulties women had in managing a public life. But the urinal also demonstrates something of the lack of impact of technology upon womens public lives. The Russell Street urinal served as a model of how a full sanitary service could be provided in an open public place; and when it was seen to be successful, calls were made to extend the service to women. But the calls were not heeded, and even when a sewerage service was fully operational in the second half of the 1920s, the Council provided no toilets for women. Women had to take the issue up themselves. In 1931 the Country Women&#39;s Association lobbied the Toowoomba City Council for provision of lavatory accommodation for women and children. The Council did nothing and the women had to provide for themselves by opening the CWA Rest Rooms in Margaret Street in 1931.</p><br>
<p>Up until the early part of the twentieth century, the design of dedicated urinals was commonly of the iron pissoir variety (properly called a urinoir) which comprised a decorated iron screen formed into an appropriate spiral shape for both convenience and modesty. They came in single or double versions. There were a number in Brisbane, one originally in Merthyr Road now relocated in Newstead Park. They were made in Brisbane by Evans, Anderson & Phelan. The Russell Street urinal represents a kind of transitional design between the iron pissoir and the fully fledged toilet building. Like the pissoirs, the Russell Street structure has no roof and is designed with a screen instead of doors for maximum convenience. (Only the internal closet has a door.) Public toilets erected immediately after the Russell Street urinal are complete roofed buildings as, for example, the splendid set of lavatories in Toowong Cemetery of 1924. Part of the impulse behind this transition from modesty screens to complete buildings may have been the desire to make the actual style and design of the toilets indicate something about health. The Russell Street urinal is the only known "transitional" toilet design in Queensland.</p><br>
<p>The history of drainage, sanitary services, sewerage systems and public toilets takes its place within the general history of public health in Queensland. Improvements in drainage and sanitary services have done at least as much to procure good health and save lives as any other branch of medicine. This general trend can be traced in Toowoomba very clearly; and the little urinal in Russell Street, in the context of its site, provides much evidence of this achievement.</p><br>
<p>The toilet&#39;s sturdy construction enabled it to survive the 2010–11 Queensland floods; however, the growth of tree roots had caused the building to tilt. In 2013, the construction of a ring road around the Toowoomba city centre required that the toilet be removed. The Toowoomba Regional Council vote to spend $107,425 to engage a heritage masonry company to dismantle the toilet brick-by-brick and reconstruct it to the original plans after the roadworks are completed. The dismantling of the structure commenced on Monday 18 November 2013. All bricks were individually numbered to ensure the structure is authenticately reconstructed in the future. In March 2015, the brick-by-brick reconstruction was commenced by specialist masonry company Queensland Heritage Masonry. However, the reconstructed toilet will not be connected to the sewerage system and the public will available to see it, but not use.</p><br>
<h2>Description</h2><br>
<p>The toilet is almost square in plan (approximately 4m x 4m x 3.5m high) built in brick, and with a concrete floor. The northern (Russell Street) facade has a central arched doorway set in a brick frame and flanked with corner pilasters. Above the door, the word MEN is moulded in cement. (This departs from the plan where the word is GENTS.) The top of this facade has a scalloped moulding which continues around the two sides. The immediate surrounds of the door are presently painted white. There is large patch of white plaster on the western wall which may be the remains of the abortive 1933 alterations. No roof was ever planned or built.</p><br>
<p>A small atrium is formed immediately inside the doorway by a screen, and access is gained to the toilet proper through arched openings at each end of the space. Four porcelain urinals and a water closet are situated along the back (southern) wall. The original plan shows three extra urinals placed against the screen, but these do not appear to have been built. There is now a hand basin here.</p><br>
<p>The original plan shows that the urinal stalls were connected to a main drain by a 4-inch pipe. The closet was an earth closet. A brick archway in the wall at the back of the closet and evidence of brick infill shows where access may have been provided for a pan service.</p><br>
<h2>Heritage listing</h2><br>
<p>The Men&#39;s Toilet in Russell Street, Toowoomba was listed on the Queensland Heritage Register on 6 June 1994 having satisfied the following criteria.</p><br>
<p>The place is important in demonstrating the evolution or pattern of Queensland&#39;s history.</p><br>
<p>As the oldest known existing public urinal in Queensland, the Men&#39;s Toilet in Russell Street, Toowoomba, constructed in 1919, offers evidence of the development of public health in early 20th century Queensland.</p><br>
<p>The facade provides evidence of early ideas about urban improvement, especially the links between urban design and urban health. The lack of a corresponding toilet for women is evidence of the failure of sanitary technology to be extended to impact positively upon women&#39;s public lives.</p><br>
<p>The place is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a particular class of cultural places.</p><br>
<p>The evolving technologies of sanitation are evident in the changes in the fabric of the building. Designed without a roof, the building marks a transition between the simple pissoir and the fully fledged toilet building.</p><br>
<p>The place has a strong or special association with a particular community or cultural group for social, cultural or spiritual reasons.</p><br>
<p>The building takes its place in the rich social fabric of Russell Street.</p><br>
<p>Millbrook is a heritage-listed detached house at 9 Phillip Street, East Toowoomba, Toowoomba, Toowoomba Region, Queensland, Australia. It was built from 1860s to 1900s. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 27 April 2001.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>Millbrook is a large timber dwelling capped with a high pitched, hipped galvanised-iron clad roof. It has a U-shaped verandah, broken at the front by a gable pediment over the entrance lobby and a gabled attic room facing the road. The house was probably built on Ruthven Street in the 1860s as the family home of William Henry Groom. Following his death his widow moved it, in 1902, to Phillip Street.</p><br>
<p>Convicted of stealing, thirteen-year-old William Henry Groom was transported to New South Wales in 1849. In 1854 and 1855 he was charged with gold stealing, the first time he was acquitted but the second time he was imprisoned. Released in 1856 he moved to Drayton, becoming an auctioneer and storekeeper. Marriage in 1859 seemed to stabilise him as he was a prime mover for the establishment of Toowoomba as a municipality and elected the first Toowoomba mayor after municipal status (the Borough of Toowoomba) was granted 24 November 1860. WH Groom was Mayor of Toowoomba, and his wife the Lady Mayoress, seven times, in 1861, 1862, 1863, 1864, 1867, 1883 and 1884. Groom became the first Toowoomba member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly in 1862. As the local member he ensured that Queensland Government revenue assisted Toowoombas physical and civic development and his consistent urging of agrarian land reforms were of immense benefit to small farmers throughout Queensland as well as the Darling Downs. He held his seat for 38 years, before standing and being elected as the districts first Member of the Australian House of Representatives for Darling Downs. Groom was also a successful local business figure who was involved with the foundation of the Toowoomba Grammar School, Toowoomba School of Arts and Toowoomba Permanent Building Society. He was engaged in the Toowoomba Chronicle by 1874 and the sole owner from 1876. In 1900 he restructured the ownership to include his sons, with his eldest son Henry Littleton Groom becoming the managing director following WH Groom&#39;s death on 8 August 1901.</p><br>
<p>Mr and Mrs Groom lived in Drayton after their marriage in 1859. It is believed that they established their family home on Ruthven Street near the end of the Toowoomba railway station in the mid-1860s; an 1874 photograph shows this large house with a well-established garden and Mrs Grace Groom (née Littleton) holding a very young daughter.</p><br>
<p>On 8 August 1901, MHR WH Groom aged 67 died in Melbourne while attending the first sitting of Australian Parliament. By February 1902, his widow, Mrs Grace Groom, had purchased from John Munro 2 roods 16 perches in Phillip Street, and had moved most of the Ruthven Street house to this site by June 1902. A reason given for this move was that she found Ruthven Street to have become too busy.</p><br>
<p>Due to the sloping terrain the house was set on higher stumps and new front stairs were constructed. It is thought that cast-iron balustrading replaced the original lattice verandah balustrading at this time. It appears that one wing of the house was not moved from Ruthven Street, as most of Mrs Groom&#39;s 8 children had married and established their own homes. Her youngest son, Leslie Walter, was still living at home and was married from Millbrook in 1904. LW Groom was a solicitor with Eden and Groom which became Groom and Lavers.</p><br>
<p>Widowed daughter Amelia Margaret Baynes and her sons Neville and Mervyn lived with Mrs WH Groom in this old family home for many years and Leslie Walter Groom&#39;s daughter Noela Brooks boarded at Millbrook for most of her school years. When Mrs Grace Groom died in 1932 her daughter, Mrs WT Baynes, was still living at Millbrook.</p><br>
<p>Two Groom sons went into politics. Sir Littleton Ernest Groom succeeded his father as the Darling Downs member of the Australian House of Representatives and Henry Littleton Groom was a member of the Queensland Legislative Council from 12 July 1906 to 23 March 1922. As a parliamentarians wife Mrs Groom had opened and laid the foundation stone for many of Toowoombas public buildings, and as the mother of politicians she continued to play a role in politics. Mrs Groom was well known for her garden parties at Millbrook, and as a well-known figure she continued to present school prizes and open events until her final years.</p><br>
<p>Granddaughter Noela Brooks described the house and garden from memory in 1981. Mrs Groom not only grew prize-winning flowers but as was typical of the day her garden included useful kitchen plantings such as peach, apple, apricot trees, herbs and vegetables. The garden naturally included a chicken run, well and stables.</p><br>
<p>Mrs Brooks remembered various aspects of her life with her grandmother such as the glassed in northern side verandah used for morning tea and visiting close friends. Family afternoon tea was served in the dining room (now lounge room), except when the drawing room (front north eastern room) was used for important visitors. Fireplaces in the dining and drawing rooms shared a chimney, and beside the dining room fireplace was a tassel for calling the maid. The drawing room and Mrs Groom&#39;s room were carpeted, but all other rooms had highly polished linoleum.</p><br>
<p>After Mrs Grooms death in 1932, Millbrook was vacant only a short time before it was rented by Dr Row and his mother in 1933. Allan Warren Row, the 1914 Queensland Rhodes Scholar, completed a year of medicine at Oxford University before serving as a lieutenant with the British Army in World War I. After completing his studies he returned to Queensland in 1930 and joined a local practice for a few years before establishing his own surgery. Although he was a visiting surgeon to Toowoomba Hospital, like most doctors he established a surgery in his own house (Millbrook). Dr Row used what had been the formal sitting room for his private medical practice. The closed-in northern verandah known as the glass room was partitioned and used as the surgery entrance and waiting room. He converted what had been Mrs Grooms ensuite into a workshop.</p><br>
<p>During World War II Dr Row served in the Australian Army Medical Corps. He was severely wounded at Tobruk and following his recovery in Toowoomba Lieutenant-Colonel Row was in charge of surgery at various Australian hospitals. In 1946-1947 he was in charge of the Greenslopes army hospital. He returned to Toowoomba in 1947, and with Dr Woodhill and Dr Trennery set up the first blood bank transfusion service in Toowoomba. Not only did Row have his private practice but also over the years he was a senior surgeon at Toowoomba General Hospital and visiting surgeon at Baillie Henderson Hospital and Westbrook Farm for Boys and Army Medical Officer for Cabarlah Signal Operations. He continued using Millbrook for his private practice until 1976.</p><br>
<p>In 1948 Dr Allan Row married Glennie schoolteacher Dorothy Lake and in 1955 the kitchen was modernised to her specifications. This included removal of an early stove, refrigerator and dresser and installation of a long workbench with built in cupboards that created two distinct areas; a kitchen and eating area. After Mrs Dorothy Row had a serious accident in the outside laundry, modern facilities were installed on the enclosed verandah in a corner near the bathroom and kitchen in 1956.</p><br>
<p>Eighty-four years old, Dr Row died on 20 June 1979. During the 1980s Mrs Row started refurbishing the house. This included changing green kalsomine-painted walls to oil-based pale coloured paints, and covering linoleum and timber floors with tiles and carpets. Front steps were replaced and the northern porch rebuilt due to aging. A small fish and frog pool in the back garden was created in what had been Mrs Groom&#39;s orchard. In 1983 a sundeck, able to accommodate 26 people, was constructed. Removal of 700 lead head nails in the roof occurred when rebuilding the roof space because of water damage. The following year the front fence was rebuilt using many of the original palings and an octagonal gazebo able to seat 8 persons built. Other improvements included enhancing some rooms by the addition of plaster ceiling roses and converting a bedroom into a dining room.</p><br>
<p>Like Mrs Groom, Mrs Row is known for her community activities. She has been involved with SPELD (Specific Learning Difficulties), the National Trust of Queensland and the local repertory theatre.</p><br>
<p>All of the trees in Mrs Grooms back-yard orchard have died and were not replaced, but many of the early garden plantings in the front yard survive and the early 1900s stables remain. In 2014, a local women&#39;s rugby league team, the Toowoomba Fillies, assisted the 92-year-old Mrs Row by cleaning up the garden which had become very overgrown.</p><br>
<h2>Description</h2><br>
<p>Millbrook, a single-storey weatherboard residence with a bellcast corrugated iron roof, is set on a large block of land with a large garden on the northern side and long drive on the southern side. The core of the house is rectangular in plan and contains the bedrooms and formal living rooms. There is an attached service wing at the rear.</p><br>
<p>Two chimneys break the symmetry of the front elevation. The steeply pitched corrugated iron roof rises to a ridge, and on the front elevation is a projecting gabled mock attic with fretwork bargeboards and finial. Its small casement windows have been painted. A central gable pediment roofs the entrance lobby; on either side are two open verandahs.</p><br>
<p>Extending onto both front verandahs is a bay window. Verandah balustrading is cast-iron, and poles with astragals support the brokenback verandah roof. Short balustraded steps lead to the central front door which has glass sidelights. Another front door gives access to the central hallway which has two rooms on either side. The two front bay window rooms are smaller than the other two rooms.</p><br>
<p>Internally all walls are lined with narrow VJs and ceilings are wide VJs with central double-beading. Doors opening onto the central hall are cedar surmounted by fanlights. Fireplaces have cedar surrounds with iron grates.</p><br>
<p>The front room on the left is a bedroom with a door opening onto an enclosed verandah which is used as a storeroom. The larger room on the left has a bay window to an open side verandah and a door to a small room that could be a bathroom or workroom. This large room shares a back to back fireplace with a museum type dining room.</p><br>
<p>The two rooms on the right have cedar fireplaces and are the former doctors surgery and a lounge room. Both open onto an enclosed verandah known as the glass verandah; a partition with a door separates these two rooms. A door gives access to the side porch and steps to the garden. The verandah off the lounge has been partitioned to create two rooms, the glass room and a small bedroom. At the western end of the lounge is a bay window with a door that provides access to another verandah and service wing.</p><br>
<p>The rear of the house contains a wide room set up to include a dining room, pantry and kitchen on the southern side of the back closed-in verandah. Beside the kitchen and at the end of the verandah is the bathroom and to the north is a large sundeck. Opening off the southern side of the kitchen is the maid&#39;s room and a door to a porch with steps that provides access to the external toilet, driveway and stable yard.</p><br>
<p>An old laundry abuts the rear of the kitchen. A semi-formal side entrance on the northern elevation links the glass room to the front side garden. This porch has a roof with a gable pediment on three sides and steps with cast iron balustrading.</p><br>
<p>Adjoining the drive on the southern elevation is a narrow garden. The drive leads to the old stables used as garage and storage rooms. This timber structure of four rooms has a gable roof with slightly-pitched skillion extension and is in a poor condition. Several mature Chinese Elms planted by Mrs Row, and separated from the back garden by a recent picket fence, shelter the stable yard.</p><br>
<p>The side garden is divided into two sections. The front lawn with its early marble birdbath (reputedly brought from the Ruthven Street garden) in a small pool is secluded from the street by large mature trees. Various old trees shelter the overgrown rear garden with its gazebo. Separating the two garden areas is a former fernery or shade house and an abundance of dense growth. A hedge with a gate separates the two garden spaces.</p><br>
<p>A picket fence separates the small front garden from the driveway and footpath. A pathway from the drive and front gate leads to the front door and around to the northern porch entry.</p><br>
<h2>Heritage listing</h2><br>
<p>Millbrook was listed on the Queensland Heritage Register on 27 April 2001 having satisfied the following criteria.</p><br>
<p>The place is important in demonstrating the evolution or pattern of Queensland&#39;s history.</p><br>
<p>Millbrook, erected s in Ruthven Street, Toowoomba, and removed in 1902 to nearby Phillip Street, is important in illustrating the evolution of Queenslands history. It is one of Toowoombas few extant 1860s houses, and its removal from a main commercial street to Phillip Street, in the early 1900s illustrates the growth and expansion of Toowoomba as a major regional centre in the second half of the 19th century.</p><br>
<p>The place is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a particular class of cultural places.</p><br>
<p>The place demonstrates the principle characteristics of a large, s residence with 1902 renovations, including large rooms and substantial garden areas useful for entertaining, attached kitchen wing, and associated outbuildings. The place is illustrative of a way of life no longer common.</p><br>
<p>The place is important because of its aesthetic significance.</p><br>
<p>The place has strong aesthetic appeal, engendered by the intactness of the timber house and its mature garden setting, and makes a significant contribution to the Phillip Street streetscape.</p><br>
<p>The place has a strong or special association with a particular community or cultural group for social, cultural or spiritual reasons.</p><br>
<p>The place has a strong and special association with the Groom and Row families, which is valued by the community.</p><br>
<p>The place has a special association with the life or work of a particular person, group or organisation of importance in Queensland&#39;s history.</p><br>
<p>The place has a strong and special association with the Groom and Row families, which is valued by the community. Newspaper proprietor and politician William Henry Groom represented Toowoomba in the first Queensland and Commonwealth Parliaments. MLA Groom&#39;s main interests were land policy, agrarian reform and ensuring expenditure on roads and services within his electorate. Millbrook is important also for its association with Mrs WH Groom, wife and mother of politicians and active member of the community, who resided here for 30 thirty years. Dr Row was an important Toowoomba medical man who served in both World Wars. Lieutenant-Colonel Row was in charge of the Greenslopes Hospital 1946-1947. From 1948 to 1979 he conducted his private practice from Millbrook while being a surgeon at most of the local hospitals and the Toowoomba Army Area Officer.</p><br>
<p>Pigott&#39;s Building is a heritage-listed commercial building and former department store at 381-391 Ruthven Street, Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by Toowoomba firm James Marks and Son, and built in 1910 as the principal store of the Pigott & Co. department store chain, replacing an earlier 1902 store on the site that had burned down in 1909. The store was extended in 1914, 1935, 1956, and again in the 1960s.</p><br>
<p>The Pigott & Co. department store was Toowoomba&#39;s largest retail store by the 1950s, and expanded into foodstuff sales and a coffee lounge after the purchase of two adjacent properties in the 1960s. Pigott & Co. was sold to the Brisbane-based chain McDonnell and East in 1983, and operated as a department store under that name until they vacated the site in 1990. As of February 2013, the building was occupied by discount furniture and bedding store Super A-Mart. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 October 1992.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>This two storeyed brick store was erected in several stages, the first in 1909-10, for MD Pigott, a successful Toowoomba draper.</p><br>
<p>The first Pigott&#39;s store was established by Michael Daniel Pigott at South Brisbane in 1886 and was run in partnership with TC Beirne. After the dissolution of the partnership, the two Irishmen opened rival drapery stores in Fortitude Valley. In 1896, Pigott opened a branch store in Russell Street, Toowoomba, which, after the sale of the Valley store to James McWhirter, in 1898, became his principal store. Branches were also opened at Warwick and other Darling Downs towns.</p><br>
<p>In 1902, Pigott and Co moved to rented premises on the present Ruthven Street site and extensive alterations and additions costing some £2,000 were carried out by local architects J Marks and Son in 1908. Following the fire on 8 July 1909, which substantially destroyed the two storeyed building, Pigott&#39;s was rebuilt with double the floor space and the Ruthven Street facade reinstated. The works, again carried out by J Marks and Son, included two light wells sited beneath roof skylights at the back and front of the store as well as roof ventilators patented by Harry Marks.</p><br>
<p>The site was purchased by Pigott and Co in 1914 and extensive additions by J Marks and Son were commenced. Three floors, connected by electric elevator, were added by contractor A Mayes to the southern side of the building enabling, on the ground floor, the extension of the manchester and dress departments, general office, and mail order department. The first floor contained the furniture department and tailoring and dress making work rooms; the smaller second floor was used as a bulk store room. A pneumatic cash cashier system, reputedly the first in Australia, and a complete sanitary system were installed.</p><br>
<p>In 1934 Pigotts acquired the adjoining block of land on Ruthven Street housing the Queens Hotel. Part of the land was sold and on the remaining frontage to Ruthven Street was erected a two story addition with a new facade unifying the new work with the 1910/1914 building. The work was completed in 1936 at a cost of £16,000 included the installation of island windows and a Lamson pneumatic tube cash service. Architects were Brisbane firm, Hall and Phillips, who were prominent in department store design in the 1920s and 1930s, and builders Kell and Rigby.</p><br>
<p>By the 1950s the family business had become Toowoombas largest retail store. Country clients remained a major part of the stores business with regular mail order catalogues published until this time. In 1950, interior remodelling was carried out and in 1956, Pigott&#39;s diamond jubilee year, a four storey extension costing some £100,000 was added to the rear of the building, allowing the department store to expand into new areas of merchandising.</p><br>
<p>In the 1960s, as part of a strategy to compete with changes in local retailing, Pigotts purchased the former Gordon Motors site, and later the adjoining Palmers Garage, enabling the store to not only expand into other activities, such as the sale of foodstuffs and the opening of a coffee lounge but also giving access to Margaret Street, becoming Toowoomba&#39;s first three street store.</p><br>
<p>The store was leased in 1983 to McDonnell and East, who vacated it in 1990. The property was sold by Pigott and Co Pty Ltd in 1988.</p><br>
<h2>Description</h2><br>
<p>Pigott&#39;s Building consists of two connected buildings, an older two-storeyed structure which fronts onto Ruthven Street and a single storeyed brick building on Margaret Street. Rear entry to both buildings is via a carpark to the west accessed from Victoria Street. The Ruthven Street building, a large rectangle in plan of approximately 30m x 82m, is built to the site boundary on the street frontage and on the north and south alignments where it abuts the neighbouring buildings. The present structure is an agglomeration of the surviving parts of the first Pigotts Store built on the site and extensive additions and renovations carried out at various times.</p><br>
<p>The Ruthven Street building consists of two main storeys, a basement in the northeast corner and a smaller third storey at the rear. A predominantly masonry structure with parapet walls the building is roofed by a series of hipped corrugated iron or asbestos cement roofs with numerous skylights and sheet metal ventilators mounted along the ridges.</p><br>
<p>The symmetrical two-storeyed Ruthven Street facade retains the 1935 remodelling above the pavement awning. This painted and rendered masonry wall with stepped parapet and coloured leadlight windows features pilasters and mouldings embellished with floral and geometric patterns. The name of the store in plaster relief is positioned above a central arched window. Other first floor windows are rectangular sash windows with transom lights. Emblems ornamenting the facade advertise the Pigotts enterprise. The window glazing incorporates a decorative "P" for Pigotts insignia in a diagonal leaded pattern. The "P" also appears in the parapet and was once flown from the facades three flagpoles. The modernised ground floor of the facade has a wide central entry with plate glass shop windows on either side.</p><br>
<p>The oldest part of the building is the southeast corner facing Ruthven Street with subsequent extensions made to the west and the north. The ground floor of this southeast section has been extensively remodelled with most decorative features removed and original columns replaced by round steel columns. The first floor retains much of the 1910 interior including timber posts and an elaborate pressed metal ceiling. This coved ceiling is divided into three vaulted bays which run east to west. Each vault is roofed by a corrugated iron hip roof and illuminated by skylights with rolled corrugated iron roofs.</p><br>
<p>An area of a similar size to the west of the southeast section is independently roofed with similar triple hip roofs with box gutters and skylights. The first floor in this area has a boarded timber ceiling which rakes up around the skylights. A further area to the west retains, on the ground floor, the original columns and pressed metal ceiling in a wide variety of patterns and has a diagonal boarded ceiling on the first floor.</p><br>
<p>A 1935 extension to the north has been modified by the addition of a mezzanine to the ground floor and the removal of much of the previously external wall to create a more open plan. The two-storeyed extension has a corrugated asbestos cement hip roof and four hipped roofed skylights. Plaster ceilings with art deco cornices are raked up around the skylights on the first floor.</p><br>
<p>A 1956 extension to the rear of the 1935 extension incorporates a basement floor and roof level. A concrete staircase with a metal balustrade that connects the four floors is lit via a recessed window wall. The building is serviced by two lifts, one on the north wall adjacent to the stair and one on the southern wall, and two centrally located escalators. A distinctive curved desk providing complex storage facilities is located at the front of the General Office on the first floor.</p><br>
<p>A two-storeyed brick addition to the northwest corner contains toilets and a staircase and connects the Ruthven Street building to the Margaret Street building.</p><br>
<h2>Heritage listing</h2><br>
<p>Pigott&#39;s Building was listed on the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 October 1992 having satisfied the following criteria.</p><br>
<p>The place is important in demonstrating the evolution or pattern of Queensland&#39;s history.</p><br>
<p>Pigotts Building, Toowoomba, constructed in a number of stages between 1910 and 1956, is important in demonstrating the pattern of Queenslands history, with the growth of the store reflecting the development of Toowoomba as a major commercial centre.</p><br>
<p>The place demonstrates rare, uncommon or endangered aspects of Queensland&#39;s cultural heritage.</p><br>
<p>As a surviving example of an early 20th century department store interior with intact lighting and ventilation systems, it demonstrates a rare aspect of Queensland&#39;s cultural heritage.</p><br>
<p>The place is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a particular class of cultural places.</p><br>
<p>It is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a developing department store, in particular: the 1910, 1914, 1935 and 1956 fabric demonstrates changes in retail practice from compartmentalised department store to open plan trading; and the facade is an example in both the detailed ornament and overall image of the 1930s strategy of the department store facade as advertising emblem. It is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of the commercial work of Toowoomba architects James Marks & Son and of Brisbane architects Hall and Phillips.</p><br>
<p>The place has a strong or special association with a particular community or cultural group for social, cultural or spiritual reasons.</p><br>
<p>The place has a strong and special association with Toowoomba and the Darling Downs, with Pigott and Co servicing both the town and country communities, via the mail order service.</p><br>
<p>Rodway is a heritage-listed villa at 2 South Street, Rangeville, Toowoomba, Toowoomba Region, Queensland, Australia. The architect was Harry Marks. It was built from to 1930s. It is also known as Sylvia Park. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 October 1992.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>Rodway is a single storeyed timber house erected for John Long to the design of architect Harry Marks on a 40-acre site on the Toowoomba Range.</p><br>
<p>The site was acquired by Long, a hotel keeper, in 1896. He had previously commissioned Marks&#39; father, James Marks in 1885 to design the Imperial Hotel in Ruthven Street, which Long operated for a number of years.</p><br>
<p>In 1910, the property was acquired by grazier, John Oliver Frith and his wife Annie Peek Frith as a town residence. Frith lived in semi-retirement but maintained his Augathella property, Toolmaree Station. Renamed Rodway after his birthplace in Somersetshire in England, the house was described as one of the most picturesque and beautiful homes in the vicinity of the city. A gabled north projecting dining room bay may have been undertaken by Frith, and was certainly in existence by 1919. Interior alterations to the dining room may also have been carried out at this time. It is thought that the kitchen wing was added after 1904.</p><br>
<p>Members of the Frith family are recorded as living at Rodway until 1940 although it is believed the house was rented and used as a boarding house during the 1930s. About this time new fireplaces were installed in the living and dining rooms as well as a new ceiling in the living room. After the death of Annie Frith in 1952, the property was transferred to PJ Seymour, LH Corser, and Leo and Isabel Lynch. The property was subdivided and later sold, with the Lynches retaining the house on a 5-acre block, later reduced to 4 acres to allow for the provision of new roads.</p><br>
<p>The property was again subdivided in the mid-1990s, and the land the west of the house beyond the border of camphor laurel trees was removed from the heritage register in 1998.</p><br>
<h2>Description</h2><br>
<p>Rodway is a single-storeyed chamferboard residence with a corrugated iron hipped roof and projecting north gable. The building, located on the Toowoomba Range, is situated on a south sloping site, overlooking the Brisbane Valley to the southeast, with a border of mature camphor laurel trees to the west boundary and Norfolk pines to the north.</p><br>
<p>There are verandahs to the south, east, northeast and northwest, and a kitchen wing and an attached enclosed tankstand to the west. The south and northwest verandahs have been enclosed, and the building has timber stumps with batten panel infill, except to the kitchen wing which has a brick base enclosing a laundry and store. There are three brick chimneys, of which the eastern two are cement rendered.</p><br>
<p>The symmetrical east elevation has a central porch with an ornately shaped timber surround and a wide flight of timber steps. The open verandahs have an unlined corrugated iron ogee shaped awning with timber posts, brackets and grid-like balustrade. A bay to either side of the entry, and one to the north, pierce the verandah awning and are hipped at the eaves. These bays, and at either side of the dining room, contain HJ Marks&#39; step-out "disappearing" sash windows. The north projecting dining room bay is surmounted by a gable with timber brackets to either side and decorative timber bargeboard and finial, with an awning and timber brackets to the bay window below. The northwest enclosed tankstand is taller, and has a shallow hipped roof and pressed metal window hoods.</p><br>
<p>The main entrance has a panelled cedar door with leadlight fanlight and sidelights. Internally, there is a wide central hall with a timber arch, walls are of tongue and groove boards with painted timber architraves and skirting, and doors are panelled cedar with fanlights. The northeast room has arched divides to the bays, and later fibrous cement ceiling and brick fireplace. The southeast room has an arched divide to the bay, a white marble fireplace surround and more recent ensuite. The dining room has plastered walls and ornate, pressed metal ceiling and cornice. Pressed metal ceilings also feature in the enclosed verandah rooms off the south bedroom and ensuite.</p><br>
<p>The western verandah enclosures include a guest bedroom and storeroom in the tankstand, with the original verandah posts still in place. The kitchen has been remodelled and a bathroom added to the west end of the verandah, with the verandah having an ogee shaped boarded ceiling. Stairs lead down to the laundry, which contains the original copper, and store below.</p><br>
<p>A chamferboard double garage with a corrugated iron gable roof is located on the boundary to the northwest, with iron gates to the west which originally led to an avenue which accessed the former property to the southwest. The western border of camphor laurel trees remain, the southwest section of which is fenced off to form a horse paddock. The north garden contains two large jacaranda trees with pine trees along the boundary and a timber and wire fence. Garden beds with terracotta tile surrounds and brick drains border the north garden and the grassed driveway to the east. The southeast area of the site is lower and contains the remains of the original tennis court.</p><br>
<h2>Heritage listing</h2><br>
<p>Rodway was listed on the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 October 1992 having satisfied the following criteria.</p><br>
<p>The place is important in demonstrating the evolution or pattern of Queensland&#39;s history.</p><br>
<p>Rodway, erected, is important in demonstrating the evolution and pattern of Queensland&#39;s history, in particular the development of Toowoomba as the service centre for the Darling Downs Region, and the development of the Range as a prime residential area.</p><br>
<p>The place is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a particular class of cultural places.</p><br>
<p>It is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a substantial federation period timber house.</p><br>
<p>The place is important because of its aesthetic significance.</p><br>
<p>It is important in exhibiting a range of aesthetic characteristics valued by the Toowoomba community, in particular the form of the house and its relationship to the expansive southeast view, and the layout of the gardens and mature trees and their contribution to the streetscape of South Street and to the Toowoomba townscape.</p><br>
<p>The place has a special association with the life or work of a particular person, group or organisation of importance in Queensland&#39;s history.</p><br>
<p>It has a special association with the life of Toowoomba architect Harry Marks as an example of his domestic work.</p><br>
<p>Soldiers Memorial Hall is a heritage-listed memorial at 149 Herries Street, Toowoomba City, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by Hodgen & Hodgen  and built from 1923 to 1959 by Smith Bros . It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 17 December 1999.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The Soldiers&#39; Memorial Hall, Toowoomba was erected in three stages: 1923–1924, 1930–1931, and 1957–1959, as a tribute to all those from Toowoomba and district who had served in the First World War, many of whom did not return, and for the use of returned servicemen and the citizens of Toowoomba. Local architect and Alderman William Hodgen junior and his firm designed all three stages of the hall.</p><br>
<p>The First World War (1914–1918), although fought in Europe, North Africa and the Middle East, had a profound impact on Australia. At the outbreak of war Australia, as a former (and recent) British colony with strong ties still to the "motherland", immediately entered the war in support of Britain and her allies. Over 300,000 Australians out of a population of 4 million volunteered for service overseas, with approximately 60,000 of these making the supreme sacrifice. Virtually every community in every Australian state lost young men in this war.</p><br>
<p>The idea of erecting a memorial hall in Toowoomba was first mooted at a meeting of citizens and returned soldiers held at the Toowoomba Town Hall in 1918. A committee to coordinate fund raising and the construction of the hall was appointed in 1919. The Citizens&#39; Memorial Hall Committee purchased land for the hall in 1919 in Ruthven Street for ₤500, on the understanding that the Town Council acquired adjoining land at the corner of Herries Street. It was anticipated that the committee would facilitate construction and furnishing of the hall, which would then be handed to the Town Council, for lease to the Toowoomba Branch of the Returned Sailors and Soldiers Imperial League of Australia (R.S.S.I.L.A.) – more commonly known as the RSL.</p><br>
<p>By November 1921 the Citizens Committee was planning to invite competitive designs for club rooms and assembly hall, the price not to exceed £5000. Highly respected Sydney architect John Sulman was appointed as sole adjudicator of the competition in February 1922, but it is unclear whether the competition eventuated. By mid-1922, plans for a two-storeyed brick clubrooms with large assembly hall at the rear had been prepared by Toowoomba architect and Alderman William Hodgen junior. Tenders were called and in January 1923 a contract was let to Smith Brothers of Toowoomba for the front section only, the clubrooms fronting Ruthven Street. The Citizens Committee planned to erect the second section of Hodgen&#39;s design, the assembly hall at the rear, as soon as sufficient funds had been raised. The assembly hall was to be used for large social functions, lectures, and public meetings, and was intended as much for the citizens of Toowoomba and district as for returned servicemen.</p><br>
<p>The foundation stone was laid on Anzac Day, 25 April 1923, by Major-General Sir Thomas William Glasgow, who reflected the patriotic fervour that still gripped Australia when he said of the intended memorial hall: "May it forever remind us of the duty we all owe to our country and to the Empire to which we are all proud to belong". By this date the Citizens&#39; Committee had raised in cash and promises, between ₤5000 and ₤6000, and another ₤1500 was required to finish and furnish the first section of the building.</p><br>
<p>The Soldiers Memorial Hall was officially opened by the Queensland Governor, Sir Matthew Nathan, on 5 September 1924 in the presence of a large gathering. Earlier on the same day, the Citizens Committee had vested the property in the Town Council, and the RSL was granted a 99-year lease at a "peppercorn" rent of a shilling a year, if demanded. A provision in the lease allowed that should the hall not be required by the soldiers in the future, the use and control of the hall was to revert to the Council for the general use of all the citizens.</p><br>
<p>At the time of the opening, the building comprised two storeys, with a single gable to each side of the roof and an open, gabled colonnade across the Ruthven Street elevation. A narrow, single-storeyed brick section at the rear appears to have been erected at this time also, (possibly containing additional storerooms and public lavatories); as was a pair of brick pillars, wrought-iron gate and small brick fence along Ruthven Street, between the club building and the adjacent Commonwealth Research Laboratory, also erected in 1923.</p><br>
<p>The top floor of the Soldiers Memorial Hall, used exclusively by returned soldiers as a club, contained a club room, billiards room, card room and lavatories. The ground floor comprised an entrance vestibule, office, restaurant, kitchen and cloakrooms. The RSL utilised the downstairs office, but also let parts of the ground floor to the Country Womens Association and the Theosophical Society for their meetings. The hall was fitted with all modern conveniences, including a septic tank system, electric light, and telephone. Furniture was of maple, and situated in a prominent position in the club room was a writing desk presented to the club by the Mothers&#39; Memorial Committee.</p><br>
<p>Use of the club rooms was open to all returned soldiers, with membership fees set at 5/- for League members and 7/6 for non-members. Visiting ex-soldiers were admitted as honorary members.</p><br>
<p>The Soldiers&#39; Memorial Hall was built to serve a number of purposes: as a war memorial; to provide administrative facilities to assist returned soldiers with employment and welfare services; to provide an institute with library, reading room and recreation facilities for returned servicemen; and as a locale where the comradeship of the returned servicemen could find expression, and where all who were suffering from the war could find relief. The building was considered a handsome attraction to the Toowoomba townscape, and the planned hall was seen as being of benefit to the whole of the community.</p><br>
<p>In 1927–28 the Toowoomba Town Council acquired a fourth parcel of land at the rear of the site, with a 54 ft frontage to Herries Street, which was leased to the RSL for memorial hall purposes, enabling them to proceed with construction of the assembly hall. Hodgen&#39;s initial design, which was for an enormous hall of two storeys in height with a verandah on the north side and a gallery at the eastern end, proved too expensive an undertaking. Plans were prepared (apparently by Hodgen) for a smaller, single-storeyed, pavilion-style hall, which was erected in 1930–31. It was built to the same width as the front section of the building, and internally contained a dais along the western end and another along the northern side of the dance floor. On the northern side of the dance hall was an external entrance, accessed from Ruthven Street via the side gate erected in 1923. A brick portico was added above this entrance gate, and the single-storeyed section of the building was remodelled to provide internal access from the front section of the building through to the dance floor behind. At this period also the single-storeyed rear section was raised to two storeys, with a separate gabled roof. The new upper storey of this section contained a lounge, bar and card room.</p><br>
<p>In the early 1950s, renewed interest in the RSL as an institution – following Australian involvement in the Second World War (1939–45), Korean War (1950–53) and Malayan communist insurgency of 1954 – encouraged the idea of extending Toowoombas Soldiers Memorial Hall to provide improved club facilities for members, and a larger dance hall for the citizens of Toowoomba and district. The firm of Hodgen & Hodgen was once again asked to prepare plans. The proposed scheme was for the 1930–31 hall to be replaced with a larger, two-storeyed building with partial basement and roof garden – the basement to contain kitchen and supper room; the ground floor to contain the dance floor; and the upper floor to contain a cafeteria and bar. Tender prices proved prohibitive, so the extensions were modified to contain only a single-storeyed dance hall with basement kitchen and supper room, omitting any new facilities for RSL members. In negotiations with the Toowoomba City Council on this matter in March 1956, Dr Furness, President of the Toowoomba Sub-branch of the RSL, explained that the modified plan was intended for the citizens of Toowoomba, to provide a centrally located dance floor which could be used for a variety of public functions. The RSL believed that they should build for the whole community, not just for returned servicemen.</p><br>
<p>After some difficulties experienced in the raising of a loan and the letting of the contract, Toowoomba architect Malcolm Just was appointed supervising architect of the revised extension, based on the Hodgen and Hodgen scheme, in April 1957. The new dance hall and basement supper room was opened in the second half of 1959. At the time it was the largest dance hall in Toowoomba, with an excellent suspended timber floor, attracting most of the principal dance events in Toowoomba, including the annual Piggots, Toowoomba Foundry, Defiance Flour Mill, Masonic, Post Office and RSL balls.</p><br>
<p>Unfortunately for the aspirations of the RSL, the advent of television in the late 1950s changed social habits significantly, and from the early 1960s public dances and balls declined. In 1964, the RSL applied to the Toowoomba City Council to convert the dance hall into club rooms, and to raise revenue by sub-leasing the existing clubrooms in the 1923–24 building to other community groups. Despite community disappointment, conversion was proceeded with in the mid-1960s. The dance floor was converted into three principal areas: a bar and dining room along the northern wall, a games room at the western end, and a billiards room and library at the eastern end. An additional office appears also to have been created at this time, and it is understood that the false ceilings were installed at this time.</p><br>
<p>At present the dance hall remains partitioned, but the billiard room and library are now one large space, still utilised for dances, dancing classes, and weekly Bingo, and the small dining area on the north side of the building now houses gaming machines. In 1993 the band shell at the western end of the dance floor was converted into a kitchen, and the games room into a dining room.</p><br>
<p>The building is still utilised by a large number of community organisations: besides several branches of the RSL, the local Veteran&#39;s Advisory Service, the Light Horse Association, the British Commonwealth Occupation Forces, and the War Widows utilising the main sections of the building, five Rotary clubs and Toowoomba Lions Club occupy the basement.</p><br>
<h2>Description</h2><br>
<p>The Soldiers Memorial Hall is prominently located in Toowoombas central business district, on the corner of Ruthven and Herries streets and adjacent to the Toowoomba City Council Chambers.</p><br>
<p>The Soldiers&#39; Memorial Hall comprises two sections: a substantial, two-storeyed, face and rendered brick building whose principal facade addresses Ruthven Street (1923–24 building with 1930–31 extensions); and a large, single-storeyed brick section with partial basement, addressing Herries Street (1957–59 extension). The commemorative and formal functions of the RSL are housed in the front section; a dance hall, function and club facilities are housed in the rear.</p><br>
<p>The design of the front section of the Soldiers Memorial Hall employs classical elements to reinforce its commemorative and traditional function. The symmetrically composed principal facade is dominated by a large central projecting gabled bay which is arcaded on street level and forms the principal entrance to the building. The ground floor arcade comprises three segmented archways to Ruthven Street and an archway on the returns. The archways, which are moulded with traditional keystone and corbel detail, are separated by square planned, partially reeded, columns which extend to the second floor of the building supporting an entablature beneath the pediment of the triangular gabled end section. The gable end is facebrick and decorated with rendered banding and a central ovolo opening with rendered surround from which four evenly spaced corbels emanate. Above the spandrel of the ground floor arches are face brick panels fitted between the columns. Above the face brick panels early openings have been enclosed with arctic glass window panels in timber frames. The entablature features lettering "SOLDIERS MEMORIAL HALL" in relief and painted. The gable end projects from the face of this section and regularly spaced dentils line the eaves, this detail continues throughout the earliest part of the Soldiers&#39; Hall. Flanking the projecting bay, on the facebrick face of the Hall is rendered banding at first floor and cornice level and sash windows on both the ground and first floor. The banding and window openings continue around the Herries Street facade of the building and define the earliest part of the Hall. The window openings are surrounded with rendered surrounds, with moulded sills and heads.</p><br>
<p>The building is of loadbearing construction. The hipped and gabled roof of the Memorial Hall is clad with corrugated iron and is penetrated by several slender face brick chimneys with rendered caps and decorative banding.</p><br>
<p>The Herries Street facade of the first section continues the detailing of the Ruthven Street facade, with two gables, a repeat of the Ruthven Street gable toward the corner of the building, and a smaller version over a doorway at the Herries Street end of the front section. To the west of this is a face brick extension with parapet walls concealing a hipped roof and dominated by large steel-framed 4x4 window panels providing natural lighting to the dance floor and the club beyond.</p><br>
<p>The principal entrance to the Soldiers Memorial Hall is through the arcade of the projecting bay on Ruthven Street which aligns with the projecting entrance bay of the City Hall. On the face of the Soldiers Memorial Hall, under the arched entrance are three openings, a double half glazed door at the southern end and two window openings. On the wall to the right of the entrance door is a plaque with the inscription:This stone was laid by MAJOR-GENERAL SIR T.W. GLASGOW, K.C.B., C.M.G., D.S.O., V.D., K.C.B., Anzac Day, April 25, 1923. In Memory of the Fallen, And in appreciation of the living who took part in the great War, 1914–1918.The entrance door provides access to a Memorial vestibule which is lined on the northern and southern walls with large timber Honour Rolls; that on the southern wall lists participation in the Second World War and that on the northern wall lists participation in the First World War. The Honour Rolls comprise a number of timber panels within frames on which is written in gold lettering the name of each soldier. The panels are framed with a moulded timber surround and surmounted by a broken pediment detail. The floor of the Memorial room is covered with fine grey terrazzo divided into panels with brass strips and featuring centrally located brass lettering "RSL". A large four panelled doorway provides access into the foyer beyond this room. The doors have high mid rails and are glazed above with a combination of arctic and clear glass. Surmounting the doors are transom lights, again with a combination of arctic and clear glass arranged in square and rectangular panels and with a central circular motif, recalling the circular motif of the Ruthven Street gable end. This timber glazed detail is repeated throughout the early part of the building. The walls of the Memorial room are lined with a flocked wallpaper with a design of Gothic inspiration.</p><br>
<p>The foyer and offices accessed from the foyer, beyond the Memorial room, have more simple detailing with timber skirting and picture rail. The ceilings throughout the ground floor have been covered with suspended ceiling systems.</p><br>
<p>The stair to the upper level is at the south end of the first section of the building, and comprises a large hall and a substantial timber staircase. The staircase has a heavy unpainted timber battened balustrade with simple art deco inspired newel posts. The underside of the stair is enclosed with fibrous cement sheeting.</p><br>
<p>The stair arrives at the first floor in a foyer which provides access to the major rooms of the upper floor. Along the Ruthven Street side of this floor is a large meeting room at the southern end and a former billiards room (now another large meeting room) at the northern end. Both rooms have French doors opening onto an enclosed verandah space, and each contains a fireplace. Generally the first floor rooms have plastered rendered walls, simple skirting boards and picture rails and ceilings sheeted with fibrous cement sheeting arranged into rectilinear patterns with simple timber moulded strips.</p><br>
<p>A change in level at the rear of the front section of the building marks the 1957–59 extension, which comprises a large timber boarded dance floor and club facilities on this level, and below this a partial basement with kitchen and supper/function rooms, accessed from Herries Street at the western end of the building. A feature of the bar area along the north wall of the upper floor of the extension is the use of several small leadlight windows depicting images or sentiments associated with returned soldiers and the war.</p><br>
<h2>Heritage listing</h2><br>
<p>Soldiers Memorial Hall was listed on the Queensland Heritage Register on 17 December 1999 having satisfied the following criteria.</p><br>
<p>The place is important in demonstrating the evolution or pattern of Queensland&#39;s history.</p><br>
<p>The Soldiers Memorial Hall, Toowoomba, erected in several stages between 1923 and 1959, is important is demonstrating the pattern and evolution of Queenslands history, as a memorial to the participation, and loss of, members of the Toowoomba community in the First World War and later wars.</p><br>
<p>The place demonstrates rare, uncommon or endangered aspects of Queensland&#39;s cultural heritage.</p><br>
<p>The Soldiers Memorial Hall is a rare example of an elaborate soldiers hall in Queensland. While a number of halls were built for this purpose in the period after the First World War, very few were as substantial as this.</p><br>
<p>The place is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a particular class of cultural places.</p><br>
<p>The Soldiers&#39; Memorial Hall demonstrates the principal characteristics of a building designed for the use, both recreational and administrative, of returned soldiers and their families, with its memorial vestibule, honour rolls, offices, meeting rooms, recreation rooms, dining rooms, and dance hall. The former large dance hall, although now partitioned into several public spaces, remains important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of its type, with original timber flooring, original ceiling, and large banks of hopper windows to the street elevation.</p><br>
<p>The place is important because of its aesthetic significance.</p><br>
<p>The Soldiers&#39; Memorial Hall has aesthetic value and makes a strong contribution to the civic streetscape of this part of Ruthven Street. The form and massing of the front section of the building reflect the adjacent 1900 Toowoomba City Council Chambers.</p><br>
<p>The place has a strong or special association with a particular community or cultural group for social, cultural or spiritual reasons.</p><br>
<p>Construction of the hall is also illustrative of the patriotic fervour associated with the First World War, and the communitys identification with the British Empire at this period in Queenslands history.</p><br>
<p>The Soldiers Memorial Hall has a special association with the Returned Services League and with other allied groups. It has a strong spiritual and social association with returned service personnel, and the general community, as a focal point for Anzac and Remembrance Day commemorations. It also has a special association with the Toowoomba community because of its use by a variety of community organisations, most noticeably Rotary, and for many social functions, including many of Toowoombas principal balls and dances until at least the mid-1960s.</p><br>
<p>St James Church is a heritage-listed Anglican church at 145 Mort Street , Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by Richard George Suter and built from 1869 to 1953. It is also known as St James Church of England. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 28 July 2000.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>St James Church of England was constructed in 1869 to the design of prominent Brisbane architect, Richard George Suter. The building which has a number of additions, was constructed as the second Church of England in Toowoomba.</p><br>
<p>The first Church of England was established on the site of the present St Lukes Anglican Church, at the corner of Herries and Ruthven Streets. St Lukes Church was established on this site in a small timber building in 1857, but it was not long with Toowoomba rapid growth that this small rudimentary structure was considered too small for the growing community. There was much debate about the location of a more permanent structure, some of the townsfolk and the Bishop felt that a brick building should replace the existing timber building on the same site, whereas other influential members of the community preferred to see the church re-located to a site near the Mort Estate where land was offered to the church by James Taylor MLA.</p><br>
<p>Designs for the new building were acquired, firstly from local architect Arthur Hartley in 1866 and then from Brisbane architect Richard George Suter in 1868. At a meeting of the Church Parish in September 1868 the Suter plans and specifications of the new church were approved and yet there was still no agreement on the site of the new building. It was only after the Bishop in February 1869 changed his mind on the matter that the site near the Mort Estate was finally chosen. The bishop felt that there was larger population here, although he acknowledged that the site would be less convenient for some of the parish.</p><br>
<p>At a meeting of April 1869 the tender of local contractor, Richard Godsall for the construction of the building for ₤1400 was accepted and construction began. Suters design of the church was in keeping with the design of small parish churches in England of the time - modestly sized Gothic Revival buildings with steeply pitched roofs, small ornate roof towers, well executed brickwork and pointed arched openings throughout. The polychrome striped brickwork of the original St James Church is particularly interesting and unusual in the Queensland context. The church is similar in proportion and massing to other Church of England buildings designed by Suter including St Marks in Warwick (1867-1870). Suter was a strong supporter and warden in the Church of England and was a popular choice of architect for many of the Church&#39;s buildings from the mid 1860s until the mid 1870s.</p><br>
<p>The land on which St James Church was built at the corner of Mort and Russell Streets, was acquired by Mr James Taylor, a prominent churchman, on 19 January 1865 from a Mr William Horton. The land was formally acquired by the Corporation of the Synod of the Diocese of Brisbane on 8 February 1884 and trustees were later appointed. The foundation ftone of the church was laid by the Governor of Queensland, Samuel Wensley Blackall on 1 May 1869. The church was opened on Thursday 23 December 1869 by the Bishop of Brisbane, Edward Tufnell. The opening of the church was reported in the Toowoomba Chronicle where the building was described as comprising an apsidal chancel, nave and transepts to the north and south, with bluestone foundation and freestone dressings. The transept and chancel roofs were set at a lower height than the nave roof with a spire at the crossing. The north and south transepts had small open timber porches.</p><br>
<p>The construction of this new building was thought by many, including the Bishop to have replaced the earlier St Lukes. However the building was named St James, after St James the Less, not St Lukes indicating a separate entity rather than a continuing tradition. In fact, those parishioners unhappy about the relocation of the site argued strongly for the retention of the early St Luke&#39;s site where services continued to be held in what was now regarded as a school room. Suffice to say, this debate raged for about 30 years and in the early 20th century, St Lukes and St James became separate parishes north and south of the Margaret Street dividing line.</p><br>
<p>By 1876, St James was considered inadequate and cracks appeared in the apsidal chancel at the eastern end of the building facing Mort Street. However money was restricted by the effective funding of two separate churches and it was not until 1882 that work was commenced on major additions to the church designed by local architect James Marks. The original apsidal chancel was replaced by a larger face brick extension which presented a new gabled end to Mort Street with a tripartite lancet window on the face of the wall known as the Davenport window. As well the nave was extended by two bays. During the 1880s an oak reredos (carved screen behind alter), altar rails and choir stalls were installed. Another major addition to the church was the installation in the northern nave windows of stained glass windows commissioned from English firm, Clayton and Bell and depicting the Nativity of Jesus and the Agony in the Garden. The slate roof of the building was replaced in the 1890s with rib and pan iron sheeting.</p><br>
<p>As well as size restrictions, St James was faced with major structural problems and in 1904, the eastern wing of the building, facing Mort Street, was demolished. The chancel was rebuilt along with the northern transept and adjoining vestry. This work was supervised by Brisbane architect John Smith Murdoch and finished at a cost of ₤1000.</p><br>
<p>In 1912, the St James Parish Hall was built on the other side of Russell Street. It is separately heritage-listed.</p><br>
<p>In 1953 the apsidal baptistery was demolished and rebuilt to the design of Toowoomba architect Charles B Marks.</p><br>
<p>More recent alterations have included the replacement of the southern porch with a brick gable roofed projection.</p><br>
<h2>Description</h2><br>
<p>St James Church is located on the corner of Russell and Mort Streets, Toowoomba and is adjacent to a recently constructed rectory. A timber framed bell tower sits to the rear of the church. Gardens, including mature trees surround the church.</p><br>
<p>St James is a modestly scaled building, reflecting the importance of early English gothic revival architecture in parish churches during the second half of the 19th century. The characteristic elements of that style are seen in the steeply pitched roof with timber framed steeple, polychrome brickwork, stained glass windows in pointed arched openings and, internally, use of hammer beam roof trusses and dark stained timber furniture including pews, reredos and other altar furniture.</p><br>
<p>Because the church has been altered a number of times with extensions and replacement, the brickwork and detail is not consistent externally. The earliest part of the building is distinguished by the polychrome brickwork and sandstone detailing. Subsequent extensions have been constructed in monochrome brick.</p><br>
<p>The church has a cruciform plan, the nave running east-west, with the eastern, altar end facing Mort Street. The nave has a gabled roof clad with Zincalume (or equivalent). The transepts from the northern and southern faces of the church also have gabled roofs, slightly lower in height than the principal nave roof. The point at which the roofs of the nave and transepts cross is punctuated with a small timber framed steeple. The steeple has an open decorative timber body supported on a timber base structure and capped with an elongated pyramidal metal roof with small openings.</p><br>
<p>The eastern end of the building, facing Mort Street, is one of the areas which has been largely rebuilt. The chancel is a square planned and with centrally located tripartite window openings. The external face of this facade has brick buttresses flanking the window opening and another pair of buttresses supporting the corners. Flanking the eastern end of the building are smaller gabled roof extensions housing vestries.</p><br>
<p>The northern and southern transepts of the building form the principal entrances to the church, through centrally located porches. The northern porch is open, with a brick base and timber battened balustrade and arched opening around the entrance. Above the porch is a tripartite window opening with brick surrounds. The porch on the southern transept has been replaced with a closed vestibule from the s. This differs from the original porch in size and roof pitch. Lining the nave of the building are small lancet window openings, separated by brick buttressing.</p><br>
<p>The western face of the building features a small gabled roof projection which is later than the actual face of this facade. Above the projection is a tripartite window opening.</p><br>
<p>The interior of the church is a single volume with white painted rendered walls. The ceiling space is divided into the bays of the nave with stained timber hammer beam roof trusses. The ceiling is lined with diagonally timber boarding.</p><br>
<p>A feature of the interior is fine timber screens and rails associated with the altar. Stained glass windows line the nave and western end of the building. Early timber pews lined are organised into two sections with central aisle.</p><br>
<h2>Heritage listing</h2><br>
<p>St James Church was listed on the Queensland Heritage Register on 28 July 2000 having satisfied the following criteria.</p><br>
<p>The place is important in demonstrating the evolution or pattern of Queensland&#39;s history.</p><br>
<p>St James Anglican Church, an early surviving 1860s church, demonstrates the growth of the Church of England in south east Queensland.</p><br>
<p>The place demonstrates rare, uncommon or endangered aspects of Queensland&#39;s cultural heritage.</p><br>
<p>The original part of the Church is an uncommon example of a Gothic Revival building using polychrome brickwork, a common feature of equivalent English and churches of the southern states but rarely used in Queensland.</p><br>
<p>The place is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a particular class of cultural places.</p><br>
<p>It is a fine example of early English gothic revival architecture at the scale of a small parish church.</p><br>
<p>The place is important because of its aesthetic significance.</p><br>
<p>St James is a good example of the work of prominent early architect, Richard Suter and is a fine example of early English gothic revival architecture at the scale of a small parish church. The original part of the Church is an uncommon example of a Gothic Revival building using polychrome brickwork, a common feature of equivalent English and churches of the southern states but rarely used in Queensland.</p><br>
<p>The place has a strong or special association with a particular community or cultural group for social, cultural or spiritual reasons.</p><br>
<p>The place has social and spiritual significance as a place of worship for 130 years.</p><br>
<p>St James Parish Hall is a heritage-listed church hall at 112 Russell Street, Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by Henry James  Marks and built in 1912. It is also known as Taylor Memorial Institute. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 28 March 1995.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>St James Parish Hall was built in 1912 opposite St James Anglican Church in Russell Street. James Taylor donated the land and erected the Hall designed by architect Harry J. Marks, to stand as a memorial to his parents, the Hon. James Taylor and his wife Sarah. The Hon. James Taylor had given the land for St James Church as a gift to the Parish some forty-five years earlier, and is credited with taking a leading role in the early development of Toowoomba.</p><br>
<p>The hall features Marks&#39; unusual construction methods and details, including his patented "hollow wall" construction to give the appearance of a solid wall whilst being cheaper to construct than brickwork. Another interesting feature of the building developed and used by Marks is the extendable casement window which provides optimum directional ventilation. Only three of these windows remain in working order.</p><br>
<p>The hall was opened on 1 May 1912 by Archbishop of Brisbane St Clair Donaldson. The Hall was described as "a model of architecture" with ample facilities for the uses it was to be put to, including reading rooms and library, a lounge, and as a venue for Sunday school and meetings.</p><br>
<p>The Hall was repainted and minor repairs were undertaken in 1923-24, mostly to remedy damage from water penetration under the roof.</p><br>
<p>The brick fence at the front of the hall is thought to have been designed by Charles Beresford Marks (Harry Marks son), and bears a small plaque in memory of James Taylor as benefactor and foundation member of St James Parish.</p><br>
<p>The building was substantially extended to the rear to form a large kitchen area. Work was undertaken in 1991 to repair water damage to the roof and ceiling of the Hall.</p><br>
<h2>Description</h2><br>
<p>St James&#39; Parish Hall, fronting Russell Street to the north, is located opposite St James Church. The site is bounded on either side by single-storeyed buildings; a brick store built to the boundary on the east and a timber building and bitumen driveway to the west, with Baty Lane to the south. A single-storeyed timber and iron cottage is located to the southeast and a toilet block is located to the southwest. (The cottage and toilet block do not form part of the Entry in the Heritage Register.)</p><br>
<p>The building exhibits a strong arts and crafts influence in its design, with its picturesque terracotta tiled roof and prominent eaves, rough cast exterior, heavy base and stylised signage on the north wall.</p><br>
<p>The single-storeyed building has a brick base and utilises a "hollow wall" construction system, consisting of a metal frame lined with chicken wire and a stucco render; a smooth finish trim with rough infill externally and smooth finish internally. A marble memorial plaque is located to the base of the north wall.</p><br>
<p>The building has a fanciful steep pitch terracotta tiled roof with sprocketted eaves and projecting gables to the east and west. Three turrets, to the centre, and the north and south bays, have been formed by the ridge being deleted between them and a curved capping piece inserted. The centre turret has a "pot bellied", sheet metal roof ventilator, the other two have rounded finials.</p><br>
<p>The building has "extendable casement" windows, only three of which are still intact with the remainder having been modified into standard casements. These consist of a metal track above and below the centre of the window, perpendicular to the wall, on which the window slides away from the opening and can pivot at 360° for optimum ventilation. The windows in the hall have fanlight and sidelights, and in the end bays have hopper windows above, all of which have green and obscure glass panes.</p><br>
<p>The northeast porch has decorative timber arched brackets and balustrade. These have been removed from the northwest porch, which has a ramp for disabled access. Double timber doors with fanlights open into the hall.</p><br>
<p>A shallow corrugated iron gable roofed kitchen and store, which has been added to the south of the building, has fibrous cement cladding with timber cover strips, large sash windows with green and obscure glass panes, timber and iron window hoods to the south and brick stumps.</p><br>
<p>Internally, the building has a raised timber stage to the south bay, and a central hall with side aisles from which the kitchen and store is accessed. The building has rendered walls, timber posts with decorative brackets and arches, exposed trusses and boarded timber ceilings. Diagonal boarding is a decorative feature used throughout the building, including the ceiling, panels in doors and partition walls.</p><br>
<p>The kitchen and store have metal trusses, a fibrous cement sheet ceiling with timber cover strips and tongue and groove walls. A section of timber floor following the line of the stage bay, and abutting the kitchen and store floor, is visible. A section of folding partition wall with a metal roller divides the store area and in its detailing appears to be originally from the hall.</p><br>
<p>A brick fence with a central gateway is built along the Russell Street boundary, and features piers with crucifix shaped concrete trim.</p><br>
<p>Status of 1950 Extension: The rear kitchen extension does not contribute to the cultural heritage significance of St James Parish Hall (1912). It does not contribute in scale, form or materials to the Russell Street streetscape or the Toowoomba townscape. The extension is unremarkable in terms of quality or craftsmanship and is unlikely to be valued by the community. The rear extension is included on the Register only for the purpose of ensuring that its future demolition or renovation would result in an appropriate treatment of the rear wall of the original hall building, or that any building which replaces it, is sympathetic to the hall proper.</p><br>
<h2>Heritage listing</h2><br>
<p>St James Parish Hall was listed on the Queensland Heritage Register on 28 March 1995 having satisfied the following criteria.</p><br>
<p>The place is important in demonstrating the evolution or pattern of Queensland&#39;s history.</p><br>
<p>St James Parish Hall, erected 1912, is significant historically for its association with St James Church and the development of the Anglican Church in Toowoomba.</p><br>
<p>The place is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a particular class of cultural places.</p><br>
<p>It is a picturesque example of an Arts and Crafts inspired church hall in Toowoomba, and exhibits a range of aesthetic characteristics valued by the Toowoomba community and congregation of St James church, in particular the contribution of the building in its design, scale, form and materials to the streetscape of Russell Street and to the Toowoomba townscape; and the quality of, and craftsmanship displayed by, the interior, including the timber joinery.</p><br>
<p>The place is important because of its aesthetic significance.</p><br>
<p>It is a picturesque example of an Arts and Crafts inspired church hall in Toowoomba, and exhibits a range of aesthetic characteristics valued by the Toowoomba community and congregation of St James church, in particular the contribution of the building in its design, scale, form and materials to the streetscape of Russell Street and to the Toowoomba townscape; and the quality of, and craftsmanship displayed by, the interior, including the timber joinery.</p><br>
<p>The place is important in demonstrating a high degree of creative or technical achievement at a particular period.</p><br>
<p>The use of the "hollow wall" construction technique, the extendable casement window and pot-bellied roof ventilator, as patented designs, are important in demonstrating a high degree of technical achievement by the architect, Harry J Marks, in the early 20th century.</p><br>
<p>The place has a strong or special association with a particular community or cultural group for social, cultural or spiritual reasons.</p><br>
<p>As the parish hall for St James Church, one the oldest churches in Toowoomba, it has a special association with the Toowoomba community for social and cultural reasons.</p><br>
<p>The place has a special association with the life or work of a particular person, group or organisation of importance in Queensland&#39;s history.</p><br>
<p>It has special association with the life of the Hon. James Taylor, who played a prominent role in the early development of Toowoomba, and his family; and with the work of Toowoomba architects Harry J Marks and Charles Beresford Marks, who were responsible for the design of many Toowoomba buildings.</p><br>
<p>St Lukes Church Hall is a heritage-listed church hall of St Luke&#39;s Anglican Church at 152 Herries Street, Toowoomba City, Toowoomba, Toowoomba Region, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by Henry James  Marks and built from 1910 to 1911 by H. Andrews. It is also known as St Lukes School & Parish Hall. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 October 1992.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>St Lukes Church Hall, constructed in 1911, is a large, single-storey building, designed by H.J. (Harry) Marks of the prominent family of Toowoomba architects. It forms part of St Lukes church precinct at the corner of Herries and Ruthven Street.</p><br>
<p>The site is part of a continuing tradition of Anglican worship established during the first years of European settlement on the Darling Downs. Until the separation of Queensland in 1859, the Darling Downs were part of New South Wales and fell within the Diocese of Newcastle. The Reverend John Gregor visited the area, holding services in camps and private homes from 1840 until his death in 1848. The energetic Reverend Benjamin Glennie succeeded him and was appointed the first Incumbent for the Darling Downs in 1850. A parsonage was built at the "Springs" (Drayton) in 1851 but by then the focal point of activity on the Downs had swung some six kilometres northwards to an area known as "The Swamp", later to become Toowoomba. Glennie approached his Bishop for permission to buy land for a church there. He envisioned four churches, each dedicated to one of the evangelists, in the four major towns of the Downs, St Matthews at Drayton, St Marks at Warwick, St Lukes at Toowoomba and St Johns in Dalby. In 1854 he purchased two acres of land in Ruthven Street for £8/4/- at one of the first land sales held for St Luke&#39;s.</p><br>
<p>In 1856 a 2-room schoolmasters house was built on the land, followed soon afterwards by a slab building which combined the functions of church and school. The first service was held in March 1857. The building was soon inadequate and was extended, but a new and larger church, named St James, was built on land donated at Mort Street in 1869 and became the main Toowoomba church by default, although St Lukes had been intended as the parish church. Services were conducted alternately at the two churches and St Luke&#39;s was used for the Sunday School until 1883 when weekly services were recommenced and the church was again extended. The school function ceased in 1880 when state aid to denominational schools ceased.</p><br>
<p>In 1891, because of the growth of Toowoomba, St Lukes was established as a Parochial District and a new incumbent was appointed by the Bishop. The Reverend Thomas St. John Parry Pughe immediately set out to raise funds for a more suitable church. Plans were commissioned from Diocesan Architect John Hingeston Buckeridge for a stone church in 1892 and the new building was dedicated in February 1897. The old St Lukes continued in use as the parish hall, but must have seemed inappropriate to the enhanced status of St Luke&#39;s as well being inadequate in size.</p><br>
<p>The need for a new parish hall had become urgent by 1908 and a venue to conduct classes for primary school children was also needed. A building committee was appointed and by August 1909, architect Harry Marks had submitted plans for a building which would act as both a hall and primary school, the drawings for which were carried in the October Parish Paper. Tenders were called in January 1910 and subsequently, a contract was signed by H. Andrews for the sum of £1436.</p><br>
<p>H.J. (Harry) Marks was one of a remarkable family firm of architects which had a lasting effect on the appearance of Toowoomba, being responsible for a large number of public, private and commercial buildings. James Marks arrived in Queensland in 1866 and first set up in practice in Dalby, moving to Toowoomba in 1874. He entered into partnership as James Marks and Son with his eldest son Harry, who joined his father&#39;s practice in 1903, and Reginald who joined in 1910. Charles Beresford Marks, James grandson was also an architect working in Toowoomba and died in 1966. Harry Marks was innovative in his approach to design and patented several ideas for building systems and components. He was interesting in providing good ventilation and natural lighting and these are features buildings designed by him.</p><br>
<p>The foundation stone for St Lukes hall was laid by the Archdeacon of Brisbane Henry le Fanu on 28 May 1910 in the presence of a large and representative assembly of people and is inscribed "To the Glory of God and in memory of Benjamin Glennie, B.A., sometime Rector of Toowoomba." The Rectors Warden, Mr Frank Hooper, referred to the devotion of Canon Glennie who was virtually the founder of St Luke&#39;s from a material and temporal point of view. The late Canon Glennie had, he said, 54 years before purchased for £8 the two acres of land, and that day they saw the outcome of his foresight. The completed hall was opened on 11 April and dedicated on 15 May 1911 by the Archbishop of Brisbane St Clair Donaldson at a cost of £1554.</p><br>
<h2>Description</h2><br>
<p>St Luke&#39;s hall stands at the corner of Herries and Ruthven Street to the south of the church and parallel to it. It is an unusual building and has a number of Marks trademark features and innovations including the use of extensive provision for light and ventilation, a patented construction method and flamboyant decoration.</p><br>
<p>The hall is single storey and is 80 long and 40 wide with a plan suggestive of that of a church, having a nave and side aisles. There are bays at each end which are flanked by pairs of gable roofed porches. The foundations are brick and the building is constructed of cement applied over chicken wire on a timber framework. This technique was also used by Marks for the Taylor Memorial Institute at St James&#39; Church and the main building at The Glennie School, both contemporary with this hall. The main roof is hipped, clad with corrugated iron and has ventilating gables spaced right around the roof edge and along the side aisles. The ridge of the roof is capped with unusual ventilators reminiscent of Byzantine cupolas surmounted by crosses. Shallow triple casement windows are placed under the eaves beneath the gables forming a clerestory and larger sets of triple casements line the side aisles. Those in the western bay have flat heads with arched mouldings above them. The eastern bay has been extended to incorporate toilet facilities and a store. The four entry porches are supported on timber columns with elaborate capitals and are reached by low steps.</p><br>
<p>The interior of the hall is a large and well lit space with a timber floor and vaulted ceiling lined with timber. The nave has square timber posts on each side supporting the clerestory and is continuously arcaded. There is a modern kitchen in the western end and a stage at the other.</p><br>
<h2>Heritage listing</h2><br>
<p>St Lukes Church Hall was listed on the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 October 1992 having satisfied the following criteria.</p><br>
<p>The place is important in demonstrating the evolution or pattern of Queensland&#39;s history.</p><br>
<p>As a large and elaborate Parish Hall designed by Toowoombas most distinguished architectural firm, St Lukes Hall is a demonstration the development of the Anglican Church on the Downs and the importance of Toowoomba in the early twentieth century.</p><br>
<p>The place is important because of its aesthetic significance.</p><br>
<p>The hall forms part of the St. Lukes church group consisting of St. Lukes Church, the Hall, Rectory and Bell Tower and has high aesthetic value in its own right, making an important contribution to the character of the city of Toowoomba.</p><br>
<p>The place is important in demonstrating a high degree of creative or technical achievement at a particular period.</p><br>
<p>The hall features a number of Harry Marks innovative and patented design features from its basic construction method to finishing details such as ventilators.</p><br>
<p>The place has a strong or special association with a particular community or cultural group for social, cultural or spiritual reasons.</p><br>
<p>It has strong social links to the Anglican community in Toowoomba as the venue for many functions over the years.</p><br>
<p>The place has a special association with the life or work of a particular person, group or organisation of importance in Queensland&#39;s history.</p><br>
<p>St Luke&#39;s Hall has strong associations with the life and work of Harry Marks, one of a family of prominent architects in Toowoomba, and is also an outcome of the work of the Reverend Benjamin Glennie, an important figure in history of Drayton/Toowoomba who laid the foundations for the development of the Church on the Darling Downs.</p><br>
<p>The Danajon Bank is a double barrier reef in the Philippines.</p><br>
<h2>Overview</h2><br>
<p>One of only six double barrier reefs in the world, Danajon Bank runs for 97 mi in the Central Visayas, around the following islands: Bohol, Cebu, and Leyte.</p><br>
<h2>Conservation efforts</h2><br>
<p>Due to overfishing, the Danajon Bank has a declining population of fish, and many upper-level predators have ceased to hunt along the reef. To counteract this, 34 Marine Protected Areas have been established. From 2003 to 2010 USAID funded the FISH Project, a conservation project aimed at managing fisheries in the Philippines, including those on the Danajon Bank.</p><br>
<h2>Species</h2><br>
<p>Species such as anemonefish, parrotfish, angels, wrasses, blue-edged sole, and messmate pipefish are present in the ecosystem of the Danajon Bank. Large sea fans and sponges live in the areas with deeper water, as does branch coral. The reef is also home to three endangered coral species such as the mushroom coral, bubble coral, and elegance coral. Seahorses live in the reef, and have become a popular attraction for environmentalists seeking to observe the animal in its natural habitat.</p><br>
<p>St Patricks Cathedral is a heritage-listed Roman Catholic cathedral on James Street, South Toowoomba, Toowoomba, Toowoomba Region, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by Toowoomba architect James Marks and was built from 1883 to 1935. It is also known as St Patricks Church School. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 October 1992.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>St Patrick&#39;s Cathedral is a dominant Victorian Gothic church built from basalt and located on James Street, Toowoomba. It was designed by James Marks for the then Catholic Toowoomba Mission and was built between 1883 and 1889.</p><br>
<p>Early church services in the Darling Downs were often an itinerant affair conducted from private houses, inns or courthouses, and the origins of Roman Catholic worship in the region are to be found in the transient rituals conducted during the early 1840s. In 1843, Australia&#39;s first Catholic Archbishop, John Bede Polding, accompanied by Benedictine abbott, Dr Henry Gregory, toured the pastoral stations in Moreton Bay and Darling Downs with a portable altar. Along the way they preached to the shepherds they met and it was recorded in June 1843 that they "carried their own blankets with them and preferred sleeping on a sheet of bark on the floor... the custom of the Catholic priests... was, after a little desultory conversation, to ask if there were any Catholics present and that was all. In the morning the priest would walk out into the bush, accompanied by whoever was of his persuasion and there they would say what they had to say to each other". Five years later, Polding again visited the Darling Downs and that same year Father W. McGinty was appointed parish priest of Ipswich and the Darling Downs. Although McGinty regularly toured the Darling Downs to celebrate Mass, parishioners of the area became more vociferous in their call for a resident priest after Queensland separated from New South Wales in 1859.</p><br>
<p>By that time, Catholics constituted about a quarter of the population of the Darling Downs and the weight of their collective voices ultimately saw the establishment of the Toowoomba Mission (forerunner of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Toowoomba) and the appointment of Father Fulgentius Hodebourg in September 1862 as parish priest for the area. The following year the first Catholic church in the region, which also served as a school and was known as St Patricks Church School, was built in Toowoomba on the present site of St Patricks Cathedral. It was located on a two-acre parcel of land at the corner of James and Neil Streets, which had been set aside in September 1858 for the specific purpose of erecting a Catholic church, school and priest&#39;s residence. Although the church was a modest timber building, it marked the start of an institutional presence on the Darling Downs for the Roman Catholic faith.</p><br>
<p>In 1868, Father Robert Dunne was ordained parish priest and it was during his time in Toowoomba that St Patricks began to flourish. His flock increased steadily and in 1877 his plans included the erection of a cathedral. Father Dunnes grandiose vision for St Patricks, however, was not immediately realized and extensions only were carried out to the existing church, which were completed on 5 June 1880. The next day St Patricks Church School was destroyed by fire and the church&#39;s services were temporarily transferred to the Hibernian Hall in Ruthven Street. Reputedly, under the supervision of builder Robert Godsall and through the labour of volunteers, a new timber church was erected within two weeks of the old one being destroyed.</p><br>
<p>When Father Dunne left for Ireland in 1881, even the new timber church was envisaged as merely a temporary substitute for a much grander building. Father Thomas OConnell was appointed parish priest of Toowoomba to replace Father Dunne and was immediately charged with chairing the Building Committee for the new church. On 13 August 1882 a meeting was held to discuss plans for the church and Archbishop Dunne, who had returned from Ireland and was by that time the Archbishop of Brisbane, suggested the use of stone for construction and beseeched the parishioners to "erect a portion to accommodate the congregation of today, and possibly for the next ten or fifteen years, and that portion might afterwards be added to, making a complete and harmonious whole". A subscription was enthusiastically embraced by those present, with nearly £1260 pledged before the end of the meeting. Four months later, £900 of the money promised had been collected and it was decided to call for plans for the church and to aim for St Patricks Day on 17 March 1883 as the day for laying the foundation stone.</p><br>
<p>In March 1883, despite the receipt of two plans for the church and £1050, Father O&#39;Connell decided it was expedient to delay the laying of the foundation stone until Whit Sunday on 13 May 1883, on which day the ceremony was duly conducted by Archbishop Dunne. That same month, a call for designs and specifications to be submitted with a construction cost of no more than £5000 was posted in the Toowoomba Chronicle as well as in Brisbane and Sydney newspapers. The design of James Marks was the one favoured by the Building Committee and he was awarded a prize of £25 for his submission.</p><br>
<p>Marks was born in Somerset, England, in 1834 and from the age of 16 he was employed by a Westminster building contracting firm. He eventually trained as a carpenter and worked in the trade until his migration to Queensland in 1866. Marks first established himself as a builder and architect in Dalby before moving to Toowoomba in 1874 where he established the first professional architectural practice on the Darling Downs. The reputation of the firm grew rapidly and in partnership with his sons (and later under their directorship) the Marks practice continued to flourish until 1962 when the business was discontinued. Although St Patricks Cathedral is one of James Markss most notable designs, his other significant works in Toowoomba included the Royal Bank of Queensland building, the Imperial Hotel, St Stephen&#39;s Presbyterian Church and several grand private residences.</p><br>
<p>St Patricks was a large project, which was delayed by a shortage of materials and labour as well as by the desire of Father OConnell to open the Cathedral free of debt. It took six years to complete during which time the builder, Richard Godsall, died, and the work was completed under the guidance of his firm, Godsall & Mayes. The Cathedral was completed in 1889 and consecrated on 17 March of that year at a ceremony presided over by Archbishop Dunne and witnessed by some 2000 people. The original projected costing of no more than £5000 had by completion blown out to a total of £8500, much of which had been funded by the continual raising of funds amongst the local community.</p><br>
<p>The Cathedrals walls and foundations were built from blue stone while the buttresses, pinnacles and piers were of freestone, which was mostly acquired from Murphys Creek quarries. It was a dominant building within the Toowoomba townscape, measuring 124 feet in length, 60 feet in width and 56 feet in height. The newspaper press of the time resounded with praise for the new cathedral. The Brisbane Courier described the facade as having a "majestic and stately appearance" and the Toowoomba Chronicle reflected upon how St Patrick&#39;s was "stately yet elegant in appearance, at once handsome and massive, and by its beauty adds very much to the amenity of the town.... clergymen and parishioners alike may feel proud in the highest degree at the most praiseworthy and satisfactory result of their labours". Yet the Cathedral was not fully complete and plans were in place for the enlargement of the chancel and the addition of an eastern and western transept. Still other items were only temporarily in position, including the chancel window, the pulpit, and an Estey organ on loan from W.H. Paling & Co.</p><br>
<p>It was not until the 1930s that the Cathedral was fully completed and in the interim plans had been made by Reverend Monsignor Denis Fouhy to employ James Marks in designing a new tower for St Patricks. While these plans did not come to fruition, Fouhys successor, Father McKenna, was able to achieve his goal of building a new Presbytery in place of the old timber one. In 1927, the architect John Donoghue designed the new brick Presbytery, which was built by H Cheetham and consecrated on 12 February 1928. Also included in the building contract was the construction of a maid&#39;s quarters, a laundry, an underground tank, a brick belfry as well as some landscaping works for a total cost of £8863, funded by donations, loans from parishioners and the estate of Monsignor Fouhy.</p><br>
<p>Following the creation of the Diocese of Toowoomba in May 1929 Dr James Byrne was ordained as Bishop of the region. He immediately set about expanding St Patricks and in 1930 the architect Arthur Bligh was employed to design a tower adjoining the front facade to the east with a belfry and spire as well as the construction of a mortuary chapel under the sanctuary and sacristies for the bishop, priest, sisters and altar boys. The total cost was to be £25,000 and the final result was to be a cathedral in cruciform measuring 200 feet long by 100 feet wide with a capacity to seat some 2000 people. The 1930s were difficult times marked by a severe economic depression and a decline in agricultural prices. Nevertheless, Toowoomba parishioners rallied to the cause and, by April 1932, £5000 had been collected. By that time, the first sod had been turned and the foundation stone laid on 24 April 1932. Work on the Cathedrals extensions then began in earnest under the direction of local builder, John OConnell, who had earlier supervised the construction of St Josephs Church in Dalby. On 24 March 1935, St Patrick&#39;s was completed and a ceremony, attended by 7000 people, was conducted by Archbishop James Duhig.</p><br>
<p>Although the Cathedral benefited during this period from the generous donations of parishioners and local societies, which included furnishings, a new pipe organ and a new bell, the grand building works had left a debt of £8500 by December 1937. Although the parish debt had not been released by the early 1970s, the then Bishop, William Brennan, commissioned W A Durack of the architectural firm Durack & Brammer to carry out a report on the Cathedrals condition. Restoration was deemed necessary, including the replacement of the roof and guttering, sealing and re-pointing the outer walls, replastering the internal walls and various cosmetic works. J H Wagner & Sons were the main contractors for the job, which was started in May 1972 and scheduled for completion in February 1973. Father Patrick Doyle, as Administrator of St Patricks Cathedral, was charged with facilitating the renovations, which included the removal of a polished timber choir gallery located below the main tracery window on the front facade and the separation of the marble altar from its reredos for repositioning in response to liturgical changes sanctioned by the Second Vatican Council. It was also during his time in the parish that a hall was built behind the Cathedral and the St Patrick Parish Centre behind the Presbytery was constructed in 1979 as a conference venue.</p><br>
<p>During the 1980s, the Cathedrals stained glass was replaced and parishioners invited to purchase a commemorative window pane in honour of a deceased relative and to help defray the $100,000 cost. In 1989, to mark the centenary of the opening of St Patricks, a new bell tower was constructed by Bill Walsh and the Toowoomba City Council donated 35 trees for the cathedral&#39;s grounds as a civic gift.</p><br>
<p>More recently, restoration work was carried out to the Presbytery in 1991, and eight years later a new storage shed was constructed and alterations made to the Parish Centre. In 2001, a major conservation plan for St Patrick&#39;s was published for the Diocese of Toowoomba and the following year work began on stabilizing the leadlight windows.</p><br>
<h2>Description</h2><br>
<p>St Patricks Cathedral is located on the corner of James and Neil Streets in Toowoomba, less than half a kilometre to the south of the city centre. The substantial stone building has a strong presence on James St, which carries the Warrego Highways traffic through the city. When approaching from the west, the long ridge of its main roof and the stone of its gabled front facade become visible from a distance of approximately half a kilometre. The Cathedral is a fine example of the Victorian Gothic architectural style, the distinguishing elements of which include steeply pitched roofs, buttresses, pinnacles, tracery and pointed arches. Also included in the Queensland Heritage Register&#39;s entry is the Presbytery, with walls of face brick and a tiled roof, which is sited on the eastern side of the Cathedral building.</p><br>
<p>St Patricks is cruciform in plan, and almost 61m long and 31m wide (200 ft x 100 ft). The main gabled roof contains the nave and features a stone cross at its apex of the front gable parapet. It intersects with the gabled roofs over each transept. All are steeply pitched. To the south, there is a further high roof, which becomes a faceted half-dome over the sanctuary and apse. All roofs are currently clad in metal sheeting, which resembles what was originally installed. The current roof cladding was put in place during the renovations conducted in 1972. The original cladding was "rolled and pan" galvanised iron in short 1800mm lengths. The Cathedrals 2001 Conservation Plan recommends that, when it is necessary to replace the building&#39;s roofing, the effort be made to return to the original, and also to reinstate the distinctive roof vents that were not incorporated in 1972.</p><br>
<p>The Cathedral&#39;s stonework is "hammer dressed square rubble". The pointing of whitish mortar was originally flush with the stone, however some areas were raised to form a large bead during the 1972 renovations. The dressings to the openings, buttresses, pinnacles, piers and quoins are sandstone from Murphys Creek.</p><br>
<p>The aisles are flanked by a series of buttresses, with two short, tall ones on the front facade to James Street. These are terminated in octagonal pinnacles, while the design of the shorter two to the front ends of the aisles match the pinnacles on the entry gate&#39;s twin stone columns. Over the front doorway on the northern gable is located a large leadlight window with three lights and bar tracery head. Above this is a very small multifoil, circular window with leadlight. The leadlight windows to the aisles are divided in two by a central mullion with plate tracery and pointed arch above. Those in the upper level walls of the nave consist of a set of three lancet windows with label mould above. The leadlight windows in each transept gable are similar to the main one on the northern gable facing James Street, however the bar tracery is of a simpler pattern. The five apse windows in the facets of the south-facing drum are divided in two by a central mullion with plate tracery above.</p><br>
<p>The 1927 Presbytery is located within ten metres of the Cathedral&#39;s east transept. Its main gable roof, the west end of which is half-hipped, has two large gables projecting from it on the north facade. Under one of these, a smaller gable projects over a faceted, chamferboard-clad bay window. There are both timber-framed casement and double-hung sash windows on this facade. The glass is leadlight and the gable ends are timber battened. A brick chimneystack protrudes through the roof at the western end of the building. One large, timber battened gable end projects off the main roof at the east end of the southern facade. At the west end of this facade the roof is hipped. The gable end projecting east is clad in chamferboards. A space only 4m wide at its narrowest separates the Presbytery from a recently constructed brick Parish Centre to the south. Inside, a large room on the northern facade has a coffered plasterwork ceiling. It opens onto a smaller room in the north-west corner through a polished timber-framed opening with relief pillars and two narrow Doric-style columns on either side. This room has a polished timber mantelpiece and fireplace.</p><br>
<h3>Interior of Cathedral</h3><br>
<p>Entry to St Patricks Cathedral can be gained from a number of points around the building, including on the front facade, centrally through either external wall to the aisles, and through the transept gable ends. Two doors allow the priests and other church personnel entry to the vestry on the north-east corner of the building. The nave and aisles to each side are separated by a series of pointed archways supported on octagonal piers with capitals. The arches throughout are fluted. This arcade supports the wall of clerestory windows above, each of which corresponds to the location of an archway. The walls throughout are painted plaster, however the octagonal piers are exposed stone. Large parts of the Cathedrals floors are carpeted, but in a number of locations polished tongue and groove boards remain exposed.</p><br>
<p>The stained timber roof to the nave is somewhere between an elongated arched-brace and hammerbeam. The ends of the arched braces connect to long curved brackets, which connect back to posts fixed against the walls. The meeting point of these two elements is connected back to the wall with a carved hammerbeam and bows out into the ceiling space. The columns or brackets fixed to the wall bear on a small extrusion of stone. At the apex of the roof, where the principal rafters meets, a carved drop-finial is fitted. Above the single tie beam the rafters have scalloped edges. The roofs to the aisles feature a principal rafter supported by an arched brace fixed to columns against the walls. At the Crossings roof, two perpendicular arched-brace sets intersect. In each transepts roof a single arched-brace set features. The lining to all these ceilings, formed by a diagonal pattern of timber tongue and groove boards, is fixed behind a series of butt purlins. Above the sanctuary and apse the ceiling is arched and plastered. The multi-angular apse&#39;s facets are picked out with relief lines of plastered stonework that extend to the floor.</p><br>
<p>The organ is currently situated in a corner of the west transept. It and a gallery surround the entry door. They did occupy the sanctuary before the 1972 renovations. From the cathedral&#39;s original fitting-out a great number of pine and cedar polished pews and book rails remain to line two sides of the nave and the transepts. A series of steps and a marble altar rail divides the Crossing from the sanctuary, and a marble pulpit stands in the south-west corner of the crossing. Both of these were donated and installed in during the donations made in the 1930s. The five windows over the apse were donated at this time by Downlands College and depict Sacred Heart lancets. Small chapels with marble altars and rails flank the chancel (the Sacred Heart and Lady Chapels). The leadlight windows, altar rail and pulpit are the strongest Gothic design elements on the interior of the Cathedral, aside from the overall shape and proportion of the spaces.</p><br>
<h3>Grounds</h3><br>
<p>The site fence to Neil and James Streets consists of sandstone piers and low walls, in-filled with iron railings. It was constructed in 1931. An entry gate and stairs align to the Cathedral&#39;s front door on James Street. A large open space at the corner of Neil and James Streets is formed by the eastern extent of the Cathedral and the north facade of the Presbytery. Before 1928, this area of lawn was occupied by a two-storey timber Presbytery and a number of mature trees, which were demolished and removed. A smaller area of lawn separates the Cathedral from the western site boundary it shares with a school. A line of well established pines provide a useful screen here. In the south-western corner of this space is situated the steel belfry and its bell.</p><br>
<p>To the south of the Cathedral and Presbytery are located a large parking area and storage shed, a preschool, St Patrick&#39;s Hall and the Parish Centre. These are recent additions to the site and are not considered to be of heritage significance.</p><br>
<h2>Heritage listing</h2><br>
<p>St Patrick&#39;s Cathedral was listed on the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 October 1992 having satisfied the following criteria.</p><br>
<p>The place is important in demonstrating the evolution or pattern of Queensland&#39;s history.</p><br>
<p>St Patricks Cathedral was built between 1883 and 1889 and represents the ecclesiastical development of the Toowoomba area at this time. St Patricks was originally a modest timber church but following its destruction in 1883 by fire, work began on St Patricks Cathedral. The building of the Cathedral was an indication of the emerging importance and institutional presence of the Roman Catholic Church in the Darling Downs region, and the development of St Patricks following the creation of the Diocese of Toowoomba in 1929 reaffirmed the permanency and strength of Catholicism in the region.</p><br>
<p>The place is important because of its aesthetic significance.</p><br>
<p>St Patrick&#39;s is also important because of its aesthetic significance. It remains a fine example of Victorian Gothic architecture and reflects the continued growth of Toowoomba as well as the Catholic Church between the 1880s and 1930s. The Cathedral stands as one of the most recognizable and most substantial stone buildings in Toowoomba and as such it continues to be a landmark within the Toowoomba townscape.</p><br>
<p>The place is important in demonstrating a high degree of creative or technical achievement at a particular period.</p><br>
<p>The Cathedral is constructed from basalt, which was obtained from the local Corporation Quarry and which was commonly used for kerbing and channelling. It was less frequently used for buildings owing to the difficulties in applying it to construction. As such St Patrick&#39;s is a rare example of a basalt building and demonstrates a high degree of technical achievement for the late 19th century.</p><br>
<p>The place has a strong or special association with a particular community or cultural group for social, cultural or spiritual reasons.</p><br>
<p>Since its consecration, St Patricks Cathedral has served as the symbolic and spiritual centre of Catholicism in the Toowoomba region. Its buildings and grounds have a special association with the life and work of the clergy who served at St Patricks as well as with the Catholic community who contributed greatly to its development.</p><br>
<p>The place has a special association with the life or work of a particular person, group or organisation of importance in Queensland&#39;s history.</p><br>
<p>It also has a special association with its designer, James Marks, whose prolific experience as an architect in Toowoomba saw him dominate local architecture during the late 19th century.</p><br>
<p>Strand Theatre is a heritage-listed cinema at 159 - 167 Margaret Street, Toowoomba City, Toowoomba, Toowoomba Region, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by George Henry Male Addison and built from 1915 to 1933 by Luke Halley. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 October 1992.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>This three-storeyed brick picture theatre was erected in 1915-16 for James Patrick Newman, a Toowoomba City alderman.</p><br>
<p>It was constructed during the early and enthusiastic adoption of cinema by Australian audiences in the first two decades of the 20th century, when the new nation boasted a truly vibrant local film industry which competed healthily with imported British and American product. Its construction was illustrative of the early 20th century attempt to legitimise cinema as a respectable middle-class entertainment in Australia.</p><br>
<p>In 1915 Newman commissioned established Brisbane architect George Henry Male Addison to design a picture theatre on a site in Margaret Street adjoining the Crown Hotel. This site had operated as the Crystal Palace Picture Gardens since early 1914. Addison called tenders in July 1915, and the contract was awarded to Luke Halley.</p><br>
<p>The American-derived design was similar to picture theatres erected in other Australian cities during the 1910s. In particular, the large semi-circular glazed arch was reminiscent of the Majestic (1912) and Britannia (1913) in Melbourne and the Pavilion (1913) in Brisbane. It was, however, unorthodox in that the top level was designed as additional accommodation for the Crown Hotel, which was also owned by JP Newman. This third storey was accessed via a staircase from the hotel.</p><br>
<p>Newman leased the theatre to moving picture exhibitor Senora Spencer, who named the venue the Strand, like her theatres in Brisbane and Newcastle. The first screening, which was accompanied by the Strand Symphony Orchestra and an opening ceremony performed by the Mayor of Toowoomba, took place on the evening of Saturday 15 April 1916.</p><br>
<p>In 1918 the lease was taken over by Union Theatres, an early Australian distribution-exhibition conglomerate, who repainted and redecorated the theatre early in 1919, when the building was closed temporarily during the Spanish influenza epidemic.</p><br>
<p>From the mid-1920s the Strand was leased by independent exhibitors.</p><br>
<p>In mid-1930 sound projection equipment was installed and the theatre was host to some of Toowoomba&#39;s earliest "talkies".</p><br>
<p>In 1933 the owners of the Strand arranged with Birch Carroll & Coyle for Sydney architect and theatre designer Guy Crick, who was then designing Toowoomba&#39;s rebuilt Empire Theatre for Birch Carroll & Coyle, to revamp the interior of the Strand in art moderne (Art Deco) style. At the same time the first floor foyer and office space was extended to the upper level of a newly constructed two-storeyed building along the east wall.</p><br>
<p>So popular were movies during the depression that the Strand continued evening screenings throughout the renovations, although most of the daily matinees were cancelled. The newly refurbished theatre was opened officially in early December 1933, with the local newspaper claiming that the Strand was the first picture theatre in Australia to be refitted completely in the art moderne style.</p><br>
<p>The Strand flourished during the 1930s, proudly advertising "Always first with the latest and the greatest", and screened premier features from Fox, Paramount, Warner Brothers and United Artists to large audiences.</p><br>
<p>In 1957 the current owners acquired the theatre and introduced a wide screen format, and renovated the main foyer in the 1960s and again in the 1970s.</p><br>
<p>A major redevelopment of the theatre and the adjoining buildings was completed in 1992. The adjoining Crown Hotel and the amusement centre were demolished and four small cinemas were erected around the original cinema which was stripped of seating and refurbished to become a large foyer for the new cinema complex.</p><br>
<h2>Description</h2><br>
<p>The Strand Theatre, fronting Margaret Street to the south, is a three-storeyed rendered brick building with a hipped corrugated iron roof concealed behind a shaped gable parapet.</p><br>
<p>Framed by pilasters, the decorative symmetrical street facade consists of a large semi-circular arch at the first floor level with a quatrefoil window to either side, and is surmounted by a deep cornice, giving the impression of a heightened entrance. This is bisected by a large turret, with three circular leadlight windows, which projects over the entrance and is supported by four large rendered brackets surrounding a statue of a female figure holding a lamp. Lunette windows to either side have leadlight panels.</p><br>
<p>The second floor has five arched windows with Art Nouveau style leadlight panels, above which is a deep cornice, with rendered relief work to the shaped gable above which is surmounted by three large finials. The street level has display arches either side of the entrance, with a recent cantilevered metal awning above.</p><br>
<p>Internally, little remains of the 1916 decor apart from the pressed metal ceiling and cornices of the auditorium, tessellated tiling in the ground floor foyer, and the finishes to the former hotel rooms on the second floor. The latter are partitioned in four inch vertical tongue and groove boarding and have pressed metal ceilings. Rooms open off a central corridor previously accessed from the former neighbouring hotel, now demolished. This area is now sealed off. The floor is supported by spanning steel beams which divide the auditorium below into seven bays. The original balcony remains intact although this is now used only as a link between the projection rooms of the new cinema.</p><br>
<p>Many of the 1933 decorative elements, such as the attached pilasters constructed of rendered canvas over a timber frame, are simply fixed over existing surfaces. Lyrebird motif grilles of gilded timber were adopted to cover the former window openings, and a mechanical ventilation system was installed. Art Deco banding which once surrounded the proscenium remain only as a frieze, following widening of the stage in the late 1950s to accommodate a cinemascope screen. The mezzanine floor foyer features an intact 1933 ceiling and wall grilles.</p><br>
<h2>Heritage listing</h2><br>
<p>Strand Theatre was listed on the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 October 1992 having satisfied the following criteria.</p><br>
<p>The place is important in demonstrating the evolution or pattern of Queensland&#39;s history.</p><br>
<p>The Strand Theatre at Toowoomba, erected 1915-16, is important in demonstrating the pattern of Queensland&#39;s history, in particular the emergence of cinema as a 20th-century social phenomenon.</p><br>
<p>The place demonstrates rare, uncommon or endangered aspects of Queensland&#39;s cultural heritage.</p><br>
<p>It demonstrates rare and uncommon aspects of Queensland&#39;s cultural heritage, in particular as a rare, purpose built picture theatre of the early 20th century, and is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of early 20th century picture theatres.</p><br>
<p>The place is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a particular class of cultural places.</p><br>
<p>It demonstrates rare and uncommon aspects of Queensland&#39;s cultural heritage, in particular as a rare, purpose built picture theatre of the early 20th century, and is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of early 20th century picture theatres.</p><br>
<p>The place is important because of its aesthetic significance.</p><br>
<p>It is important in exhibiting a range of aesthetic characteristics valued by the Toowoomba community, in particular its prominent siting and contribution through scale, form and materials to the streetscape of Margaret Street and to the Toowoomba townscape; and the quality of its 1930s interior decoration.</p><br>
<p>The place has a strong or special association with a particular community or cultural group for social, cultural or spiritual reasons.</p><br>
<p>It has a special association with cinema audiences of Toowoomba and the Darling Downs.</p><br>
<p>The place has a special association with the life or work of a particular person, group or organisation of importance in Queensland&#39;s history.</p><br>
<p>It has a special association with the work of noted Brisbane architect, GHM Addison, and with important cinema architect, Guy Crick.</p><br>
<p>Tawa is a heritage-listed cottage at 9 Boulton Street, Toowoomba City, Toowoomba, Toowoomba Region, Queensland, Australia. It was built circa 1860s. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 31 October 1994.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>Erected reputedly during the mid 1850s, this single storey brick cottage survives as one of the earliest dwellings in Toowoomba.</p><br>
<p>In April 1849, Surveyor JC Burnett laid out 12 allotments on the left bank of the West Swamp. The allotments ranged in size from 27-40 acres, and were known as the Drayton Swamp Agricultural Reserve. Six of these "Swamp allotments" were offered at auction in November 1849. As there were no bidders for these allotments, they were resubmitted to auction in October 1850, at which time William Horton, a publican of Drayton, acquired allotments five and six. Allotments one to four and the remaining six allotments were auctioned in March 1851; allotments seven to nine were acquired by Horton and allotments 10-12 were purchased by Sydney businessmen Thomas Sutcliffe Mort and Alexander Campbell Brown, and their Toowoomba partner Thomas Ayerst. The remaining allotments one to four were sold in July 1857.</p><br>
<p>Tawa is located on part of allotment 11 acquired by Mort, Brown and Ayerst. By 1855, Mort had acquired the three allotments in his own name; this area of Toowoomba came to be known as the Mort Estate.</p><br>
<p>Mort had arrived in Sydney in 1838, and during the early 1840s, proceeded to establish his reputation as an auctioneer, and was particularly involved in wool sales. From 1850-51, Mort, who by this time was considered the premier auctioneer in Sydney, entered into a business partnership with Brown, as Mort and Brown. Morts wealth multiplied during the 1850s as a result of successful speculation in pastoral properties. Morts later business ventures were undertaken through Mort and Co, established in 1855, and which included Mort&#39;s brother, Henry.</p><br>
<p>In December 1862, Martin Boulton of Toowoomba acquired subdivisions 21-24 of allotment 11. Prior to moving to Toowoomba, Boulton had operated a General Store in Leyburn. Boulton, a brother-in-law of prominent Toowoomba businessmen Thomas Alford, Joseph King and James Taylor, was actively involved in the granting of municipality status to Toowoomba (1860) and was elected as a member of the first Toowoomba Town Council.</p><br>
<p>Boulton had commenced subdividing the land by 1864, and established a row of terrace cottages on the Mort Estate which came to be known as Boulton Terrace. Boulton took out a mortgage on the land in 1866, increasing his borrowing the following year. Boulton was declared insolvent later in 1867, and the property taken over by the Bank of New South Wales.</p><br>
<p>An application for the land to be bought under the Real Property system in 1881, mentioned Boulton, Alfred Smith, George Weale and Stephen H Wichello as tenants of the land. A lease was issued to Wichello, a Toowoomba tanner, from July 1882.</p><br>
<p>The property was progressively subdivided from November 1891 and changed hands a number of times. By 1970 the front of Tawa had been enclosed with fibro. Tawa was renovated in 1971, at which time the fibro was removed, and wallpaper replaced with paper to match the original wallpaper. Norman and Elizabeth Oliver, owners of Tawa from 1971 to 1974, opened Tawa to the public.</p><br>
<p>Tawa was acquired by the present owners in 1979. A two-storeyed extension to the rear of Tawa was completed in 1983, and constructed of brick recycled from the old Toowoomba General Hospital.</p><br>
<h2>Description</h2><br>
<p>Tawa, a small single-storeyed brick residence with a steeply pitched hipped corrugated iron roof, is located fronting Boulton Street to the east.</p><br>
<p>The building has a verandah to the east with a concave corrugated iron awning supported by cast iron columns, stamped BUBB & SON, and a timber floor. The central entry has a panelled timber door with fanlight, and is flanked by a French door to either side. There are two rendered chimney stacks on the southern side, and the building has timber sash windows with arched headers. The northern and southern elevations are face brick, the eastern is rendered, and the western is partly rendered showing evidence of earlier additions which have been removed. A timber passage with a corrugated iron gable roof connects to a recent free standing structure to the west.</p><br>
<p>Internally, the plan consists of four rooms with a central rear foyer. Walls are rendered brick with wallpaper (with some evidence of earlier wallpaper), ceilings are hardboard with timber cover strips below early plaster and lathe, and cedar joinery includes panelled doors, architraves and skirtings. The two fireplaces have timber surrounds, and the floors consist of pitsawn boards with carpet over.</p><br>
<p>A narrow driveway is located on the northern side of the house, accessing the rear of the property, and an iron fence consisting of security grilles from the Baillie Henderson Hospital in Toowoomba is a recent addition to the eastern boundary.</p><br>
<h2>Heritage listing</h2><br>
<p>Tawa was listed on the Queensland Heritage Register on 31 October 1994 having satisfied the following criteria.</p><br>
<p>The place is important in demonstrating the evolution or pattern of Queensland&#39;s history.</p><br>
<p>Tawa survives as one of the earliest dwellings in Toowoomba, and is important in demonstrating the pattern of development of Toowoomba as a residential location from the 1850s.</p><br>
<p>The place is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a particular class of cultural places.</p><br>
<p>The building, located in one of Toowoomba&#39;s earliest residential subdivisions, is important in demonstrating 1860s methods of design and construction and makes a strong aesthetic contribution to the Boulton Street streetscape.</p><br>
<p>The place is important because of its aesthetic significance.</p><br>
<p>The building, located in one of Toowoomba&#39;s earliest residential subdivisions, is important in demonstrating 1860s methods of design and construction and makes a strong aesthetic contribution to the Boulton Street streetscape.</p><br>
<p>The place has a special association with the life or work of a particular person, group or organisation of importance in Queensland&#39;s history.</p><br>
<p>Located in Boulton Street, Tawa maintains an association with Martin Boulton, a prominent Toowoomba businessman. Tawa is also associated with Thomas Sutcliffe Mort, one of the land speculators in Toowoomba during the 1850s.</p><br>
<p>The Downs Co-operative Dairy Association Limited Factory is a heritage-listed factory at 57 Brook Street, North Toowoomba, Toowoomba, Toowoomba Region, Queensland, Australia. It is also known as Dairy Farmers Factory. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 18 April 2008.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The former Downs Co-operative Dairy Association Limited Factory, located on Brook Street, Toowoomba, is associated closely with the development of the Queensland dairy industry and with the emergence of the Darling Downs as a principal dairy producing region during the early to mid-twentieth century. The original butter factory, made of timber, was constructed in 1905. This was rebuilt in 1929 in brick and concrete, and extended at a later date. As the importance of dairying to Queensland expanded during the 1930s and 1940s, additional structures were erected on the site, including an administration building (early 1930s), laboratory (1936), an engine and refrigeration building (c.1930s), generator, sub-station, and boiler room (all c.1930s), and a milk and cheese processing factory (late 1930s-early 1940s). Further additions, extensions and renovations were undertaken post-1940s.</p><br>
<p>By the 1890s the Queensland Government had identified the expansion of agriculture, especially dairying, as a key means of encouraging closer settlement and boosting the Queensland economy. The expansion of dairying as a commercial activity was made possible by a number of advances in technology in the late nineteenth century, including the availability of refrigerated shipping in Queensland from 1883; the introduction of mechanical cream separators to Queensland in the late 1880s (invented in Europe in 1878); and the development of the Babcock butterfat test. Queensland Government intervention to encourage commercial dairying took a variety of forms. In the late 1880s and early 1890s the Queensland Department of Agriculture established Travelling Dairies that toured Queensland via the railway network, demonstrating and promoting techniques and equipment to potential dairy farmers and butter and cheese producers. Government grading of butter was introduced, and a series of Meat and Dairy Produce Acts between 1893 and 1904 facilitated the establishment of co-operative butter and cheese factories. Between 1894 and 1919 land repurchased from pastoralists under the provisions of the 1894 Agricultural Lands Purchase Act was resurveyed as agricultural selections, and closer settlement legislation between 1906 and 1917 assisted in the creation of small agricultural service towns. Heavy government expenditure on railway construction in the first two decades of the twentieth century was a significant catalyst for the expansion of dairying, extending the Queensland railway network from 3,500 kilometres in 1890 to 6,300 kilometres by 1910 and to 9,300 kilometres by 1920. Between 1910 and 1920, most new railway construction was of branch lines for agriculture.</p><br>
<p>Between the 1910s and the 1960s, dairying made a significant contribution to the Queensland economy, not only with the direct sales of dairy products both domestically and internationally, but also because dairying encouraged closer settlement of the land and wide-scale crop production. During the economic depression of the 1930s dairying was the most widespread agricultural activity in Queensland, which became known as the "dairy state". Regular cream cheques kept many rural families on the land during these years. Between 1936 and 1941, dairying was Queensland&#39;s second most profitable export industry.</p><br>
<p>The co-operative movement, in which producers held shares in enterprises that processed and sold their product, evolved in Switzerland during the 1880s, and was transferred from Victoria to Queensland by dairy immigrants during the 1890s and the first decade of the twentieth century. In 1901 an initial attempt to form a Downs Dairy Co-operative was made by a handful of dairymen meeting at Wellcamp, but faltered due to lack of financial support. The proposal was resurrected in April 1904 at a meeting at Westbrook, at which it was resolved to establish a centrally located butter factory adjacent to the railway at or near Toowoomba. The committee formed to deliver the proposal determined in May 1904 that the company be formed solely of farmers or dairymen; that only new equipment be installed at the factory; and that the position of manager of the factory be advertised nationally. A prospectus offering shares at £1 each was adopted by June 1904 and received significant local support, on the strength of which a site adjoining the Southern and Western Railway at Brook Street in Toowoomba was acquired and tenders called for the construction of a butter factory. Construction commenced in 1905 and the single-storey timber structure incorporating butter factory and refrigeration room was opened by Hon. James Tolmie in November 1905, although manufacturing had commenced in the previous month.</p><br>
<p>The co-operative adopted the brand name "Unity" with an accompanying trade mark symbol: a bundle of sticks denoting collective strength. The factory was financial from the start, with turnover during the first year of £61,299. The Co-operatives success encouraged the formation of other dairy co-operatives and the consolidation of dairying as a principal economic activity on the Darling Downs. Following the opening of the Co-operatives Toowoomba factory in 1905 the Darling Downs dairy herd quadrupled in size from just over 20,000 head to almost 90,000, and grew to just under 220,000 by 1945. By the 1950s the Darling Downs produced over 25 pre cent of Queensland&#39;s dairy output.</p><br>
<p>The Downs Co-operative Dairy Association soon expanded, constructing or purchasing branch butter factories at Miles (1911), Clifton (1912), Dalby (1915) and Crows Nest (1918). World War I (1914-1918) stimulated cheese manufacturing in Queensland, prompting the Co-operative to establish or acquire branch cheese factories at Hodgson Vale (1915), Jondaryan (1919), Gowrie Junction (1920), Boodua (1926), Lilyvale (1926) and Wyreema (1927). However, the Toowoomba factory remained the Co-operative&#39;s flagship facility and administrative headquarters throughout the twentieth century.</p><br>
<p>In the late 1920s/early 1930s the Co-operative&#39;s success enabled it to re-build a number of its timber butter factories in concrete and brick - Dalby (1927), Toowoomba (1929), Clifton (1933) and Goombungee (1934) - but during the economic downturn of the early 1930s closed a number of its cheese factories.</p><br>
<p>In the reconstruction of the Toowoomba factory the wooden buildings were removed section by section and replaced in situ by new concrete and brick structures.</p><br>
<p>To maintain the prestige and reputation of the Unity brand of products through quality control of all aspects of butter and later milk and cheese production, a laboratory (science building) was constructed at the Toowoomba factory in 1936. In 1938 the Co-operative gained exclusive right to the distribution of pasteurised milk in Toowoomba, and new facilities were constructed at the Toowoomba factory to handle milk pasteurising and bottling. In 1939 the Co-operative centralised its entire milk supply at Toowoomba, enabling more efficient cheese production, leading to unprecedented growth in the region and to further extensions to the Toowoomba factory, completed in 1940.</p><br>
<p>World War II (1939-1945) placed tremendous demands on Australian primary production and with the arrival of thousands of American troops in south-east Queensland the Darling Downs experienced marked growth in butter and cheese production and in demand for whole pasteurised milk. Milk production levels were sustained in the post-war years, with milk from the Toowoomba factory transported by rail as far west as Quilpie and Cunnamulla while new bulk road transports supplied the Brisbane market. The Co-operative continued to expand and in 1953 a new plant for the concentration and drying of milk products was opened.</p><br>
<p>The Downs Co-operative Dairy Association benefited from its close association with two prominent figures in the Australian dairy industry during the first half of the twentieth century: James Purcell and James Henry Cecil Roberts. Through these men the Co-operative influenced dairying policy at state and national levels.</p><br>
<p>Purcell was a leading figure in the Australian dairy industry, serving as chairman of the Commonwealth Dairy Produce Equalization Committee between 1934 and 1950. In 1904 he helped to form the Downs Co-operative Dairy Company (later Association) and remained a director until 1932. He was chairman of the Association in 1912-1917, 1918-1919 and 1920-1932. Purcell played a major role in the formulation of state, federal and empire/commonwealth dairying policies throughout the first half of the twentieth century.</p><br>
<p>Roberts was a director of the Downs Co-operative Dairy Association between 1932 and 1942 and chairman of directors for four years. He was prominent in Queensland&#39;s political and economic history, being an important anti-labor figure. He founded the Darling Downs Farmers Union in 1911 and was one of the founders of the Queensland Country Party in 1936.</p><br>
<p>In the 1960s the Co-operative moved from butter-based production to cheese and milk-based products, including subsidiary products such as yoghurt and calf food, in anticipation of the loss of its principal overseas market when Britain would eventually join the European common market (1973). The loss of the British market forced a rationalisation of the Queensland dairying industry, reducing the dairy herd and large areas of the Darling Downs being converted from dairying to grain-growing. While the industry contracted and the smaller factories closed, the Downs Co-operative Dairy Association factory in Toowoomba remained viable and in 1985 a new milk powder factory was constructed on the site. Deregulation of the Queensland dairy industry between 1998 and 2003 ultimately resulted in a 2005 decision by the Co-operative to rationalise production, which effectively ended the future of the Toowoomba factory, which closed in 2006.</p><br>
<h2>Description</h2><br>
<p>The Downs Co-Operative Dairy Association Ltd Factory is a complex of brick, concrete and metal buildings and other structures dating from 1929 through to the 1990s, located on a long, narrow, 1.4 hectare site squeezed between the western rail line and Brook Street, Toowoomba. The brick and concrete buildings on the site have been modified over time and internally retain much original fabric.</p><br>
<p>Structures of heritage significance on the site include:</p><br>
<h3>Administration building ( and extended at a later date)</h3><br>
<p>The administration building is situated at the northern end of the site adjacent to Brook Street. It is a single-storey, face-brick building with rendered lintels above the double hung sash windows facing Brook Street. There is an extension to the building along the western side. The roofs of both the main structure and the extension are clad with corrugated iron. The front of the main building has the company name and date of establishment in relief on a rendered section of wall directly above the entrance.</p><br>
<p>The interior of the building contains a standard office layout with offices for the senior staff, a boardroom, a clerks&#39; room, filing rooms, toilets and a tearoom. Most of the interior fittings are early and in situ, except for a large wall cabinet that was moved in early 2008 from the boardroom to the Darling Downs Dairy Museum. Early fixtures and fittings in this building include Art Deco-style counters, two built-in safes and a skylight.</p><br>
<h3>Laboratory (Science Building) (1936)</h3><br>
<p>The laboratory is situated adjacent to the administration building, facing Brook Street. It is a single-storey, face-brick building with rendered window lintels and sills and a terracotta tiled hipped roof. It has double hung sash windows, the upper sashes being multi-paned. On the Brook Street side of the building is a square section of rendered wall with the raised lettering: The Downs Co-Operative Dairy Association Ltd Science Building.</p><br>
<p>The interior of the building is divided into five small rooms that retain many early fittings and fixtures, including fume cupboards, lab benches, sinks and other equipment. Early wall vents are in place. Ceilings are of fibrous plaster or cement sheeting with timber cover strips.</p><br>
<h3>Engine and Refrigeration Building (s)</h3><br>
<p>Situated close to Brook Street, immediately east of the Butter Factory, is a two-storey, face-brick building with gabled roof and decorative parapet to Brook Street, which functioned as the Engine and Refrigeration Building.</p><br>
<p>Internally this building is partitioned into three sections: engine room; refrigeration room; and switching room. The engine room retains a large amount of equipment. The refrigeration room has two early ammonia compressors manufactured by O&#39;Connell and Kerr of Melbourne, one modern refrigeration compressor, and the footings for two other modern compressors since removed. The switching room has modern banks of electrical equipment and older controls for the refrigeration plant although the older distribution panels have been removed. Tracks for a wall-mounted gantry crane remain in place along the eastern wall.</p><br>
<h3>Butter Factory (1929)</h3><br>
<p>Located immediately behind the engine room is the Butter Factory building, which includes a store and boiler room. The building is a three-storey, rectangular face-brick building. In the centre of the parapets along the eastern and western elevations is a large rendered section of wall with the name of the company and date established in lettering across the top. On the exterior of the factory is a plaque erected at the time of extensive renovations to the interior in 1985-1986.</p><br>
<p>The building, which was used principally for the production of butter, cream and cottage cheese, has a concrete floor and minimal internal partition walls. The butter maker and butter packaging equipment have been removed but the pipes and most of the cream vats for the butter maker remain in situ. The cottage cheese manufacturing plant is still in place located on a mezzanine. The former dry room, now used for storage, is located beneath this mezzanine. More modern cheese making equipment remains in place. Two large cream vats have been removed. The building also contains a store and a small production office.</p><br>
<p>A boiler house is located at the southern end of the Butter factory. This housed two steam boilers initially, but one has been removed. Footings for the removed boiler and chimneys indicate their former locations.</p><br>
<h3>Milk and Cheese Factory (late 1930s-early 1940s)</h3><br>
<p>This structure comprises three connected and adjoining three-storey, face-brick, buildings located in the centre of the complex facing Brook Street, that had been used for bulk milk processing (pasteurising) and cheese manufacture. This structure provides an imposing street frontage for the entire factory complex. Each of the buildings is square in plan. The centre building has "Unity" in raised lettering in the centre top of the front elevation. The southern-most building is lower than the centre building and has the raised lettering "Unity - Pasteurised Milk" along the top of the front elevation.</p><br>
<p>The building contains an evaporator room, store rooms, cheese manufacturing rooms, cheese drying rooms, a cheese elevator, pasteurisation room and a bottle room. Almost all the fixtures and fittings in this building were installed in the 1990s. However, the early Gouda and Edam cheese drying room located at the top of the building remains mostly intact, along with a timber cheese elevator for transporting the cheeses up and down and an early and highly decorative cast iron spiral staircase used to access this room from the pasteurisation room below.</p><br>
<h3>Other structures</h3><br>
<p>Other post-1940s buildings and structures occur across the site, including offices, silos, loading bays, storerooms and power infrastructure. Many date from the 1970s and 1980s. These are not considered to be of cultural heritage significance.</p><br>
<p>Externally, all the brick and concrete buildings from the 1920s to the 1940s are bound together with metal pipes, cable train, air conditioner ducting and other services that have been introduced into the different buildings. These services are not considered to be of cultural heritage significance.</p><br>
<h2>Heritage listing</h2><br>
<p>The former Downs Co-operative Dairy Association Limited Factory was listed on the Queensland Heritage Register on 18 April 2008 having satisfied the following criteria.</p><br>
<p>The place is important in demonstrating the evolution or pattern of Queensland&#39;s history.</p><br>
<p>The Downs Co-operative Dairy Association Limited Factory (former) is significant in demonstrating an important aspect of the pattern of Queenslands history and is an example of a place which has made a strong contribution to the evolution of Queenslands society and environment.</p><br>
<p>The Downs Co-operative Dairy Association Limited Factory (former) demonstrates aspects of regional and economic development including the opening-up of land to closer settlement of the Darling Downs from 1900, the establishment of industry along rail networks, the rise of the dairy industry in southeast Queensland and its eventual decline in the late twentieth century. The site is able to demonstrate these significant aspects of Queensland&#39;s history through its location, fabric and scale.</p><br>
<p>The dairy industry made a strong contribution to Queenslands regional and economic development. The Downs Co-operative Dairy Association Limited Factory (former) has historic significance due to its association with the dairy industry of the Darling Downs from 1905 to 2006. The industry had a significant impact on peoples lives in the region through the work of the Darling Downs Dairy Co-operative, through the co-operatives direct connections with the regions farmer suppliers and through the manufacture of products and brands important in people&#39;s daily lives (including cream and milk deliveries, school milk programs and the Unity brand).</p><br>
<p>The place is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a particular class of cultural places.</p><br>
<p>The Downs Co-operative Dairy Association Limited Factory (former) is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a dairy processing site. The Downs Co-operative Dairy Association Limited Factory (former) comprises a complex of buildings erected in several stages from 1929 to the 1990s to process dairy products. This collection of buildings and equipment is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of dairy processing typical of dairy factories established from the early 1900s including its location adjacent to a railway line; and structures associated with the expansion of the 1930s and 1940s, a growing focus on road transport from 1940 and that reflect the continuing adaptation to new technology throughout the twentieth century.</p><br>
<p>The fabric of the Downs Co-operative Dairy Association Ltd Factory (former) clearly demonstrates the interconnected processes of milk, cheese and butter production in one complex and is evidence of changes that occurred in these processes for technological, economic or social reasons, throughout much of the twentieth century.</p><br>
<p>The place has a special association with the life or work of a particular person, group or organisation of importance in Queensland&#39;s history.</p><br>
<p>The Downs Co-operative Dairy Association Ltd Factory (former) has a special association with the work of the Downs Co-operative Dairy Association. The co-operative was one of the largest in Queensland and particularly productive, producing 25% of the states overall dairy output by 1950. Through directors such as James Roberts and James Purcell, the co-operatives influence on the development of state and federal dairy production policies contributed to the success of dairying in Queensland during the twentieth century. While the co-operative operated many cheese and butter factories in the Darling Downs, the Toowoomba site was its headquarters, its largest factory and the site most closely associated with its operations. The Downs Co-operative had strong ties to the farming community, supporting farmers and encouraging the development of farming practices. The Downs Co-operative had a wide public profile through its key operations including milk distribution and high brand recognition through their Unity products.</p><br>
<p>Toowoomba Court House is a heritage-listed former courthouse at 46 Neil Street, Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by Francis Drummond Greville Stanley and built from 1876 to 1943. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 October 1992.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The main section of the Toowoomba Court House was erected between 1876 and 1878. At the time of its construction, the Queensland Colonial Architect responsible for the design of public buildings was F D G Stanley.</p><br>
<p>Toowoomba is the principal town on the Darling Downs which was first discovered by explorer Allan Cunningham in 1827. It was later settled by pastoralists in search of rich grazing land and by the 1840s, led by the Leslie brothers and John Campbell over twenty stations had been established. The first township which evolved to support these stations was Drayton, west of Toowoomba. Within ten years, the town had been established as a "government town", with much support from the local squatters. As with other government buildings, the first court house on the Downs was constructed at Drayton.</p><br>
<p>However the success of Drayton did not last. The site now known as Toowoomba was eventually considered to be in a more suitable location for access down the range and in 1852, a town survey was secured.</p><br>
<p>The establishment of a new town was strongly supported by the squatters and Toowoomba challenged Brisbane as the new capital of Queensland. Although this status was not achieved, the town rapidly developed and by the 1860s had become the centre of pastoral development on the Downs.</p><br>
<p>Construction of the new Toowoomba law courts and public offices began in 1876. They replaced an earlier, smaller building, also located in Margaret Street, which was constructed in 1863. The new building was much larger than the previous one and of a more imposing design, indicative of the sense of prosperity and permanence felt by the town.</p><br>
<p>The building was erected in stages, the first of which was completed by 1878. The contractor for this section was J Gargett and the building was erected at a cost of £6870. It was constructed of locally quarried cut stone from Highfields.</p><br>
<p>In 1913, a single storey building was erected at the rear of the site, for use as the Lands Office. It fronted Neil Street and adjoined the existing building. Although of a different stone, it was of a similar style to the original building, costing £1963-10 to erect.</p><br>
<p>Further additions were made to the site in 1943, including the addition of another storey to the 1913 building and two more two storeyed buildings behind the 1877 building. Of these, one was located at the eastern end of the existing building and attached to it, forming a "U" shaped structure. The second building was freestanding and located in the centre of the "U" shape. The additions were constructed at a cost of £28799 and were designed by government architect R C Nowland.</p><br>
<p>In May 1979, the court relocated to a new $2.2 million building in Hume Street. The former court house underwent a restoration, removing the white paint and protecting it instead with a clear silicone. A number of Queensland Government departments then occupied the building, including the Queensland Police, the Department of Sport and Tourism and the Department of Family Services. The interior layout then had little resemblance to either the 1878 or 1943 layouts. In 1986, the building was added to the Register of the National Estate. By the 1990s, the building was described as "exceedingly run down".</p><br>
<p>The courthouse was sold in 2000 to Robert and Lorraine Grant for use as a private residence and, with advice from the Queensland Heritage Council, undertook significant work consistent with the building&#39;s historic structure.</p><br>
<h2>Description</h2><br>
<p>The Toowoomba Court House is located at the corner of Margaret and Neil Streets, one of the main intersections in Toowoomba. It is sited adjacent to the Toowoomba Post Office and complements it in style, form and material. These two buildings, together with the Police Station in Neil Street form a precinct of Government buildings, creating a landmark in the streetscape.</p><br>
<p>The Court House building comprises the main section facing Margaret Street which is constructed of sandstone. At the rear of this are three additional wings, of which the two end ones are connected to the main section and the central one is freestanding. Although constructed of a different type of stone, the wing facing Neil Street is similar in design to the main section. The remaining two wings are of a more simplistic design and are of a rendered finish which is painted.</p><br>
<p>New landscaping surrounds the front of the building, whilst the rear of the site is asphalted for use as a carpark. The original stables, reconstructed as a garage, are located at the rear of the site behind the eastern wing.</p><br>
<p>The building is accessed by a set of shallow steps which lead to a central projecting bay with three open arches at the front and one at each side, creating an open portico at ground level. Within each of the three front arches are sets of wrought iron gates. The pillars between the arches have bases of rock-faced stone, margined and chiselled with simple mouldings above. A keystone is located at the centre of each arch. Entry into the building itself is via two sets of cedar doors with glass panels and side lights. They sit on either side of an arched panel recessed into the wall. The doors on the eastern side enter into a ground floor office, whilst the western doors open into an entrance space in front of the central staircase.</p><br>
<p>The first level is enclosed, with three sets of double hung windows with fanlights positioned above the three archways at the front and above the archways at either end. The solid sections between the windows form engaged pilasters with decorative relief carved capitals and simply moulded bases. Smaller decorative panels are located between each window at the height of the window head. A triangular gable is located over the projected bay with 1878-1979 in bronze within the gable and the words COURT HOUSE in bronze lettering across the entablature. Behind the central gable is an octagonal light lantern which internally, is located over the court house gallery.</p><br>
<p>The pattern of windows separated by engaged pilasters continues across the front of the building, with keystones above each fanlight. The side elevations of this section of the building are similar in detail to the front, with similar windows, but no pilaster detail. Doors are located on the eastern side and comprise two narrow leaves which are panelled, with a fanlight above.</p><br>
<p>The ground level of the Neil Street wing is constructed of a darker stone, which is ?-faced. A centrally located door with a semi-circular protruding hood is flanked by three deeply recessed arched windows. The door itself is recessed within a timber lined section and is of glass with an aluminium frame.</p><br>
<p>The upper section of the wing is rendered and painted with seven evenly spaced rectangular windows, deeply recessed with aluminium frames. An entablature divides the ground and first levels and another is located at the top of the first floor, surmounted by a parapet. The southern elevation of this wing is rendered and painted on both levels, with arched windows on the lower level and corresponding rectangular windows on the upper level.</p><br>
<p>The remaining two rear wings are similar in design to the rendered section of the Neil Street wing, with the eastern most wing having an external timber stair at the rear.</p><br>
<p>The building has a gabled roof, the main part of which runs east west and is intersected by the gable of the porch and the hipped roofs of the rear wings.</p><br>
<p>Internally the building has been substantially altered. The most intact areas are the central staircase and the court room, now used as a lecture theatre. The court room retains many original features including decorative cast iron columns supporting the gallery, timber trusses, cedar joinery and an octagonal light lantern.</p><br>
<p>Original details such as joinery and fireplaces are evident in some areas, but new partitioning and reconfiguration of the spaces to connect with the rear wings has reduced the original spaces. Features of interest but not part of the original fabric include 1943 balustrades and stairs which are concrete, natural in colour at the sides and red in the centre.</p><br>
<h2>Heritage listing</h2><br>
<p>Toowoomba Court House was listed on the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 October 1992 having satisfied the following criteria.</p><br>
<p>The place is important in demonstrating the evolution or pattern of Queensland&#39;s history.</p><br>
<p>The Toowoomba Court House is located at the intersection of Margaret and Neil Streets and was constructed between 1876 and 1878. It is the third known Court House to be constructed on the Darling Downs, the first of which was at Drayton. As such it demonstrates the development of the district and consequently, the evolution of Queensland&#39;s history.</p><br>
<p>The place is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a particular class of cultural places.</p><br>
<p>The Toowoomba Court House demonstrates the principal characteristics of a building of its type, externally as a substantial government building of classical style, and internally by the retention of the Court Room space.</p><br>
<p>The place is important because of its aesthetic significance.</p><br>
<p>Located at one of the main intersections in Toowoomba, it is a landmark in the town and a strong feature in the streetscape. A precinct of Government buildings is formed by the Court House, the adjacent Toowoomba Post Office and the Police Station in Neil Street.</p><br>
<p>The Toowoomba Court House is of considerable aesthetic significance due to its landmark qualities and for its high degree of design and workmanship. This includes the exterior stonework and detailing of joinery, both internally and externally, and the sensitive quality of the additions.</p><br>
<p>The place has a special association with the life or work of a particular person, group or organisation of importance in Queensland&#39;s history.</p><br>
<p>The place has strong associations with architect J C Nowland who was responsible for the design of the 1943 additions.</p><br>
<p>Old Toowoomba Court House is a heritage-listed courthouse at 90 Margaret Street, East Toowoomba, Toowoomba, Toowoomba Region, Queensland, Australia. It was built from 1861 to 1864. It is also known as Old Toowoomba Gaol Wall, Austral Museum, and De Molay House. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 30 June 2001.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The central brick rectangular core of the former Courthouse was constructed as the first Toowoomba courthouse between 1861 and 1863. The section is a two-storey with a hip roof with clerestory. In front of this is a symmetrical closed-in veranda which also has a steeply pitched corrugated iron hip roof. A small single-storey cottage is located at the rear of the hall. The complex has been added to and modified to serve as a female reformatory, museum, boarding house and community hall. The external boundary wall of the Toowoomba Men&#39;s Gaol was constructed using local stone and bricks on government land behind the courthouse in 1864.</p><br>
<p>Drayton was surveyed as a town in 1849 and it was there that the assizes for the district were held, and the first courthouse in the area was located. While "The Swamp", as Toowoomba was first called, was surveyed as an agricultural area, it soon proved more suitable for urban living and underwent rapid growth. In 1859 Judge Alfred Lutwyche found the Drayton Courthouse so dilapidated that he declined to use it. The Colonial Architect designed a new courthouse that cost £2,018/6/4 in Margaret Street, the road linking Brisbane to Toowoomba. Work commenced in 1861 and the building was opened in January 1863. This courthouse was low-set with a hip roof, rectangular in plan with a small entrance porch and had an internal U-shaped verandah. One chimney provided a back-to-back fireplace for the Magistrate and Clerk&#39;s rooms. A new courthouse, nearer the town centre, was built between 1876 and 1878.</p><br>
<p>When Toowoomba became an assize town there was a need for a gaol to house criminals arrested on the Darling Downs, the Maranoa and Warrego awaiting trial and for those convicted. The Queensland Colonial Architects plans for the new gaol to be erected behind the courthouse were completed by 12 February 1862. Godfrey and Johnstone started work on Toowoombas new gaol in early 1863. By June 1864 the building was ready for occupation except for the completion of the boundary wall and its gateway, this was completed by September 1864. This external wall had a buttressed footings of roughly dressed stone about a foot each in dimension, upon which was built an unrendered brick wall two bricks deep, or about nineteen inches; similar dimension to the Administration Building erected at St Helena Gaol in 1886. The wall was about 12 feet high, with tapered buttresses that stop halfway up the wall, and a sloped coping made of bricks.</p><br>
<p>In 1870, due to overcrowding of women prisoners in Brisbane and removal of male prisoners to St Helena, all female prisoners in Queensland were incarcerated in the former Toowoomba men&#39;s gaol. As there was no provision within the gaol for juvenile female offenders, in 1882 the government employed J Nock contractor to convert the old Toowoomba courthouse to a female reformatory. This work cost £993 and included adding the clerestory to provide more natural lighting, partitioning parts of the verandah to make a section with hand basins, office and storage room, and building a small detached hospital.</p><br>
<p>An article on the Toowoomba Reformatory published in the Darling Downs Gazette of 25 February 1889 described the building as verandahed and spacious. It had a large detached kitchen with adjoining laundry. Off the dining room was a schoolroom that seated 22 girls and surrounding these two rooms were compartments with beds and shelves. The place had a bathroom and lavatory. Two cells or "darkrooms" used for serious offenders were located under the rear of the building. Girls some as young as 4 or 5 were lodged in the reformatory, which was outside the gaol in its own fenced enclosure, and separated from it by a lane. Ten large tanks formerly at St Helena&#39;s provide water for the residents and laundry needs. The Victorian attitude required that these females work and the well appointed laundry with 7 or 8 big galvanised tanks was used by many local families for their washing and provided the institution with £12 to £13 a month.</p><br>
<p>After the new Female Division at Boggo Road Gaol opened on 3 October 1903 all Toowoomba female prisoners were transferred to Brisbane and the reformatory outside the gaol walls was also closed. According to the 1903 Post of Directories it was known as the Girls Industrial School.</p><br>
<p>Poet George Essex Evans inspired by the 1903 Maryborough eisteddfod enthused enterprising Toowoomba residents into developing a similar festival and initiated the creating of a cultural organisation that aimed at developing Toowoomba as the leading centre of music, art and literature. Prominent men soon formed a committee and the inaugural Austral Festival, held in the town hall in November 1904, was a resounding success. Albert Edward Harston, a music school proprietor, suggested purchasing the old gaol site for future festivals. Members of the committee formed the Austral Finance Company to purchase the site; as this involved closing part of Austral Lane they did not become the registered owners until 1909. The Austral Finance Company employed architect William Hodgen to design a hall that could seat thousands and they utilised the former reformatory building as a museum. While many of the gaol buildings were demolished, Hodgen&#39;s design utilised the massive stone-rubble external gaol wall to form two of the walls of this vast hall; hence the hall only cost £1,495 to construct. The complex became the Austral Association Hall and Museum.</p><br>
<p>Austral Museum opened in 1904. Exhibits included a donated collection of South Sea Islander artifacts, collection of polished samples of timber from Filshie Broadfoot & Marks and samples of all soils to be found in Queensland.</p><br>
<p>Various reasons such as the death of George Essex Evans, an established Toowoomba poet and enthusiastic supporter, during the 1909 festival and death of the King whose birthday the festival celebrated led to the decline in the annual event, with the last festival held in 1911.</p><br>
<p>Early in 1916 Albert Edward Harston, an active and founding member of the Austral Association, purchased the site. About 1919 he subdivided the site into three land parcels. The former museum subsequently operated as a private hospital under Nurse Curtis for a few years before becoming a boarding house in the early 1920s. Rutlands was the Thompson sister&#39;s guesthouse from about 1930 to 1960. An advertisement in a booklet published by the Toowoomba Tourist Board in 1935 claimed it was a recently refurbished mansion that offered every home comfort, first-class cuisine, internal sanitation with hot and cold water, good garden and garage. The Toowoomba Chronicle of 7 April 1960 stated that Miss Thompson made $5,500 when she sold the 19-room guesthouse to the Toowoomba DeMolay Chapter.</p><br>
<p>The DeMolay Order founded in 1919 at Kansas City was initially based on Masonic ritual. It gradually spread through American and grew into an international organisation. This non-denominational, non-political society for males 12 to 21 year olds fosters public speaking, leadership, competitive sporting activities, community involvement and family commitment. Like Scouts and other youth organisations they hold annual conferences, however, a mothers group is an important aspect of the society and volunteer work such as raising funds for charities like the Blue Nurses and visiting the elderly is encouraged. After leaving the order most of the young men join service groups such as Lions and Rotary.</p><br>
<p>An article about DeMolay celebrating its 21st birthday in The Chronicle of 3 October 1978 included a photograph of Rutlands and DeMolay House. The photograph shows that Rutlands front verandah was closed-in on the right but on the left of the central opening was open and the verandah edged with a two-rail slat balustrade. The Chronicle of 13 May 1983 reported that Toowoombas DeMolay Chapter was in urgent need of funds for refurbishing their building, which had been in a run down state when purchased in 1960. While maintenance work on the foundation had been completed and some flooring replaced, they needed to re-roof the building. The original core "measures 20 metres by 10 metres and has brick walls 35 centimetres thick".</p><br>
<p>According to a long time member of the organisation when DeMolay purchased Rutlands, the hall had a central passage with partitioned rooms off either side of it, these were removed. Many of the bathroom fittings have been replaced but some still have their original cast-iron pipes. Other changes include closing-in the front verandah and verandahs on the caretakers cottage. Original roof shingles were found when the roof was recently replaced. The site does have archaeological evidence of earlier uses; while fixing floorboards they discovered various artifacts such as shoes and a little girls dress. When excavating prior to laying the concrete for the caretakers carport in the back yard, they located the old laundry.</p><br>
<p>The Toowoomba Chapter is unusual; they are the only Order in Australia and only branch in the world to own their building. Because the order is run as a self-supporting business they rent the hall to various local organisations to raise revenue for maintaining the building and financing activities.</p><br>
<p>Long gone is the reformatory&#39;s 1882 detached kitchen with large laundry that was erected between the main building and gaol wall. It is not known when the front verandah or extension was added to the rear southwestern corner.</p><br>
<p>Of the old gaol the only visible remains are part of the external wall. Most of the bricks that topped the wall have disappeared though it is said that some were used in the construction of the Boer War Memorial gateway to the Mothers&#39; Memorial, now located in War Memorial Park, Margaret Street. Some stone blocks were missing from the top course, and others had fallen and lie at the foot of the wall. However, the top course has been carefully repaired during the course of the recent building works on the site, and the wall no longer has missing stones nor fallen stones at its base. A flight of concrete steps, constructed in the mid-twentieth century, are set in the west part of the wall, leading to a flat concrete pad inside the wall. While much of the gaol was demolished, foundations for some of the buildings are still extant a great deal of archaeological evidence still exists below ground level, in the form of foundations.</p><br>
<p>A motel and a 1998 a townhouse development has been built on the former prison area. While most of the site had been built over, much of the north-south and east-west parts of the old gaol boundary wall are still evident.</p><br>
<h2>Description</h2><br>
<p>The place consists of the former Courthouse and the Old Toowoomba Gaol Wall.</p><br>
<h3>The former Courthouse</h3><br>
<p>The former Courthouse is a large low-set hipped-roof hall close to the street at 90 Margaret Street, Toowoomba. It is composed of several sections. The core is rectangular in plan, and the English bond brick two-storey structure is capped by a hip roof with clerestory. The front is a hip-roofed closed-in verandah. On the rear southwestern corner is a timber extension and off the core on the southeastern corner is the small hip-roofed caretaker&#39;s cottage.</p><br>
<p>Facing Margaret Street is the closed in verandah with centered French door main entrance. The name of the building "DeMOLAY HOUSE" is above this central entrance. The eastern elevation is composed of three parts. A long sunshade supported by brackets extends over the ground floor windows of the building core. Above these windows are smaller windows close to the eaves that provide lighting for the upper level. Near where a passage links the main building to the cottage is the sole brick chimney. The cottage is a low-set two-room brick building with closed-in verandahs. The third part is the closed-in front verandah. The western elevation is close to the fence line and has a small extension at the rear.</p><br>
<p>The former Courthouse is set close to the mature camphor laurel lined Margaret Street and opposite Queens Park and adds to the streetscape of this important thoroughfare connecting Brisbane and Toowoomba.</p><br>
<p>Narrow Austral Lane terminates at the rear of the place. The core building has a rough stubble subfloor. A modern carport with concrete floor abuts the rear of the core and caretakers cottage. The large expanse of land is uneven but does include mature trees. A remnant of the old prison wall forms part of the rear boundary.</p><br>
<h3>Old Toowoomba Gaol Wall</h3><br>
<p>Part of the stone of the external perimeter of the Toowoomba Gaol constructed in 1864 is still extant. Constructed of courses of blocks of a conglomerate rock, set in a finely divided sand and lime mortar. The rock appears to be made up of ironstone nodules set firmly in a sedimentary matrix, it is a dark oxidised colour throughout. This two feet thick wall is two blocks deep and, is without a rubble core.</p><br>
<p>A north-south section that meets an east-west section is still visible from Stirling Street. At about 6 feet, this Stirling Street corner is the highest point and there are on average five courses of blocks above ground level, varying in size from one to two feet in each dimension. The interior ground is level with the top of the wall and exterior ground level at street level. From this corner, the wall extends north towards and forms part of the boundary of the former Courthouse, while the eastern section acts as a retaining wall and eventually disappears under rising ground.</p><br>
<p>A block of townhouses have been constructed in Sterling Street, using the Old Toowoomba Gaol wall as part of the foundations of the site.</p><br>
<h2>Heritage listing</h2><br>
<p>The Old Toowoomba Court House & Old Toowoomba Gaol Wall were listed on the Queensland Heritage Register on 30 June 2001 having satisfied the following criteria.</p><br>
<p>The place is important in demonstrating the evolution or pattern of Queensland&#39;s history.</p><br>
<p>The core of the former Toowoomba Courthouse, built by 1863, and the old Gaol wall (1864) are evidence of early government buildings of the colonial period and demonstrate the evolution and pattern of Queenslands history, in particular the development of Toowoomba as an important Darling Downs town. As does the Toowoomba residents wanting to develop cultural facilities who took the opportunity of the closure of the gaol in 1903 to acquire a large expanse of land to build a festival hall and open a museum. Cultural festivals, eisteddfod and museums were an important part of early twentieth century life. The former Courthouse, as a museum and community hall, has been an important building in Toowoombas cultural scene.</p><br>
<p>Changes in prison philosophy and the need to house Queensland&#39;s juvenile female offenders led to modifications to the former Courthouse in 1882 for its use as a female reformatory. Internal modifications to adapt the building for usage as a museum, boarding house and community hall have not detracted from its external appearance and reflect the evolution of structures over time.</p><br>
<p>The former Courthouse is part of the Margaret Street precinct which has historic value for its association with early settlement as it was one of the town&#39;s main early thoroughfares.</p><br>
<p>The place demonstrates rare, uncommon or endangered aspects of Queensland&#39;s cultural heritage.</p><br>
<p>The core of the former Courthouse is a rare surviving example of an early colonial courthouse while the extant parts of the old Toowoomba Gaol wall are rare remnants of an 1860s country gaol.</p><br>
<p>The place has potential to yield information that will contribute to an understanding of Queensland&#39;s history.</p><br>
<p>The former Courthouses changes of usage from courthouse, reformatory, museum to boarding house and the remnants of the gaol wall and buildings have potential to yield information that will contribute to an understanding of Queenslands history.</p><br>
<p>The place is important because of its aesthetic significance.</p><br>
<p>The former Courthouse has aesthetic visual streetscape because of the mature camphor laurels, bluestone kerbs, Queens Park and many grand 19th century houses.</p><br>
<p>The place is important in demonstrating a high degree of creative or technical achievement at a particular period.</p><br>
<p>The survival of the wall demonstrates the a high degree of technical achievement for the 1860s.</p><br>
<p>The place has a special association with the life or work of a particular person, group or organisation of importance in Queensland&#39;s history.</p><br>
<p>The Toowoomba DeMolay Chapter is part of a worldwide organisation that aims to develop the potential and individuality of young males and they are the only Australian Chapter to possess their own building.</p><br>
<p>Toowoomba Foundry Pty Ltd is a heritage-listed former foundry at 251-267 Ruthven Street, Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia. It was built from to 1940s. It is also known as Griffiths Brothers & Company, Southern Cross Works, and Toowoomba Foundry and Railway Rolling Stock Manufacturing Company. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 7 July 2004. It is currently pending redevelopment as a Bunnings Warehouse outlet, having obtained Toowoomba Regional Council approval to demolish some of the heritage-listed structures on the site, with construction due to begin in late 2016.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The Toowoomba Foundry is located in Ruthven Street on a prominent site adjacent to the Defiance Flour Mill and the Toowoomba Railway Station. It was established in 1871 by George Washington Griffiths and continually operated as a foundry until 2012.</p><br>
<p>Owned by Griffiths family descendants until 1987 when it was purchased by National Consolidated, the Foundry is one of the last surviving 19th century industries on the Darling Downs. Among other products, it produced rolling stock for Queensland Railways, and the Southern Cross windmill, one of the most enduring icons on the Downs.</p><br>
<p>The present site of Toowoomba was initially known as the Swamp and during the 1840s was secondary to the principal Darling Downs township of Drayton.</p><br>
<p>European discovery of the Darling Downs occurred in 1828 when Alan Cunningham provided a route through the Great Dividing Range which separated the Downs from the Moreton Bay region. In 1840, Patrick Leslie became the first settler on the Downs, quickly followed by others and in 1842, a more accessible route through the Range was opened. Drayton evolved from a stopping place for those reaching the top of the Range, although by 1848 water shortages prompted moves to The Swamp, which was renamed Toowoomba in 1858.</p><br>
<p>George Washington Griffiths of Bristol, England arrived in Australia in 1870 with his wife, daughter and two sons. After attending a lecture given by J C White of Jondaryan, Griffiths decided to settle in Toowoomba where he gained work as a builder.</p><br>
<p>The following year, Griffith&#39;s father sent out a consignment of ironmongery, enabling him to establish a shop and repair foundry in Ruthven Street, with his brother-in-law William Atherton. In 1873, Atherton left the partnership and Griffiths was joined by his brother John who was "an engineer with several scholarships and degrees." By November of the same year, the Toowoomba Chronicle reported that the "little machine shop of Griffiths Bros. & Co" was being enlarged.</p><br>
<p>In September 1874, Griffiths sold the ironmongery business to Holberton and Company and purchased 2 acres of land on the corner of Campbell and Ruthven Streets with the intention of concentrating solely on the engineering aspects of the business. The new foundry, named Griffiths Brothers and Company, opened in February 1876 and was described in the Toowoomba Chronicle as comprising an office, storeroom and four workshops containing the sawing department, the fitting and machine shop, the casting workshop (where the first casting in iron on the Downs was recorded), and the blacksmiths and boilermakers section.</p><br>
<p>In the same year, John Griffiths left the business to become Assistant Engineer in the Construction Branch of the Queensland Railway Department, although he maintained a financial interest in the Foundry.</p><br>
<p>The Foundry struggled during its early years, with Griffiths receiving funding from his father to cover debts. However, by 1881 the business had improved and the foundry was "making steam engines and boilers, wool and other presses, washpool requirements, spouting and soap tanks, pumps, windmills, troughing, castings - iron or brass, ironwork for verandahs, and also contracting to provide railway stock for the Queensland Government Railways." The construction of windmills, which were later to keep the company afloat during difficult times also commenced.</p><br>
<p>In 1883, Griffiths bought out his partners (sisters, Harriott and Lilly, brother John and brother-in-law K L Marshland) to form a public company which was floated on July 4, 1884. The new company was known as the Toowoomba Foundry and Railway Rolling Stock Manufacturing Company Ltd, with Griffiths as managing director, and many notable citizens as provisional directors, including Augustus Charles Gregory, William Henry Groom and James Campbell. Despite the formation of a public company, the Griffiths family purchased sufficient shares to ensure the foundry remained under their control.</p><br>
<p>By 1886, the Foundry employed 72 men and comprised a showroom (60 ft by 33 ft) for imported goods; a foundry shop containing a central furnace, a dozen forges, steam hammers, a rolling machine and an iron cutting machine; a moulding shop; and a brass foundry. The production of windmills, which were described as "the pride and glory of the place," also continued.</p><br>
<p>The Foundry continued to prosper until the early 1890s, when business began to decline due to the economic depression of the period. Despite this, the Toowoomba Foundry was able to purchase the trade, plant and goodwill of its rival, the Reliance Foundry, which had been established in 1882 by Mr Porritt, former employee of Griffiths Brothers and Company. The survival of the foundry during this period is attributed to "the manufacture of cheap wood and steel Simplex windmills which were necessary on the Downs to raise water from the sub-artesian reservoirs" and were &#39;sold in their hundreds to farmers all over the Downs.</p><br>
<p>Trade increased in the late 1890s due to new rolling stock contracts. Due to the construction of new lines between 1906 and 1908, Queensland Railways found it necessary to let external contracts to private firms to build the required additional engines. Between 1909 and 1910, ninety engines were ordered from private firms including the Toowoomba Foundry, and between 1912 and 1913, the Foundry constructed an additional twenty locomotives of the light PB15 class for Queensland Railways. A further fifteen C16 class locomotives were ordered from the Foundry during 1914 -15, one of which survives as part of the Queensland Rail Museum collection at Redbank.</p><br>
<p>In 1903, the Southern Cross windmill was designed by John Alfred Griffiths in conjunction with by George Griffithss son, Bert. This saw the beginning of a prosperous period due to specialisation in the windmill and water supply business, and the subsequent use of the name Southern Cross as the Foundrys trade name. In August 1924, G W Griffiths died. His sons, Alfred and George continued the management of the business, which expanded to encompass sales divisions in the Middle East and South Africa. The onset of the Second World War saw further expansion of the Foundry, with over 1000 people employed and the production of engines, generating sets and pumping units under contract to the Australian Government and the Armed Services of Britain and the United States.</p><br>
<p>Despite a shortage of supplies following the War, the company continued to grow, ensuring viable batch quantities were maintained by establishing the trade name through its many overseas outlets. This proved so successful that an export division was established in 1945, and additional sales offices were established in Charleville, Townsville, Rockhampton, Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Tamworth, Moree, Lismore and South Africa.</p><br>
<p>The Griffiths family maintained ownership of the company until 1987 when it was purchased by National Consolidated. Due to operational changes, the Foundry site has decreased in size in recent years. The buildings at the southern end of the site, which were formerly used to assemble and package windmills, were sold to Defiance Flour Mill (who operated from the adjacent site) in 1993. The buildings at the northern end of the site are owned by Southern Cross, who now operate as a separate entity.</p><br>
<p>Most of the buildings on the site appear to date from the late nineteenth/early twentieth century and have been altered and extended during the two major periods of expansion in 1923 and the 1940s. More recent additions and alterations are also evident.</p><br>
<p>The site continued to operate as a foundry and machine shop into the twenty-first century. It was purchased by Austrim in 1998, and was being operated by Toowoomba Metal Technologies, a subsidiary of CMI Industrial, at the time of its closure in mid-2012.</p><br>
<p>The site was disused following its closure, and was purchased by Bunnings Warehouse in October 2013 with a view to building their second Toowoomba store. They released plans in February 2014, involving demolition of a substantial portion of the site while incorporating other buildings into the development.</p><br>
<p>In July 2015, Toowoomba Regional Council approved the demolition of the moulding shop, the core shop, Brooks Shed and post-1960 additions, and partial demolition of the cylinder head building, maintenance building and machine shop. The demolition of the mostly state heritage-listed buildings was locally controversial. Bunnings claimed that the "high value state heritage places being the cylinder head building, maintenance building and the old canteen building" would be retained in the new development. In May 2016, Bunnings announced that a successful tenderer for the project had been selected and that construction would begin later in 2016.</p><br>
<h2>Description</h2><br>
<p>The Toowoomba Foundry site is bounded by Ruthven Street on the eastern side, the Defiance Flour Mill on the southern side, the Toowoomba Railway Station on the western side and the Southern Cross site on the northern side. The site forms an integral part of the industrial streetscape of the northern end of Ruthven Street and has landmark qualities from both the western and eastern sides. A combination of mature trees and recent landscaping is planted in front of the Ruthven Street elevation.</p><br>
<p>The main entrance is from Ruthven Street, along which runs a face brick single storey building. The main section of this building is divided by engaged pilasters into twenty two bays. Each bay contains a fifteen paned window with painted concrete sills and lintels, apart from the seventh bay from the southern end, in which a door is located. This section is surmounted by a concrete rendered parapet which is painted with the Toowoomba Foundry logo and colours.</p><br>
<p>An additional section at the southern end of the building is constructed of similar face bricks and also divided by engaged pilasters into bays containing windows with painted concrete sills and lintels, although the bays and windows are wider than in the original section.</p><br>
<p>At the northern end of the site, the building steps back to form a "U" shape surrounding a carpark, continuing the pattern of bays divided by engaged pilasters.</p><br>
<p>Internally, these buildings comprise a reception area, office and canteen space on split levels. Most areas have undergone major alterations, with little evidence of original fabric surviving.</p><br>
<p>The remainder of the site comprises machine, moulding and core workshops, which are steel framed and clad in corrugated iron, apart from the southern end of the machine shop, which is clad in corrugated iron, but has a timber frame. Other buildings on the site are of a smaller scale, and are a combination of timber and steel framed buildings clad with corrugated iron. Some contain remnants of now obsolete industrial equipment, such as cranes.</p><br>
<p>The areas between the buildings are recently sealed, with remnants of railways tracks in the south-western corner of the site.</p><br>
<h2>Heritage listing</h2><br>
<p>Toowoomba Foundry Pty Ltd was listed on the Queensland Heritage Register on 7 July 2004 having satisfied the following criteria.</p><br>
<p>The place is important in demonstrating the evolution or pattern of Queensland&#39;s history.</p><br>
<p>The Toowoomba Foundry was established in 1871 and commenced operations at its present site in 1876, and has remained in operation since that time. It is important in demonstrating the evolution and pattern of Queensland&#39;s history in particular:</p><br>
<p>it is important in demonstrating the role of secondary industry, particularly in the provincial cities, within the State&#39;s economic and social fabric</p><br>
<p>the industrial precinct located in close proximity to the Toowoomba Railway Station (of which the Toowoomba Foundry and adjoining Defiance Mill are an integral part) is important in demonstrating the importance of the relationship between the provision of railway infrastructure and the development of Queensland secondary industry in the 19th century, particularly in the provincial cities.</p><br>
<p>The place demonstrates rare, uncommon or endangered aspects of Queensland&#39;s cultural heritage.</p><br>
<p>The Toowoomba Foundry is an uncommon example of an industrial site in Queensland which has had a continued use for nearly 130 years, and which remained in the same family for over 110 years.</p><br>
<p>The place is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a particular class of cultural places.</p><br>
<p>The Toowoomba Foundry has been in continual operation for nearly 130 years on this site and is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of an operational industrial site, which has evolved over time, and continues to do so. The site has undergone expansion and development according to fluctuations in demand for its various products, including rolling stock for Queensland Government Railways; windmills; and engines during the Second World War. The evolutionary nature of the site is evident in the location of the site as well as in the range of age, type, style and arrangement of buildings on the site.</p><br>
<p>The place is important because of its aesthetic significance.</p><br>
<p>The place has aesthetic significance as part of the industrial streetscape along the northern end of Ruthven Street as well as being prominent in the wider industrial landscape, especially when viewed from the Toowoomba Railway Station. Its landmark qualities from the west are due to the massing of a number of industrial, corrugated iron clad buildings. The site presents a more formal face to Ruthven Street through the brick fronted office building and canteen.</p><br>
<p>The place has a strong or special association with a particular community or cultural group for social, cultural or spiritual reasons.</p><br>
<p>Established nearly 130 years ago, the Toowoomba Foundry, with its long history as a major employer in Toowoomba, has strong associations for past and present employees, and for the local community. The canteen erected during the Second World War is of particular significance, and company social occasions were also held here. The place also has a strong association with rural Australia as a well-known producer and supplier of windmills, which have become synonymous with the rural landscape.</p><br>
<p>The Louis G. Redstone Residential Historic District consists of three houses located at 19303, 19309 and 19315 Appoline Street in the Greenwich Park neighborhood in northwest Detroit. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2014.</p><br>
<p>The houses were designed by Redstone for occupancy by himself (19303 Appoline), his brother Solomon Redstone (19309 Appoline), and his business partner, architect Henry J. Abrams (19315 Appoline). The district is significant because the houses exhibit many of the fundamental characteristics of the International Style, as evidenced by the simple geometric form and proportions with lack of ornamentation, the low-sloped hip roofs, and use of corner windows, textured glass block, and curved bays. The design of the houses is distinctive in the use of reclaimed common red brick for the exterior, rather than the white stucco usually associated with the International style.</p><br>
<p>The site also includes a perimeter brick wall that encloses the common rear yards, an outdoor cook stove, and a small wading pool decorated with stylized snail sculptures by artist Samuel Cashwan.</p><br>
<h2>Louis G. Redstone</h2><br>
<p>Louis Redstone was born as Louis Gordon Routenstein on March 16, 1903, in Grodno (then located in Russia, now in Belarus). Louiss father ran a small military supply business providing uniforms to the Russian Army. Louis attended school in Grodno and developed a desire to become an architect. Louiss brother Sol emigrated to the United States in 1916, there changing his surname to "Redstone" and eventually making his way to Detroit. Louis followed his brother in 1923.</p><br>
<p>Louis began his career in the United States by working as a construction laborer and mason during the day, and studying both English and blue-print reading in the evenings. In 1925 he enrolled at the University of Michigan, and graduated with a Bachelor&#39;s degree in architecture in 1929. After graduation, Redstone worked with Albert Kahn Associates. However, the Great Depression intervened, and Redstone moved on to work for Ford Motor Company designing plants in the Soviet Union and then opened his own practice in Tel Aviv. There he worked at the Levant Fair designing pavilions, many in the International Style. He also received a number of commissions for moderate-sized apartment buildings.</p><br>
<p>Redstone returned to Michigan in 1937 and opened his own practice, starting with many residential commissions. He championed the concept of shared yards, a design feature used in the Appoline houses. In 1938, Louis&#39;s brother Sol was married, and in 1939 Louis married Ruth Roslyn Rosenbaum. A few years after this he began designing the houses on Appoline Street for their families.</p><br>
<p>Redstone continued to practice professionally, designing a number of shopping centers during the 1950s. He was also active in the American Institute of Architects, and was inducted into their College of Fellows in 1964. Louis Redstone died in 2002 at the age of 99, but the Redstone architectural firm continues to operate today.</p><br>
<h2>Description</h2><br>
<p>The three houses in the The Louis G. Redstone Residential District are situated in a contiguous row on Appoline Street. All three are two-story, structures of reclaimed red brick, built in the International Style. The houses feature curved walls, low hip roofs, and steel casement and glass block windows. Each house has an attached single-car garage. The houses are tightly spaced, with a uniform setback, and the common backyard is enclosed with a red brick perimeter wall with no intermediate dividing walls. Benches and cantilevered stone shelves are incorporated Into the wall, as is a large outdoor grille and cooking stove. In the center of the backyard is a small concrete wading pool featuring two stylized snail sculptures, one at each end of the pool.</p><br>
<p>On the interior, the three houses feature 2,000 square feet of living space, similarly arranged in all three. Interior walls</p><br>
<p>and ceilings are finished primarily in plaster with some rooms featuring curly maple paneling. The interiors also have open stairways and built-in cabinets, shelving and niches. The wall are curved, with corner windows providing natural light and ventilation.</p><br>
<p>The houses have been slightly modified since construction, by enclosing of balconies and porches and the construction of small single room additions.</p><br>
<p>Toowoomba Hospital is a heritage-listed hospital at Pechey Street, Toowoomba, Toowoomba Region, Queensland, Australia. It was built from to. It is also known as Toowoomba Base Hospital. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 28 July 2000.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The Toowoomba General Hospital was established on its present James Street site in 1880 as the third site of a public hospital in the city and its second permanent home. The Hospital has been altered since its establishment with major phases of development in the 1890s-1910s; 1950s-1960s and more recently in the late 1990s. Two buildings remain extant from the 19th century and several remain from the early part of this century. It is these earlier buildings that comprise the focus of this report.</p><br>
<p>Early public hospitals were established for the provision of health care services for those people who could not afford private medical attention in their homes or in private institutions. Nineteenth-century Queensland hospitals were established by local voluntary hospital committees, which usually experienced some difficulty raising funds for both the establishment and running of the hospitals. Government grants were commonly available for the construction of hospital buildings. It was not until the Hospitals Act of 1923 that hospitals and public health became basic responsibilities of the government, resulting in the creation of hospital boards throughout the state who assumed control of local hospitals. Toowoomba Hospital was established during the voluntary committee period and was taken over by the Hospital Board following the introduction of the 1923 Act. From that time, development of the site was largely controlled by the Board.</p><br>
<p>The idea of erecting a hospital in Toowoomba was discussed with the very early services to be provided in the town - reflecting the importance of a local health service for the early town. Discussions began in 1856 in the nearby town of Drayton which was soon overshadowed in development by the more dramatic growth of Toowoomba and therefore, by June 1859 a small house was rented in Russell Street for the purpose of providing hospital services. By 1864 a timber hospital was constructed at the corner of James and Ruthven Street on land granted by the Colonial Government. This building was destroyed by fire on 25 December 1867, and plans for a brick building on the same site were drawn up by Richard George Suter, a Brisbane architect influential in hospital design in the late 1860s. Suter was an advocate for hospitals based on the pavilion plan principle, which maximized light and ventilation to all patients, and this early Toowoomba hospital was one of the first examples of this principle, which was to remain current for the design of hospital buildings through to the 1930s.</p><br>
<p>For many years discussions were held about the inappropriateness of the hospital site, thought to be too close to the centre of the growing city. Ideally, 19th-century hospitals were sited away from the town or city centre on an elevated site which allowed enhanced ventilation of all buildings. The present James Street site was acquired in 1878, by which time Toowoomba was a large regional centre, servicing the requirements of a rich and fertile farming hinterland. The local Hospital Committee paid £870 for 29 acres of land on the present hospital site at the corner of James and Pechey Streets. £10000 was provided by the Colonial Government for the erection of buildings at this time.</p><br>
<p>The early buildings on the site were designed by Queensland Colonial Architect, FDG Stanley and included a large, two-storeyed complex with four wards each containing 16 beds. Attached to this main block by covered ways was a two-storeyed kitchen and laundry wing. The buildings constructed at this time were face brick with pointed-arched sandstone detailing, in the manner of many of Stanley&#39;s other large public buildings, including the Roma Street railway station and the Queensland Government Printing Office in William Street, Brisbane. Of the buildings designed by Stanley at the Toowoomba Hospital, only the kitchen wing remains. The hospital was ready for opening in 1880.</p><br>
<p>Staff accommodation and a medical superintendent&#39;s residence was erected in 1889, and a Victoria Wing was added to the principal ward building in 1899 for a cost of £2250, designed by local architect William Hodgen. An operating theatre designed by James Marks and Son was added in 1907. These buildings are not extant.</p><br>
<p>Harry Marks, from James Marks and Son also designed a small, decorative morgue at the western end of the hospital in 1896. it was not until the construction of this building that the morgue services were removed from the original hospital site in Ruthven Street. The morgue is a one-roomed building which was built for £158. Unlike the functional design of most morgues, the Marks designed morgue was richly decorated with timber fretwork on bargeboards, timber eaves brackets and roof detailing. This building remained in use until a new adjacent morgue was constructed in 1940. The 1896 morgue is now used as a store.</p><br>
<p>On 24 April 1912, Lady William MacGregor laid the foundation stone for a new nurses quarters facing West Street, at what was originally adjacent to the entrance of the hospital. Now known as Freshney House and used as education and administration facility, this building was constructed for £5180 and designed by William Hodgen. Hodgen was born in Toowoomba and went to London to study architecture, returning in 1897 when he established private practice. He designed many fine Toowoomba buildings, mostly residences – integrating English-derived Arts and Crafts motif with Queensland building traditions. The design of Freshney House follows this trend, integrating a traditional Queensland two-storeyed building lined with deep double-storeyed verandahs, with Arts and Crafts motifs including art nouveau column and balustrade details, half-timbered gablets on the steeply pitched roof, and a pronounced entrance projection with over scaled classical detailing. Freshney House was constructed as a nurses quarters and provided not only cellular accommodation, bathrooms and a dining room for nurses but also training facilities.</p><br>
<p>The open-air isolation ward was constructed in 1916. This building was constructed for the care of those with infectious diseases, on the principles of the miasma theory which suggested that because the germs were thought to be circulating in the air, health service accommodation should be isolated and maintained to allow the maximum flow of the air through the building, dispersing germs. A report in the Darling Downs Gazette, of 1921 describes the isolation ward as being in a distant corner and under the shade of several large trees. Several similar wards were constructed at hospitals throughout Queensland, but very few survive. The buildings were a Queensland innovation. The building was designed to have a ward which be open to the weather and was protected by canvas blinds rolled down from the eaves. The blinds were replaced by timber-framed walls due to the cold weather. A new open-air ward, closer to the main building, was constructed by the Commonwealth Government in 1921. This building does not survive.</p><br>
<p>By the 1920s the Toowoomba Hospital was one of the biggest and best-equipped in the state. Reflecting government reform and spending in the area of maternity and child welfare, a maternity wing was constructed in 1926. This building does not remain on the site and was replaced by a new maternity wing in the 1950s which is now used for the care of acute psychiatric patients.</p><br>
<p>In 1927 another nurses quarters was constructed. This large, brick building now known as Cossart House, was designed to supplement the nurses accommodation at Freshney House. The building was constructed like many hospital buildings during this time which, following the introduction of the Hospitals Act of 1923 which caused the establishment of many new hospitals and the augmentation of many existing hospitals. In addition the introduction of the Hospital Nurses Award of 1921 initiated a statewide project upgrading nurses quarters, regulating standards of accommodation and working hours. Nurses quarters were constructed all over the state in response to this Award. The building was renamed Cossart House, in commemoration of a matron, Ethel Beatrice Cossart in the 1940s. With the construction of a new nurses&#39; quarters in the 1960s, Cossart House was used for other purposes and now houses educational and administrative facilities. Alterations have been made to the ground floor to accommodate new services.</p><br>
<p>By the 1950s advances in medical technology and an increasing Toowoomba population saw additional demand for hospital services, and the Toowoomba Hospital underwent major alterations, with the removal of early buildings and the construction of a number of substantial brick buildings. The buildings removed included the original 1880 hospital building and the 1926 maternity ward. The buildings were based on the multi-storeyed hospital building principle and included a maternity hospital in 1955 (now the acute psychiatric ward); a thoracic wing in 1956; nurses&#39; quarters in 1960; new boiler house; steam laundry; kitchen and a surgical wing in 1960. Much of this phase of the building work was designed by Brisbane architects, Donoghue, Cusick and Edwards.</p><br>
<p>During the late 1990s another major building and development phase saw the construction of a breast screening clinic, a major new entrance wing to the medical block, multi-storeyed carpark and medical village to the east of the site. The medical village provides private consulting rooms for medical and associated para-medical practitioners. This new construction concentrates services and facilities on the eastern end of the site, in contrast to the early hospital, which was mostly at the western end.</p><br>
<h2>Description</h2><br>
<p>The Toowoomba Hospital is situated on an 11.3-hectare site bounded by residences and facilities to the north, Pechey Street to the east, West Street to the west and the rear of residences along Joyce Street to the south. The site is 2 kilometres from the central business district of Toowoomba and is elevated, making it visible from a distance. The site contains about 25 buildings, most of which date from the 1950s onward. Most of the early buildings are located at the south-west corner of the site, and it is in this area that the heritage register boundary is located.</p><br>
<h3>Freshney House (1912-13 Nurses' Quarters)</h3><br>
<p>Freshney House is a symmetrically arranged two-storeyed face brick building lined on both storeys with wide, timber-framed verandahs. The building is located on the western boundary of the Toowoomba Hospital site, facing West Street, adjacent to the original entrance to the hospital. The building has a rectangular plan with central projecting bays on the northern and southern facades. Later additions have seen the floor plan further extended, but these are distinct from the original building.</p><br>
<p>The steeply pitched hipped roof of Freshney House is clad with corrugated iron and is half-gabled over the eastern and western ends and has projecting bays over the northern entrance wing. The entrance is emphasized on the roof with a large, half-timbered gablet with central ventilation panel. This gable detail is repeated at the half-gabled ends of the building. Smaller ventilation gablets line the main hipped roof of the building. Two face brick chimneys project symmetrically from the roof over the entrance wing. The roof encompasses the upper-storey verandah awning, which is supported on timber columns with elongated art nouveau brackets. These columns are repeated on the ground level. Lining the first floor verandah is a timber balustrade of battened timber with central decorative timber panels within each verandah bay, featuring an art nouveau motif. Forming the valance of the ground floor verandah and visually separating the two storeys is a wide fascia board clad with horizontal timber boarding which curves outwards, forming a skirt around the building.</p><br>
<p>Beneath the generous verandahs, Freshney House is a face brick building with stone quoining and rendered window and door surrounds. The building is lined with French doors, reflecting its original internal layout as separate bedrooms. The principal entrance to the building off West Street is expressed by a small balcony like projection in the first-storey verandah supported on paired timber columns, and featuring a segmental arched opening in the fascia skirt, lined with dentils. Smaller entrances of this type are found on the other facades of the building.</p><br>
<p>The ground-floor interior has been altered with the removal of original partitioning in the replanning of the floor. The first floor remains substantially intact, with original planning, and finishes including pressed metal ceilings.</p><br>
<p>There is a s, timber-framed and fibrous sheeting-clad extension to the rear of Freshney House. Another, later annexe is found to the west of the building.</p><br>
<h3>Cossart House (1927 Nurses' Quarters)</h3><br>
<p>Cossart House is a large, square-planned, two-storeyed, face brick building with a large central open courtyard. The building is lined on all external and courtyard facing facades with double-storeyed verandahs. The hipped roof of the building is clad with corrugated iron and features eight large metal vents, one on each corner of the building and one at the midpoint of each wing. The vents are distinguished by their large size and number and have pyramidal roofs and corrugated iron-clad faces. The roofs of the building encompass the verandahs which are supported on timber columns on the first floor and brick piers separated by a deep, arched timber valance on the ground floor. The upper-storey verandah is lined with timber-battened balustrade.</p><br>
<p>The face brick faces of the building are lined with French doors, originally giving access to the individual bedrooms. The planning of the building is typical of accommodation, with central halls from which small bedroom were accessed. All of the rooms had further access to the encircling verandahs. Within the courtyard at ground-floor level is a covered walkway joining the northern and southern wings.</p><br>
<h3>1880 Kitchen (now specialist private clinic)</h3><br>
<p>This is a two-storeyed, face brick structure, with hipped corrugated iron-clad roof and lined on all faces with square arched windows with rendered sills and heads. The building is sited at the rear of Freshney House and is linked via a series of covered walkways. This is the oldest building on the site and the only building remaining from the original complex. The building has been altered internally, but retains much of its external form and fabric, with the exception of verandahs which have been removed.</p><br>
<p>Extending from the eastern side of the original kitchen is an early covered walkway, supported on a variety of columns, including two large masonry columns with moulded caps and bases which may have been part of the original 1880 hospital. The ceiling of the walkway is clad with fibrous cement sheeting.</p><br>
<h3>1896 Morgue</h3><br>
<p>A small, unusually richly decorated building on the southern end of the site, adjacent to Freshney House is an 1896 morgue designed by Henry Marks. The corrugated iron-clad, truncated hipped roof of the morgue is lined with decorative barge board details. The building is situated at the western end of the site, near to a 1940 morgue. This building is now used as a store.</p><br>
<h3>1916 Open Air Ward (now gardener's accommodation)</h3><br>
<p>In the south west corner of the site is what was an open air ward comprising a small timber framed building on a concrete slab. The building is lined with fibrous sheeting and the hipped roof is clad with corrugated iron. The former ward is set diagonally on the most elevated corner of the site and comprises a T shaped plan. It is thought that the part of the building forming the upright of the T-shape was open to the weather and could be protected from the weather by canvas blinds lining the eaves of that section. Timber-framed walls have been constructed replacing the blinds. The other part of the building was built in and provided bathroom facilities, and other ancillary facilities. The building remains substantially intact, with the erection of external walls the major alteration.</p><br>
<h3>Grounds</h3><br>
<p>Within the area defined by the heritage register boundary there are several features which contribute to the significance of the site. These features include the large established trees, fence along West Street and rendered masonry gates from West Street and the steam reticulation service. This, like many other hospital sites is characterised as a hospital by the extensive network of metal reticulated steam pipes, elevated from ground level on a series of metal columns.</p><br>
<h3>1950s buildings</h3><br>
<p>The 1950s buildings on the site are all two to four storeyed face brick modern structures, characterised by long thin plans, horizontal window bands, rendered concrete awnings, and flat concealed roofs. These buildings are not included within the heritage register boundary.</p><br>
<p>The largest 1950s building is located centrally on the site running from a medical block at the eastern end, with major extension housing surgery toward the western end. The 1955 maternity wing is a two storeyed face brick building in the south east corner of the site. The building is lined with horizontal window banks with cantilevered concrete awnings. A former thoracic block dating from 1957 sits on the north east corner of the site.</p><br>
<h3>New work</h3><br>
<p>The Toowoomba Hospital has recently been expanded to include a large new entrance and wards building, housing maternity and surgical services, a medical village for private practise and large administration and research buildings. Most of this development is at the eastern end of the site and is not included within the heritage register boundary.</p><br>
<h2>Heritage listing</h2><br>
<p>Toowoomba Hospital was listed on the Queensland Heritage Register on 28 July 2000 having satisfied the following criteria.</p><br>
<p>The place is important in demonstrating the evolution or pattern of Queensland&#39;s history.</p><br>
<p>Toowoomba Hospital has historical significance as a good example of an operating public hospital dating from the 1880s, demonstrating phases of development reflecting changes in health care technology and public health conceptions. Freshney House and Cossart House, both former nurses&#39; quarters are of particular historical interest in demonstrating the development of nursing education and the nursing profession in the state.</p><br>
<p>The place demonstrates rare, uncommon or endangered aspects of Queensland&#39;s cultural heritage.</p><br>
<p>The Hospital has two 19th-century buildings, one from the original complex which are rare in Queensland. The former open air ward in the north-west corner of the site is a rare surviving example of this type of building demonstrating the early treatment of contagious diseases. The former 1896 morgue is a rare surviving 19th-century morgue and an unusually decorative example of this building type.</p><br>
<p>The place is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a particular class of cultural places.</p><br>
<p>Individual buildings on the hospital site have architectural significance, in particular the 1912 Freshney House integrating Arts and Crafts detailing with traditional Queensland building characteristics; the Cossart House, a classically inspired residential building with large central courtyard and a hipped roof capped at regular intervals with unusual ventilation towers and the 1896 morgue, a small unusually decorative structure.</p><br>
<p>The place is important because of its aesthetic significance.</p><br>
<p>Individual buildings on the hospital site have architectural significance, in particular the 1912 Freshney House integrating Arts and Crafts detailing with traditional Queensland building characteristics; the Cossart House, a classically inspired residential building with large central courtyard and a hipped roof capped at regular intervals with unusual ventilation towers and the 1896 morgue, a small unusually decorative structure.</p><br>
<p>Toowoomba Maltings is a heritage-listed malthouse at 11 Mort Street, Newtown, Toowoomba, Toowoomba Region, Queensland, Australia. It was built from 1899 to 1907. It is also known as Black Gully Malthouse, Darling Downs Malting Company Ltd, Paterson Redwood and Co, Queensland Brewery Co, Carlton Maltings, Northern Australia Brewers Ltd, Queensland Malting Company Ltd, Redwood&#39;s Maltings, State Wheat Board, and William Jones and Son  Ltd. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 January 1998.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The Toowoomba Maltings comprises a complex of buildings erected in several stages, in 1899, 1907, and the 1960s at Black Gully, Toowoomba for the purpose of turning barley into malt.</p><br>
<p>The 1899 and 1907 buildings are remnants of what was a large floor malting operation. The first malt house was erected on the Black Gully site in 1897 for the Darling Downs Malting Company Ltd to the design of architects, J Marks and Son. It was operated by the famous New Zealand malting family, the Redwoods, who were instrumental in developing the malting industry on the Darling Downs and in encouraging Downs farmers to grow and harvest barley for malting. Alphonso H Redwood was the managing director. The site had ready access to a water supply (Black Gully is a tributary of Gowrie Creek) and to transport (a railway siding known as Redwoods Siding was constructed to link the malthouse with the adjacent main south and west railway lines).</p><br>
<p>The second malthouse known as the big malt house was erected in on a site adjoining what then became known as the small malt house and was operated by Paterson Redwood and Co. Later called the Queensland Malting Company Ltd, members of the Redwood family were also associated with this company as minor shareholders, with the directors and major shareholders being Francis J Paterson (later Town Clerk of Toowoomba) and Townsville merchant, Samuel Nesbitt Allen.</p><br>
<p>In 1901, both malthouses were purchased by Vernon Redwood and P OBrien with Redwood soon after purchasing the interest of OBrien. The business was then operated under the name Redwood, by Vernon (who had been chief maltster for Perkins and Co in Toowoomba and who later served as Mayor and a Member of the Legislative Assembly) with his father and brothers. The business was purchased in 1904 by English malsters, William Jones and Son (Malsters) Ltd with Vernon Redwood as general manager (1904–13). The company, described as one of the largest malsters in the world, also imported most of the English malt coming into Australia. After federation and the imposition of duty on malt, the company needed to establish themselves in Australia, to maintain that business.</p><br>
<p>In 1906 major additions were commenced. In addition to the two malthouses, there was already on the site a brewery tower (erected ) and residential accommodation. The additions costing £6,999 were designed and supervised by Toowoomba architect Harry Marks of James Marks and Son. They comprised the erection of a new malthouse and kilns which were linked to the 1899 malthouse and the conversion of the existing brewery tower to a high water storage reservoir. The new malthouse included steeping tanks, a large polished cement germinating floor, two kilns, malt dressing rooms, and a number of pine storage bins. Elevators and a conveyor belt, which traversed the length of the building, transported the grain in its various stages. The malt storage chamber was fitted with 38 Marks patented reversible casement windows and a number of Marks&#39;s roof ventilators. Special kiln top ventilators were also designed by Marks, who was described as being gifted with inventive genius. The new complex, described as the biggest in the Commonwealth, was opened on 1 June 1907. The contractor was Montague Ivory with the plastering (including the cement germinating floor) by WJ Waldron, ironwork by the Toowoomba Foundry, and plumbing by Partridge and Co.</p><br>
<p>In 1923, the land was acquired by the Crown and was used by the State Wheat Board for the storage of wheat until 1930, when the newly formed Barley Board, established to deal with surplus crops, reopened the malthouse which was leased to Queensland Brewery Co who agreed to malt all barley of malting quality delivered by the Barley Board. During World War II, malting operations ceased and the site was occupied by the defence forces. In 1959 the complex was purchased by the Northern Australian Brewers Ltd, who had leased the complex from 1951. A $1 million modernisation and expansion program was commenced in 1968. This included the erection of new buildings to house automatic malting technology. About this time the 1897 malthouse and part of the 1899 building were demolished.</p><br>
<p>In 1973, the Maltings were transferred to Carlton United Brewers (NQ) Ltd. In 1987, the portion of land formerly containing the water tower and other associated buildings was sold. The remaining portion containing the floor maltings and the automated maltings has been transferred a number of times since. The floor maltings are no longer in use, however automated malting is still carried out on the site.</p><br>
<h2>Description</h2><br>
<p>Bounded on the north east by Mort Street and the Western railway line and by Black Gully on the north west, the Maltings complex is located in a mixed residential and industrial area of Toowoomba. A railway siding runs between the buildings and the gully.</p><br>
<p>A rectilinear block of connected buildings consisting of two stone kilns, a malt dressing area, two brick kilns and a brick shed are remnants of earlier malting operations on the site. The present malting plant is housed in large sheds on the eastern and southern sides of the older buildings.</p><br>
<p>The two 1899 painted bluestone kilns, the oldest surviving buildings, are of coursed rubble construction. Each kiln has two levels with the lower level partly below ground. In the centre of each is a furnace which provided the heat for the drying process which took place on the upper level. A radial timber framed floor separates the two levels. The stone kilns have hipped corrugated iron roofs with large metal clad ventilators located at the peaks.</p><br>
<p>A gable roofed brick malt-dressing area separates the stone kilns from two slightly larger kilns. Machinery for processing grain (cleaning, moving, grading) is located on timber platforms at different levels connected by timber stairs. Sky lights over this area have rolled iron roofs. Rooms for the collection of dust are located on the upper level.</p><br>
<p>The two larger 1907 kilns are of similar design to the stone kilns but constructed of brick with brick arches on the furnace level and steel framed floors of perforated cast-iron tiles. Ventilators located at the peak of steep hip roofs have overhanging flat metal tops.</p><br>
<p>A large brick shed dominated by a corrugated iron gable roof extends to the south west of the kilns. The ground floor of the shed has a polished concrete germinating floor ventilated by timber shuttered windows. Round cast-iron columns in a grid of 14x6 bays support the timber floor and floor framing above.</p><br>
<p>On the first floor level which is built inside the roof space of the shed are timber framed malt storage bins lined with pine boards on a malthoid paper backing. A central corridor running north east to south west along the length of the shed allows access to the storage bins. On this level in the centre of the north west elevation is a dormered loading bay which opens via double timber doors onto the railway siding.</p><br>
<p>Above the central corridor under the ridge of the shed roof is a walkway and conveyor belt. The conveyor belt is connected via metal chutes with the storage bins. At the south west end of this reversible conveyor belt, opening onto the germinating floor below, are two large steeping tanks supported on steel girders. Grain elevators are located at the north east end of the conveyor belt in the malt dressing area. The shed roof has numerous skylights and Marks&#39;s ventilators.</p><br>
<p>A new skillion roofed, steel framed shed is attached to the north western side of the old buildings to provide cover for loading operations. Original tools and machinery remain in the buildings.</p><br>
<h2>Heritage listing</h2><br>
<p>Toowoomba Maltings was listed on the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 January 1998 having satisfied the following criteria.</p><br>
<p>The place is important in demonstrating the evolution or pattern of Queensland&#39;s history.</p><br>
<p>Toowoomba Maltings is important in demonstrating the pattern of Queensland&#39;s history, in particular the development of the malting industry on the Darling Downs and the use of floor maltings.</p><br>
<p>The place demonstrates rare, uncommon or endangered aspects of Queensland&#39;s cultural heritage.</p><br>
<p>As a collection of buildings and equipment associated with the (superseded) technology of floor maltings, it demonstrates a rare aspect of Queensland&#39;s cultural heritage.</p><br>
<p>The place is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a particular class of cultural places.</p><br>
<p>As a collection of buildings and equipment associated with the (superseded) technology of floor maltings, it is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of floor maltings.</p><br>
<p>The place is important because of its aesthetic significance.</p><br>
<p>It is important in exhibiting a range of aesthetic characteristics valued by the community, in particular as an example of a functional industrial aesthetic.</p><br>
<p>The place is important in demonstrating a high degree of creative or technical achievement at a particular period.</p><br>
<p>The place is important in demonstrating a high degree of technical achievement in an early 20th century floor malting complex.</p><br>
<p>The place has a special association with the life or work of a particular person, group or organisation of importance in Queensland&#39;s history.</p><br>
<p>It has a special association with the life and work of Toowoomba architects James Marks and Son, in particular Harry Marks, and is a good example of their industrial work.</p><br>
<p>Toowoomba Permanent Building Society is a heritage-listed former building society at 2 Russell Street, Toowoomba, Toowoomba Region, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by William Hodgen and built from 1934 to 1982. It is also known as Cleary & Lee Solicitors and Toowoomba Permanent Benefit Building and Investment Society. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 October 1992.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The former Toowoomba Permanent Benefit Building and Investment Society building was designed as a solid and austere edifice of red facing brick. It was constructed in 1934 by contractor WR Smith, at a cost of £4390. The design was by prominent Toowoomba architect, William Hodgen. The building was Hodgen&#39;s last major work produced by him before his death in 1943. The building was extended on the western side in 1982.</p><br>
<p>The Toowoomba Permanent Benefit Building and Investment Society was established in 1875 in offices in Margaret Street. As the business expanded larger accommodation was sought in 1906 in Russell Street. In 1934 a decision was made to build an office on another site in Russell Street and these premises were opened in October 1934. The Toowoomba Permanent Building Society remained in this building until 1979.</p><br>
<p>The Toowoomba Permanent Building Society was the third permanent building society to be established in 1874, the other two societies being established in Brisbane in July and August. The establishment of a permanent building society had come about following the formation and subsequent closure of a number of terminating societies. Evidence suggests that the first terminating society was formed in Toowoomba late in 1862, on the initiative of William Henry Groom, the first Mayor of Toowoomba. The permanent society differed to the terminating society in that its system accredited interest annually rather that at termination.</p><br>
<p>Most Australian building societies were larger in size and function than the British societies with a tendency to evolve into building companies, land and mortgage banks or estate companies. They also tended to rely on small overdrafts from the trading banks in times of financial crisis or economic recession. Hence, in Australia, building society interest rates were frequently subject to the prevailing rates set by the banks, and the bank crash of 1893 was even the ruin of a number of dependent societies.</p><br>
<p>On 16 Sept 1874, the Toowoomba Chronicle&#39;s Brisbane correspondent published an editorial comment on the principles of co-operation and self-help reflected in the building society movement. The article emphasised how "an industrious man an excellent opportunity to shake himself...free of his landlord...it facilitates the settlement in and around the settlement of trade of a....body of people who, having secured a stake in a place...are not tempted to migrate upon every trivial occasion..."</p><br>
<p>The benefits of retaining an itinerant workforce in or near a town meant increased population and, accordingly, increased prosperity. Such increases ultimately benefited the local building and agricultural industries, as well as commerce and trade. Greater government revenue became available through taxation and could be channelled into public works to the advantage of the town. The formation of the building society played an integral part in such economic growth. If wage earners could be encouraged to secure their own piece of land, they would make a contribution to the prosperity of the town.</p><br>
<p>Since 1876 the office of the Toowoomba Permanent Building Society had been located in a suite of rooms in Beirnes Chambers in Margaret Street. With the increased workload associated with the expansion of the business at the turn of the century, these premises became too cramped. By September 1905, the Directors began looking for new premises. In January 1906, rather than tendering for a new building, and declining Beirnes offer of the current premises for £1 per week, the Society called for offers of existing buildings. Within a week, the Society had six offers. On 15 January 1906, the Society accepted half of Bernard Dowd&#39;s offer for £1500 for premises situated on the southern side of Russell Street. Marks and Sons architects prepared plans and specifications for the renovation of the premises. The lowest tender, by HC Olsen for £260 and eight weeks, was accepted on 13 March 1906.</p><br>
<p>Several modifications of this office occurred, particularly in the 1920s. These included modifications to the office balcony, installation of iron bars on rear windows, the installation of a telephone, and later, plans were initiated to connect the office to the sewerage system. In 1928, no action was taken by the Society on the request from the City Electric and Radio Service to improve the lighting of the building and to install "electric advertising".</p><br>
<p>Given the many modifications to the building, the Society began to consider moving to larger premises. In October 1929 the Board appointed a sub-committee to consider the question of new office premises and equipment. Failing to report by mid-1930, the sub-committee was urged to consider the alteration of the existing office to accommodate new equipment. In August it reported that no further alterations should be made, "but that a suitable site be procured, and a building erected, that will meet the requirements of the Society for the next 25 years and that the foundation of the building be of sufficient strength to carry a two-storeyed building". The matter, however, was not dealt with for some time while the Board was preoccupied with the requirements resulting from the Depression.</p><br>
<p>In July 1932, the question of office accommodation was revived and the search for a site recommenced. Several possibilities were discussed including a site at the corner of Neil and Little Russell Streets. In June 1933, a new sub-committee comprising Director, HE Brown; an accountant, HJ Parsons and WR Smith, a builder-contractor, was given the brief of finding new premises or land within three weeks. On 20 July 1933, the sub-committee reported the purchase of the a property on the corner of Neil and Russell Streets from Mrs DE Campbell for £1500, including the existing dwelling valued at £300, which was sold at public auction in October. The Board ratified the purchase and engaged architect William Hodgen, a former Director, to draw up plans and estimates. On 18 October 1933, with Hodgen&#39;s estimate of £4390 and twenty-six weeks, was successful. Over the next few months there were several "extras" brought before the Board, including sums for doors, steps and porch gates (£36); fanlights (£7-10-0) and a dwarf wall (£75). There was also the question of fences, lawns and cementing the driveway from the street to the garage.</p><br>
<p>The new premises were ready for occupation in mid-October and the Society celebrated the move with a photograph and publicity piece in the Toowoomba Chronicle. The Board held its first meeting in the new Board Room on 18 October 1934.</p><br>
<p>Between 1934-1979 the building served as the office and public symbol of the Toowoomba Permanent Building Society. Its corner position at the intersection of Neil and Russell Streets ensured that the building and its grounds were prominent in the streetscape. In August 1977, a special meeting of members authorised a change in name from the Toowoomba Permanent Benefit Building and Investment Society to the Toowoomba Permanent Building Society. The Society moved to new premises in Ruthven Street in March 1979.</p><br>
<p>Extensions to the building were carried out in 1982, when the building was occupied by Cleary and Lee Solicitors. Extensions included placing a second entrance, a French door bordered by Doric pilasters, on the western side of the main entry. Part of the fence along Russell Street was demolished, following extensions to the building, to provide for a parking area.</p><br>
<p>When the Toowoomba Permanent Building Society vacated the premises in 1976 a time capsule was placed behind the plaque on the south wall of the plaza in the interior of the building, to be opened in 2026. The legal firm of Cleary and Lee Solicitors leased the building for a number of years from March 1980, however, the building is currently unoccupied.</p><br>
<h2>Description</h2><br>
<p>The former Toowoomba Permanent Building Society building is a single storey, facebrick building constructed in 1934 with later extensions to the western side, located in a prominent position on the corner of Russell and Neil Streets, Toowoomba.</p><br>
<p>The northern (front) elevation of the building, facing Russell Street, has a prominent, projecting, rendered front portico with a set of stairs leading to the entry, which has terrazzo tiles and timber framed French doors and a breezeway assembly with decorative glass. Double hung sash, timber framed windows are located along the front facade, including in the extensions of the western side of the property, and also along the eastern elevation, facing Neil Street. All the windows have a breezeway assembly with glass panels. A second entrance, with timber French doors, is located at the western end of the northern elevation, forming part of the later extensions. The rendered pediment is located right around the building and conceals the hipped roof clad with tiles. Raised lettering reading "CLEARY AND LEE SOLICITORS" is located along the top of the projecting portico and along the eastern elevation.</p><br>
<p>Along the northern and eastern elevations, the building has decorative rendered and painted mouldings and a dentilled cornice. The facebrick western elevation has no windows or entrances. The southern (rear) elevation has timber framed, double hung sash windows along the elevation.</p><br>
<p>The original, detached facebrick garage located in the south-western corner of the site, now attached to the main building, is still apparent. The parapet concealing the hipped roof clad with corrugated galvanised iron is still extant.</p><br>
<p>Internally, the former Toowoomba Permanent Building Society has a large open area which forms the main section of the building. The large space has been divided into a number of workspaces using partitions. The plaster ceiling in the room is divided into panels which have decorative plaster dentilled cornices and mouldings. The rendered walls have a timber dado rail located around the room. Doric pilasters are located on all internal walls in the main part of the original section.</p><br>
<p>In the original section, offices are located along the eastern side of the building. The walls in the offices have been rendered and each have a timber dado rail and picture rail. Most of the offices have a dentilled plaster cornice, however, one, at the southern end of the building has only a moulded plaster cornice, without dentils. The original strong room is still extant and is located on the southern side of the building. An office on the western side of the building, forming part of the original section, has been refurbished, including the lowering of the ceiling. A panelled, timber door, with sidelights, located in the north-western corner of the office, opens to the main office area. Toilets and kitchen facilities, with recent renovations, are located on the southern side of the building.</p><br>
<p>Brick extensions have been undertaken on the western side of the building. In this section, a number of offices open from a central corridor. These offices are austere with simple, decorative plaster cornices. The decorative plaster ceiling in the front office, which faces Russell Street are slightly more detailed. The original garage, which functioned also as a store room, located in the south-western corner is now divided into two offices. Similar to the other offices, these spaces are austere with simple, decorative plaster cornices.</p><br>
<p>A low, brick fence with rendered capitals on the plinths is located along the northern and eastern sides of the building and along part of the western side.</p><br>
<h2>Heritage listing</h2><br>
<p>The former Toowoomba Permanent Building Society building was listed on the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 October 1992 having satisfied the following criteria.</p><br>
<p>The place is important in demonstrating the evolution or pattern of Queensland&#39;s history.</p><br>
<p>Designed in 1934 by William Hodgen, former Director of the Toowoomba Permanent Building Society and noted Toowoomba architect, the former Toowoomba Permanent Building Society, is significant as an example of a purpose-built commercial premise. The building is the last major work designed by Hodgen before his death in 1943, and served for many years as a public symbol of the Toowoomba Permanent Building Society.</p><br>
<p>The place is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a particular class of cultural places.</p><br>
<p>A good example of a typical monument of 1930s commercial enterprise, the former Toowoomba Permanent Building Society building is single story and austere building with classical Georgian elements. The fence and grounds of the building are significant as elements of the original concept portraying domesticity rather than a commercial enterprise.</p><br>
<p>The place is important because of its aesthetic significance.</p><br>
<p>Located at the corner of Russell and Neil Streets, with its specifically designed low, brick and iron fence, the former Toowoomba Permanent Building Society building is significant for its contribution to the streetscape.</p><br>
<p>The place has a special association with the life or work of a particular person, group or organisation of importance in Queensland&#39;s history.</p><br>
<p>The former Toowoomba Permanent Building Society building is significant for its association with one of Toowoombas oldest businesses and one of Queenslands longest-operating permanent building society&#39;s, and for its association with the members of the Society.</p><br>
<p>Toowoomba Police Station Complex is a heritage-listed police station at 50-52 Neil Street, Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by Raymond Clare Nowland and built in 1935. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 5 October 1998.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The Toowoomba Police Station Complex is located on a large site with frontages to both Neil and Hume Streets. It addresses Neil Street and consists of four brick buildings constructed in 1935: the police station, garage, a watch house and watch house keeper&#39;s residence.</p><br>
<p>Toowoomba is the principal town on the Darling Downs which was first discovered by explorer Allan Cunningham in 1827. It was settled by New South Wales pastoralists in search of rich grazing land and by 1844 over twenty stations had been established. The site now known as Toowoomba was eventually considered to be the most suitable location for access down the range and in 1852, a town survey was secured. The establishment of the new town was strongly supported by the squatters and Toowoomba challenged Brisbane as the new capital of Queensland. Although this status was not achieved, the town rapidly developed and by the 1860s had become the centre of pastoral development on the Downs.</p><br>
<p>A police presence in the form of a lock up and barracks for constables and officers existed from the early formation of the town. The 1880s, a time of economic boom in Queensland, saw an increase in the number of grand public buildings constructed by the Department of Public Works. The construction of the Toowoomba Court House at the intersection of Margaret and Neil street in the 1876-78 and the Toowoomba Post Office facing Margaret Street in 1880, were followed by a substantial two-storeyed U shaped brick Police Station, incorporating barracks, lock up and lock up keepers quarters. It was completed in 1881 on the Neil Street site. Later, two stable buildings, paddocks, a separate lock up keepers quarters and inspector&#39;s residence were added to the site.</p><br>
<p>In 1915, a simple single-storeyed timber building with an iron roof was constructed at the rear of the main building as quarters for the Senior Sergeant. It originally had an open front verandah, a small front hall, three bedrooms, a sitting room, a dining room across the width of the house, and a kitchen and bathroom at the rear. This modest building is a typical Public Works Department design for a residence within a provincial location, and reflecting the hierarchal importance of the Senior Sergeant in relation to other police personnel. The building was removed during 1997.</p><br>
<p>In 1935, the buildings on the Police Station site were demolished with the exception of the 1915 Senior Sergeants quarters which was retained in situ, and was used as the police station during the construction of the new building. The project was part of a substantial program of public work being carried out in Toowoomba and district at that time. From January until August in 1935, £15,000 had been spent in public works wages in the area. Prominent work included the new Police Station, improvements at Willowburn Mental Hospital and construction of Toowoomba East State School. Building was not confined to Public sector construction activity. The private sector followed the governments lead, with new construction, extensive remodelling and modernisation of many of Toowoombas commercial properties.</p><br>
<p>The new complex of Police buildings was designed by Raymond Clare Nowland, Senior Architect of the Department of Public Works. Nowland studied at Sydney Technical College and the Architectural Association in London after which he was employed by the Commonwealth Government, 1920-26. Nowland then moved to Queensland, practicing as an Architect and Town planner in Brisbane, before commencing work in the Queensland Department of Public Works in 1933 remaining there until 1938. He designed a number of buildings for the Queensland Police including Fortitude Valley Police Station and the Police Barracks in Upper Roma Street. The Toowoomba Police Station Complex was designed as an integrated range of buildings and Nowland incorporated advice from the local constabulary. Suggestions and input were considered from all levels of the service, from the night watch house constable to the Senior sergeant and District Police Inspector. A number of the original designs were amended to accommodate the very specific requirements of the local police including the garage, the watch house and the recreation area of the main Police Station.</p><br>
<p>The Police Station, a two storeyed brick building with a single storey rear section, incorporated offices for police duties on the ground floor and police barracks on the upper floor. The design allowed for the various police specialty divisions that had begun to evolve in larger urban centres. Offices were provided for the criminal investigation branch, the traffic branch, uniform inquiry mens room, constables day room, as well as office space for senior staff. A public counter and room for police enquiries incorporated into the design, provided special space for the public to access the police and the many extraneous services located within police jurisdiction.</p><br>
<p>The single-storeyed watch house and watch house keepers residence were constructed as separate buildings of coherent design to the main police station. The watch house consisted of cells, charge rooms, laundry, toilet and shower and had an internal exercise yard, creating a compact and spatially introspective building precluding the need for fencing. The watch house keepers residence was a single-storeyed brick and tile building with a verandah. In 1988 the two buildings were joined and the watch house extended to accommodate more cell space. These alterations allowed the residence to be used as office space and the capacity of the watch house to be increased. A brick fence with barbed wire top was added for further security at this time.</p><br>
<p>A combination garage/stables with a tile roof was built on the northern boundary to replace the old stables. It contained a garage, stalls, fodder and harness rooms. Cecil Carroll became commissioner of the Queensland Police Force in 1934 and then embarked on the motorisation of the police force. A central motor garage, with trained motor mechanics was established in Brisbane in 1938, making the Toowoomba building an early example of the incorporation of the motor car into the operations of the police force. The original design for the stables incorporated 5 small stables. On the advice from Senior Sergeant J. A. D. Bookless, they were condensed to three 9 ft boxes with open fronts that could be used for motor cars and with the introduction of a rail, converted to stable. The placement of the roller doors in this elevation, created space for the secure housing of stolen vehicles after hours. The garage/stable, incorporating both old and new modes of transportation, provides evidence of this transitional period of transport for the police force and the pragmatism that forced the design to incorporate both forms of transport at this time.</p><br>
<p>Since the inception of the Police Force in the nineteenth century, the police lived and worked within the boundary of the Police reserve. The Toowoomba Police Station Complex reflected the arrangement of the living and working conditions that still prevailed in the 1930s. The location of barracks and other quarters on the same site as the police station provided an obvious law and order presence within the Toowoomba community at all times. This arrangement provided public access to the police force both day and night. The barracks and dormitories indicate the preference for single men in the position of constable</p><br>
<p>The close proximity of the Court House is indicative of the close relationship in the dual arms of law enforcement, and facilitating transportation of prisoners between the two arenas. The various buildings represent the complexity of services and facilities provided by this station since its establishment last century.</p><br>
<p>A building of the Justice department, the Toowoomba Court House, is located at the rear of the police reserve facing Hume Street.</p><br>
<h2>Description</h2><br>
<p>The Toowoomba Police Station is a complex on a large block situated between Neil and Hume Streets, Toowoomba. To the north of the complex is the Toowoomba Post Office and the Toowoomba Court House. The Wesley Uniting Church and, beyond this, the Empire Theatre are on sites to the south of the building.</p><br>
<p>The Toowoomba Police Station complex comprises four buildings: a substantial two storeyed face brick Police Station addressing Neil Street; a one storeyed face brick Radio Maintenance building on the northern boundary of the site and, to the rear of this a watch house, comprising a former residence and purpose built watch house. At the rear of the site, addressing Hume Street is a Court House. Surrounding the buildings on the site are trees and remnants of early gardens.</p><br>
<p>The principal building on the site is a two storeyed Police Station located centrally on the Neil Street boundary of the site. The symmetrically arranged building comprises a two storeyed front section with a one storeyed wing running eastward from the centre of the rear of the building. To the south of this wing in the open space between the two wings is a recent one storeyed extension. The Police Station is flanked on the Neil Street elevation by face brick fences and gate posts, sections of which have been removed. The complex hipped and gabled roof of the police station is clad with terracotta coloured ceramic tiles. Projecting through the main roof of the building are four substantial face brick chimney shafts with concrete caps and overhanging shallow gabled concrete awnings. As well, a similar chimney shaft penetrates the roof of the rear wing. Generally the building is constructed from loadbearing brickwork and has rendered concrete detailing. The facades of the building are lined on both storeys with verandah loggias formed by large round arched openings. Most of these openings, although originally open have been infilled with glazing.</p><br>
<p>The principal elevation of the Police Station, addressing Neil Street, is symmetrically composed with a central entrance bay projecting from the face of the building and projecting above the roof line, terminating in a stepped parapet with a concrete fascia. This central bay has a large round arched opening on the ground floor, providing access to a small porch housing the entrance door. The arched opening is surrounded with rusticated concrete voussoirs and has a large corbelled keystone. This concept of an oversized keystone is repeated in a more simple concrete render on the moulded archway above on the first floor. Flanking the entrance bay are loggias on both the ground and first floor. These comprise round arched openings, heavily moulded with moulded keystones on the ground floor and more simply rendered on the floor above. The openings adjacent to the entrance bay on the ground floor have not been infilled and retain a simple painted iron balustrade comprising simple balusters and a central panel of cross braced rails. Flanking this section of the building are recessed end bays which house side entrance doors under a shallow round arched vaulted awning supported on moulded corbels. These openings which are accessed via a small concrete stair with simple iron balustrade, house single six panelled doors with round arched fanlight above. Across the face of the front facade, and the other facades of the building are concrete bands, coincident with the springing point of the arched openings on the ground floor and with the base of the arched openings on the first floor.</p><br>
<p>The side ends of the building, facing north and south, have many, variously sized round arched openings lining both storeys of the building. Like the arched openings elsewhere on the building, these have concrete rendered surrounds. The rear of the two storeyed section of the building continues the theme of arched openings with concrete surrounds forming loggias, now infilled, and also the concrete banding lining the building.</p><br>
<p>Extending from the rear of the building is a one storeyed wing with gabled roof. This is constructed from brick and is lined on the northern side with a verandah. The verandah, which would originally have been repeated on the southern side of the wing prior to the construction of a one storeyed extension on that side, is housed under the main roof of the wing. Supporting the roof along the verandah are face brick columns with concrete caps each surmounted by two squat timber posts which extend upward to the eaves line. Integrated with the timber posts is a shallow arched timber valance. A timber battened balustrade lines the verandah.</p><br>
<p>The principal entrance to the Police Station which is on the Neil Street elevation, is through a double multi-paned glazed door surmounted by a segmented arctic glass fanlight and all surrounded with tinted arctic glass side lights and arch surround. From the entrance access is provided to a small entrance vestibule with a public counter faced with timber panelling and housed in the northern wall. Separating this room from the hallway beyond is a shallow arched opening, recently infilled with painted timber panelling and a security door. The archway is lined with mouldings and features a large corbelled keystone. In the spandrels of the archway on the face of the eastern wall of this room are two plaster rondels. The hallway beyond the entrance hall runs from the northern end of the building to the southern end on both floors of the building. The various areas of the building are demarcated on each of the floors with concrete archways along the length of the halls. The stair hall is centrally located to the east of the entrance hall, on the other side of the central hall and separated by a moulded bulkhead resting on corbels. The concrete stair is a three quarter turn stair with iron balustrade.</p><br>
<p>Generally the interior of the police station has painted plaster walls, concrete floors lined with carpet, linoleum, and terrazzo in various sections and a ceiling of fibrous cement sheeting housed in a heavy exposed timber frame. The offices on the ground floor are accessed from the central hall way and are generally intact with corner fireplaces of glazed face brick. Lavatories and service areas are located at each end of both floors. The upper floor originally housing a number of larger room has been more altered with recent partitioning and ceilings inserted. The loggias on both floors of the building have been integrated as office space.</p><br>
<p>A now enclosed verandah and passage lines the rear of the two storeyed section of the Police Station and separates it from the one storeyed wings. The one storeyed original central wing houses a number of small rooms and a large open room toward the eastern end. Although linked at this end to the more recent extension an internal courtyard separates this from the recent extension which houses recreational space.</p><br>
<p>To the west of the Police Station and on the northern boundary of the site is a simple rectangular planned face brick building, originally constructed as stables but now used as a Radio Maintenance Building. The two ends of the building have pyramidal roofs and a hipped roof extends between these two end bays. The roof is clad with coated metal, clip lock profile, roof sheeting. The ends of the building project from the face of the principal southern facade and the corners of these ends on this face project upward through the roof and terminate in flat parapets. Between the end bays this facade is lined with three metal roller doors with another metal roller door in a concrete extension on the eastern end of the building.</p><br>
<p>To the east of this structure is a watch house comprising an early residence adjoining a watch house. Both structures are face brick and surrounded by a high face brick fence surmounted by barbed wire security railing. The residence faces westward toward the police station and is an assymterical building with a hipped and projecting gabled roof clad with metal sheeting. The gables features three panel window openings with multi-paned casement windows under an awning supported on moulded corbels. Timber battened bargeboards infill the gables. To the rear of the former residence is a square planned face brick watch house with a number of small high level openings.</p><br>
<p>A concrete pad to the south of the watch house provides evidence of an early garage recently removed from the site. Remnants of a garden to the south of this provide evidence of another recently removed residence on the site for which this was the garden. Centrally located on the site is an early steel framed awning with pyramidal roof, protecting petrol bowsers. At the eastern end of the site is a concrete and glass Court House dating from. This building faces Hume Street and is separated from buildings at the Police Station complex by a fence and a carpark.</p><br>
<h2>Heritage listing</h2><br>
<p>Toowoomba Police Station Complex was listed on the Queensland Heritage Register on 5 October 1998 having satisfied the following criteria.</p><br>
<p>The place is important in demonstrating the evolution or pattern of Queensland&#39;s history.</p><br>
<p>The Toowoomba Police Station Complex consists of four brick buildings constructed in 1935; the police station, garage, a watch house and former watch house keepers residence. The impressive form of the Toowoomba Police Station Complex is indicative of the importance of Toowoomba as Queenslands second city in the urban hierarchy of the state.</p><br>
<p>The place is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a particular class of cultural places.</p><br>
<p>The Toowoomba Police Station Complex demonstrates the multi-functional use of the police reserve to accommodate residences, official duties, remand facilities and transport requirements. It demonstrates the development of services and technologies related to the implementation of law and order in a large regional centre. The complex is an integral part of an important justice and government administration precinct which includes the former Post Office and Court House.</p><br>
<p>The place is important because of its aesthetic significance.</p><br>
<p>The Toowoomba Police Station Complex has aesthetic significance and is dominated by a large Police Station, designed to promote the presence of the police in Toowoomba. The other buildings, including the one storeyed Police Station extension are designed to a domestic scale and influenced by the Arts and Crafts movement. The site is a precinct of well designed and congruous brick buildings with concrete detailing. The Police Station is a particularly well composed institutional building, with fine detailing.</p><br>
<p>The place has a special association with the life or work of a particular person, group or organisation of importance in Queensland&#39;s history.</p><br>
<p>The Toowoomba Police Station Complex has a special association with Architect, Raymond Clare Nowland of the Queensland Department of Public Works, as an excellent example of his work during the 1930s.</p><br>
<p>The Toowoomba Police Station Complex has a special association with Queensland police, demonstrating the evolution of work practices and the changing nature of the lifestyle specifically associated with police force employment in a major regional centre.</p><br>
<p>Toowoomba Post Office is a heritage-listed former post office at 136 Margaret Street, Toowoomba City, Toowoomba, Toowoomba Region, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by Francis Drummond Greville Stanley and built from 1878 to 1908 by John Gargett. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 24 January 2003.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The Toowoomba Post Office, of which construction was completed in 1880, is one of three extant post offices built in the Classic Revival Style, with the other two at Maryborough (1866) and central Brisbane (1871). The fourth building of this type was at Dalby (1867), but is now demolished.</p><br>
<p>The opening and closing of "Postal Stations" reflected the fortunes of some of the more precarious settlements and indicates some of the difficulties faced by the Postal Department in providing services. Where the establishment of towns was closely connected with the opening of a railway, Post Offices were often at the railway station, where mail was received and sent, and where the Telegraph Office could benefit by the sharing of equipment with the Railway. The Post Office was one of the first Government functions to be established in a locality, and the need for regular communication was closely followed or sometimes preceded by the Police Station.</p><br>
<p>The period between 1859-1879 marked the separation of the Post and Telegraph Departments and a wide range of buildings appeared throughout Queensland to accommodate both functions. It was also the principal period of colonisation, with Government architect F. D. G. Stanley in charge of design and construction of post offices from 1872 - 1880, when a series of grand Post and Telegraph buildings were erected in both masonry and timber in the major provincial centres, of which Toowoomba was one.</p><br>
<p>The first postal service on the Darling Downs comprised a pack-horse mail service from Brisbane to Drayton in 1845, which was subsequently upgraded to a horse-drawn coach. By 1864 there were 42 mail services in Queensland, and the following year, Cobb and Co were appointed the official carriers of the state&#39;s mail.</p><br>
<p>The first Electric Telegraph from Brisbane to Toowoomba was established in 1861 as part of the intercolonial route. Subsequent connections extended the line to Dalby, Roma, Charleville and the far north-east. Toowoomba was located at the junction of a number of telegraph routes and subsequently grew in importance. At this stage, the Telegraph office was located in a room in the 1865 Post Office on the corner of Ruthven and Russell Streets. The current Post Office replaced this structure to accommodate the need for both Post and Telegraph services.</p><br>
<p>Tenders for a new building to house both the Post and Telegraph offices adjacent to the new courthouse were called in 1877. The tender of John Gargett (also the contractor for the adjacent Court House and Mayor of Toowoomba) for £7250 was accepted. The original tender was for a building constructed of bond brick, however this was later altered to allow for the front tower and one wing (the Court House side) in cut stone at a new price of £8100. The stone used was pale yellow sandstone quarried from Highfields and was similar to that used in the construction of the courthouse, also quarried from Highfields. The new building opened in 1880, with delays due to wet weather, and provided separate facilities for each service, and residential quarters for both the Postmaster and Telegraph Officer. The contract for fitting up the clock was awarded to Mr Schoenle of Ipswich at a cost of £105.</p><br>
<p>The Toowoomba Post Office is a typical example of the Classical Revival style of architecture popular during this period and forms part of a government precinct which includes the Court House and Police Station. This was a frequent occurrence due to the Queensland Colonial Government&#39;s practice of acquiring, or retaining for itself, land suitable for government uses.</p><br>
<p>Since its construction in 1878, the Toowoomba Post Office has undergone substantial alterations due to changes in communication technology. The original layout comprised a two storeyed front section with single storeyed rear wings forming a U-shaped structure. The ground floor housed the post office and quarters for the Postmaster on the western side, and the telegraph office and quarters for the Telegraph Officer on the eastern side. Additional residential rooms were housed in the front section of the first floor. In 1896, bathrooms were added to both Living Quarters. More substantial additions were made in 1899, when a new mail room and battery were added to the rear of the building and an additional level was constructed over the Telegraph Officer&#39;s Living Quarters.</p><br>
<p>Later additions were also carried out which included the re-arrangement of the ground floor layout and the partial enclosure of the arcade in 1905, and the construction of a new telephone exchange on the first floor over the former Postmaster quarters in 1908. At this stage, the Living Quarters were transformed into workshops and the entire first floor was altered to house the Telephone/Telegraph operations.</p><br>
<p>In 1960, the first of the newly developed cross bar automatic system in Australia was installed in the Post Office.</p><br>
<p>The most substantial alterations occurred in 1968 when much of the original fabric, including external cast iron balustrades, timber valances, chimneys and hearths, and 1904 glazing to arcades, was replaced or removed. Everything apart from the 1908 and 1915 telephone exchange sections were removed from the rear of the building and replaced with a flat roofed mail room and loading dock. Little work, apart from general maintenance has been completed since this stage.</p><br>
<p>In 1999, Australia Post ceased postal operations in the building, relocating to another site. The building was then offered for sale and is now used as a cafe and offices.</p><br>
<h2>Description</h2><br>
<p>The Toowoomba Post Office is located on Margaret Street, near one of the main intersections in Toowoomba. It is sited adjacent to the Toowoomba Court House and complements it in style, form and material. These two buildings, together with the Police Station in Neil Street form a precinct of Government buildings, creating a landmark in the streetscape.</p><br>
<p>The Post Office comprises a two-storeyed front section with rear wings at either side which are also two-storeyed. Single storeyed extensions project from the rear of each of the wings. The originally open space formed by the U-shape of the front section and wings is covered with a flat roof with a sky light in the centre.</p><br>
<p>The front of the building is symmetrically designed around a central clock tower which displays four faces. The front facade and the external side of the western wing are faced with pale yellow sandstone, whilst the rear wings are rendered.</p><br>
<p>The building dominates the site which is asphalted at the rear and paved with gardens down each side.</p><br>
<p>The front section comprises the central projecting bay of the clock tower flanked by arcades with projecting sections at each end forming corner entrances. A series of arches divided by engaged pilasters with egg and dart moulding to the capitals are located across the face of each arcade. Simple metal balustrades with square profile balusters are located within each arch, and keystones are located above, at the centre of each arch. The end and central bays also have arched openings, with drip moulds above those at each end, and a key stone above the central arch. Quoins are located on the corners of each of the bays.</p><br>
<p>There are three entrances into the building; two which are set diagonally at each corner, and a central one under the clock tower. All comprise double timber doors with large arched fanlights above. All doors lead into the post office service area which has been substantially altered. It now consists of a service counter running along the east–west axis with a display area in front.</p><br>
<p>The first level repeats the pattern of the ground level, with verandahs supported by stone columns with egg and dart moulding, separated by the end and central projecting bays are, which are enclosed. The end bays have a pair of tall, thin windows and the central bay has a more decorative arched window surrounded by a series of carved mouldings.</p><br>
<p>The main section of the building has a corrugated iron hipped roof, with decorative stone and timber brackets evenly spaced underneath the eaves. The central clock tower projects through the roof and comprises three sections. The base has decorative panels featuring a carved repetitive arch pattern. This is surmounted by the central section in which the clockfaces are located and an upper section of cornice and pierced parapet. Engaged pilasters rise through the base and central sections and are capped with carved acanthus leaves.</p><br>
<p>The eastern facade is rendered and has a side entrance contained within a recess which has a verandah at the second level. Arched timber valances are located above the ground and first floor levels and a balustrade the same as those at the front is located on the first level. Apart from this section, the eastern side is enclosed, with a variety of windows located along its length.</p><br>
<p>The western facade has an arcade at ground level which contains post boxes and private mail boxes. The sandstone of the front facade wraps partially around the western facade, with a rendered finish to the remainder of the wing. The double timber doors and winch of an early loading bay survive on the first level.</p><br>
<p>Internally the building has been substantially altered. The most intact areas are the rooms at the western end on the first level and the clock tower, which still contain early joinery details.</p><br>
<p>All details to other areas of the building have either been removed or are covered by subsequent additions, making it difficult to define the original layout.</p><br>
<h2>Heritage listing</h2><br>
<p>Toowoomba Post Office (former) was listed on the Queensland Heritage Register on 24 January 2003 having satisfied the following criteria.</p><br>
<p>The place is important in demonstrating the evolution or pattern of Queensland&#39;s history.</p><br>
<p>The Toowoomba Post Office is located in Margaret Street and was constructed between 1878 and 1880. As a major staging point on the intercolonial telegraph, is demonstrative of the development of the state of Queensland.</p><br>
<p>The Toowoomba Post Office is evidence of the importance of the town as a major inland centre, and of its recognition as such by the government.</p><br>
<p>The place is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a particular class of cultural places.</p><br>
<p>The Toowoomba Post Office is one of three extant post offices built in the Classic Revival Style. It demonstrates the principal characteristics of this building type with the use of masonry construction, and classical form and detailing.</p><br>
<p>The place is important because of its aesthetic significance.</p><br>
<p>Located near one of the main intersections in Toowoomba, it is a landmark in the town and a strong feature in the streetscape. A precinct of Government buildings is formed by the Post Office, the adjacent Toowoomba Court House and the Police Station in Neil Street.</p><br>
<p>The Toowoomba Post Office is of considerable aesthetic significance due to its landmark qualities and for its high degree of design and workmanship, including the exterior stonework.</p><br>
<p>The place has a strong or special association with a particular community or cultural group for social, cultural or spiritual reasons.</p><br>
<p>The place has strong associations with past and present residents of the Darling Downs as the primary centre for communication, by mail, telegraph or telephone since 1880.</p><br>
<p>The place has a special association with the life or work of a particular person, group or organisation of importance in Queensland&#39;s history.</p><br>
<p>It also has special associations with Government architect F D G Stanley who was responsible for the design and construction of Queensland post offices from 1872 - 1880.</p><br>
<p>Queens Park is a heritage-listed botanic garden at 43-79 Lindsay Street, East Toowoomba, Toowoomba, Queensland, Toowoomba Region, Australia. It was built from 1875 to 1970s. It is also known as Toowomba Botanic Gardens. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 27 April 2001.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The Queen&#39;s Park and Botanic Gardens, Toowoomba was gazetted as a public reserve in 1869. It was not until the mid 1870s that the Queens Park and Botanic Gardens were established as separate, but related, entities on this land. Queens Park was intended as a place of public recreation and the Botanic Gardens as a place for botanic research.</p><br>
<p>Urban public parks became a popular vehicle for 19th century movements concerned with public health - the park provided a place for the outdoor recreation of those unable to afford private gardens and improved the environment of crowded central city and town areas. Botanic Gardens were started as part of an increasing interest in scientific understanding of the natural world. A botanic gardens was established in Brisbane in 1855 in response to 19th century interest in botany which saw botanic gardens established around the world, particularly in those colonized areas of the world where little formal knowledge of the interaction between geography and botany existed. An integral part of the Brisbane Botanic Gardens was a series of branch gardens in provincial areas throughout Queensland which provided botanic data across the wide spectrum of Queensland ecosystems.</p><br>
<p>Soon after Toowoomba was proclaimed a municipality on 19 November 1860, William Henry Groom, an early Toowoomba mayor and later Member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly, lobbied the colonial government for an area of land for public recreation. A constant theme over Groom&#39;s long political career was his interest in the development of Toowoomba as a major centre and of the associated rural interests of the surrounding fertile farming area. In 1861 land was reserved for a Toowoomba recreation park but this was not the eventual site. By September 1869 the present site was surveyed and reserved for public reserve but many years were to elapse before any further progress was made of the layout or even rudimentary planting. The land chosen for the reserve was an L shaped block bounded by streets that were to become Margaret, Lindsay, Hume, Godsall and Campbell Streets very near the centre of the growing town. Until further development of the site it was variously used to graze cattle and horses, and as a source of clay for bricks for use in government buildings. These uses left the park in poor condition with holes pitted throughout and in no way like the public parks on which it was modelled. Although initially the reserve was under the control of the Colonial Queensland Government, by the end of the 1860s the Toowoomba Council was vested with the control of all parks in the municipality. However it was not until 1892 that the Council was formally vested with the title to the land, on the condition that the whole area remain a recreation ground and be used for no other purpose.</p><br>
<p>The development of the site, by now known as Queens&#39; Park began with modest efforts - in 1873 the Council was granted £200 for the development of Queens Park this was used for the construction of timber rail fencing. Fencing was a significant stage in the development of the park because it prohibited itinerant and destructive cattle and also allowed regulation of hours of opening. The Council was also concerned with the draining of swamps throughout Toowoomba including swampy land on the western side of Queens Park.</p><br>
<p>Although it was not the stated intention of the Council at the establishment of Queens Park to develop a Botanic Gardens in conjunction with the public recreation park, Groom successfully lobbied the colonial government for £500 in 1874 for this purpose. Under the direction of Brisbane Botanic Gardens curator, Walter Hill, the Brisbane Botanic Gardens was establishing branch gardens throughout Queensland. After Ipswich, the Toowoomba Botanic Gardens was the second of eight branch gardens established in Queensland during the 1870s. Very early correspondence on the establishment of the Gardens suggests that Walter Hill was instrumental in deciding on appropriate locations for these branch gardens and lobbying on behalf of the various councils to the Colonial Government for their establishment. Certainly, in making his case to the Government for funding, Walter Groom mentions that Walter Hill would lay out our Queens Park - and he would like a portion to be allotted to him for testing the climate of the Downs for the growth (of plants) "of commercial value". That part allotted to the Botanic Gardens was at the northern end of the site, in the small rectangular section forming one of the arms of the L shaped block.</p><br>
<p>With the establishment of the Toowoomba Botanic Garden, a curator, Edward Way, was appointed and the gardens were well established in late 1875. The curator was essential to the success of the Botanic Gardens as a scientific research tool - Way was responsible for liaising with Walter Hill about the layout, planting projects and overseeing the construction of appropriate structures therein. The two local newspapers reported in October and November 1875 that the Queens Park and the Botanic Gardens had been lately improved with walks, borders, flower beds, nurseries of exotic trees, specimen grass plantings from the Acclimatization Society, and a bush house. The latter part of the 1870s saw the planting and testing of structure trees and fruit trees and in 1880 climatic experiments were carried out on the extant garden. Periodically trees were removed and replaced from the gardens to allow continual testing of various species and types, the results from these tests were published in local papers and forwarded to the Brisbane Botanic Gardens, thereby contributing to a rich volume of knowledge about Queensland botany.</p><br>
<p>With the Botanical Gardens well underway, it was time for the Council to concentrate on the development of Queen&#39;s Park which was still pitted with holes and without vegetation. By 1881 the site was used by the Caledonian Sports Association as a sports field with the erection of a small grandstand, sports ring and running track. Many societies and clubs established sports fields on Queens Park throughout its life and to this day there are many sports fields associated with the park, particularly on that more open area at the western end. The levelling of the park in the 1930s as part of the relief scheme aided its more extensive use by sporting associations.</p><br>
<p>As well as sports fields, Queens Park was the home of municipal swimming baths from 1894 until 1964. The baths were first established on the south west corner of the park, near the corner of Margaret and Hume Streets. As much as for public recreation, the establishment of the baths located in this position seems to have been part of a strategy to drain this area of what was known as the East Swamp of Toowoomba. In 1937, with the popular national swimming movement this baths were enlarged and upgraded. The baths were removed in 1964 and replaced with the Vera Lacaze Memorial Park, an interesting example of modernist landscape architecture in Queensland.</p><br>
<p>The development of the Botanic Gardens continued in the 1890s with the construction of several buildings, including a curator&#39;s cottage, kiosk, bandstand and, in 1900, a zoo on the southern boundary of the park. None of these buildings are extant. One of the more prominent avenues associated with the Park and Gardens is the Camphor laurel avenue from Margaret Street to northwards to the Gardens. Although only parts of the avenue remain within the Gardens in 2000, it remains extant within the Park. This avenue was established by 1891. At about this time, the Alfred Thomas Memorial was relocated from the corner of Ruthven and Margaret Streets, to the centre of the circular part of the avenue, just inside the northern entrance to the Gardens off Campbell Street. Alfred Thomas supervised construction of the railway from Ipswich to Toowoomba, a major engineering feat. A cannon was sited near the memorial in 1900.</p><br>
<p>In the 1920s Toowoomba become known as the garden city of Queensland, in recognition of the extensive network of well established gardens which dotted the city. Of these, the Queen&#39;s Park and adjacent Botanic Gardens were the premier examples. By now a large iron framed glasshouse was featured in the gardens and the paths were gravelled. However Queens Park continued to be used as a garbage disposal until 1931 and leases for grazing horses were granted until the 1920s.</p><br>
<p>By the 1940s a childrens playground had been erected in Queens Park, following the tradition of childrens playgrounds set up around the state from the 1920s and developed to allow the proper recreation and exercise of children.</p><br>
<p>Development during the 1950s to the 1970s saw dramatic overhaul of the existing facilities within the park and the replacement of many of the earlier buildings. An amenities block was constructed in the gardens, the municipal baths were removed and replaced with a garden and toilet facilities. One of the most prominent changes that occurred during the 1970s was the replacement of the existing fence on the Lindsay and Campbell Street sides of the Botanic Gardens with a low sandstone footwall. As well the 19th century kiosk, conservatory/greenhouse, bush-house and bandstand were removed from the park.</p><br>
<h2>Description</h2><br>
<p>The Toowoomba Queens Park and adjacent Botanic Gardens are located on a large open L-shaped site bounded by Margaret Street to the south, Hume Street to the west, Godsall and Campbell Streets to the north and Lindsay Street to the east. The part occupied by the Botanic Gardens is a small rectangular section of the L shape, extending north to Campbell Street from Godsall Street.</p><br>
<p>Substantial remnants of early planting remain within both the Gardens and the Park, most prominently the Camphor laurel avenue traversing north south, from Margaret to Campbell Street and comprising a walkway bounded by mature Camphor laurels. Many early single individual trees also remain, among them Bottle trees, Bunya pines, Chinese elm, Cricket Bat willow, English oak, Himalayan pine, Jacaranda, Norfolk Island pine, Plane trees, Kauri pine, Silky oak, Silver maple and Swamp cypress.</p><br>
<p>The Botanic Gardens is characterised by a more formal layout and planting, with large trees surrounded by garden beds in geometrical patterns, hedges and avenues. The focal point of the Gardens is the Thomas Memorial which sits in the middle of a large circular bedded area, more open than other areas of the Gardens. Adjacent to the Thomas Memorial in this area is a small cannon. Walks in the garden are gravelled and usually bordered by narrow flower beds.</p><br>
<p>The gardens are surrounded by a low masonry fence which is broken to form entrances. A large, recent entrance gate is found on the Lindsay Street boundary of the Gardens. This large structure is made from rubble sandstone and has 4 circular sandstone motifs, and an entablature with Toowoomba Botanic Gardens Est&#39;d 1875. Just inside this gate is another recent addition, a doorway feature from a local demolished building, comprising two granite columns with ionic caps joined by a sandstone entablature. A new toilet block has been constructed within the grounds of the gardens.</p><br>
<p>Queens Park is a more open, less formally arranged space. The most apparent plantings are those forming the Camphor laurel avenue from the Botanic Gardens and aligned with the Thomas Memorial and large established trees surrounding the eastern end and northern border of the Park. Several large playing fields are dotted over the Park and these are serviced by small one storeyed facilities buildings. In the south west corner of the park is a more formal area, known as the Vera Lacaze Gardens and containing a bridge between lawned mounds and toilet block. The park is more sparsely planted at this western end, which is closer to the Toowoomba CBD.</p><br>
<h2>Heritage listing</h2><br>
<p>Toowoomba Queens Park and Botanic Gardens was listed on the Queensland Heritage Register on 27 April 2001 having satisfied the following criteria.</p><br>
<p>The place is important in demonstrating the evolution or pattern of Queensland&#39;s history.</p><br>
<p>The Toowoomba Queen&#39;s Park and adjacent Botanic Gardens is significant as a substantially intact 19th century public recreation reserve. The Botanic Gardens is important in demonstrating the introduction of scientific centres associated with the development of economic and ornamental botany, the knowledge of which benefited the colony.</p><br>
<p>The place is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a particular class of cultural places.</p><br>
<p>The Park and Garden demonstrate the principal characteristics of 19th century public parks and botanic gardens, with early planting, avenues, memorials and remnants of the early layout.</p><br>
<p>The place is important because of its aesthetic significance.</p><br>
<p>The Park and Gardens is significant for its considerable aesthetic value as a large urban park with both formal and informal section all planted with early and substantial trees. The Park and Gardens have individual items of particular aesthetic merit, including a Camphor laurel avenue, other avenues and individual trees.</p><br>
<p>The place has a strong or special association with a particular community or cultural group for social, cultural or spiritual reasons.</p><br>
<p>The place has social significance as a long used and popular reserve for public recreation and as an early example of the history of the Queensland Government vesting local authorities with the maintenance and control of public reserves.</p><br>
<p>The place has a special association with the life or work of a particular person, group or organisation of importance in Queensland&#39;s history.</p><br>
<p>The park and garden feature a number of memorials and gardens, commemorating well known local citizens, these including the Thomas Memorial Vera Lacaze. The place has significance for its association with Walter Hill, on whose advice the Botanic Gardens was instigated and laid out, and who was instrumental in the development of the regional network of botanic gardens and thereby contributing to early knowledge of the intersection between botany and Queensland geography. The place has significance for its association with William Groom who as Mayor of Toowoomba for six years was closely associated with the establishment and ongoing development of Queen&#39;s Park and Gardens.</p><br>
<p>Toowoomba Technical College is a heritage-listed former technical college at 124 Margaret Street, East Toowoomba, Toowoomba, Toowoomba Region, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by Thomas Pye and built in 1911. It is also known as Southern Queensland Institute of Technical & Further Education , Hume Street Campus. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 October 1992.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The former Toowoomba Technical College, constructed in 1911, was purpose built for the provision of vocational education and training for the people of the Toowoomba and the Darling Downs region. Designed by the Department of Public Works employee, Thomas Pye, the building is a large two-storey brick structure and is a good example of the style of education facilities that government architect&#39;s were producing at the time.</p><br>
<p>Vocational education had been established in Toowoomba at least by 1898. Such education was in the form of the Toowoomba School of Arts. This building was substantially damaged by fire on 21 June 1898, an event that was reported in the Toowoomba Chronicle on 22 June 1898. Following the fire, the City Council decided that a new Town Hall should be built on the School of Arts site. The new Toowoomba City Hall, constructed in 1900, incorporated a public hall, municipal offices and chambers as well as rooms for a school of arts and technical college.</p><br>
<p>The Technical College remained in the City Hall until the construction of the new building in 1911. The site for the Toowoomba Technical College building, now known as Block A, was acquired in 1908 and the building was constructed in 1911, the foundation stone being laid by Sir William MacGregor, Governor of Queensland. The development of a purpose built Technical College in Toowoomba followed the formation of the Department of Public Instruction in 1905, established to centralise the control of technical education in Queensland. Prior to this, technical education in Toowoomba had been organised by local committees, often associated with the School of Arts. With the intervention of the Government, funding improved and a number of new purpose-designed buildings were constructed.</p><br>
<p>The Toowoomba Technical College building was designed by the Department of Public Works and built by Alexander Mayes, a Toowoomba contractor and later Mayor of Toowoomba from 1916-1917. At this time, the Under Secretary for Public Works, Government Architect and Engineer for Bridges was A. B. Brady. The building was designed by architect Thomas Pye and in style, illustrates the most substantial type of educational institutions coming from the Government architect&#39;s office at the time. The solid, free-classical design is surmounted by a hipped room, covered with "rolled iron" and topped with a ventilation fleche; the signature of a public building from this age. The urban nature of the site is reflected in the corner pavilions, with cornices and parapets, that are built up to the street alignment of the property. The design also responded to the sun by minimising western windows and providing south light for the "art room" - two major studio style rooms that were situated on the first floor.</p><br>
<p>Pye&#39;s approach to the site was to design a large two-storeyed building with two smaller detached single-storey buildings to be used for a chemical laboratory and a carpentry workshop, and two buildings containing earth closets. The main building as built in 1911 substantially follows the original sketch design, however, the brick chemical laboratory and carpentry workshop were deleted. In 1913, a timber carpentry workshop was built in the position envisaged by Pye. In 1929, the need for additional space for Domestic Science was met by moving the timber carpentry workshop closer to the main building, raising it and building in underneath to form a two-storeyed block (Block B). In 1931, a brick workshop building (Block D) was built on the site of the original timber carpenters workshop, which had been relocated in 1929. A "temporary" timber building containing two classrooms was constructed between the two brick buildings in 1955 (Block C). When the main building was extended in 1939, a design sympathetic to the 1911 design was used.</p><br>
<p>The main building underwent minor alterations in 1940 and again in 1979 with few changes to the original layout of the building. The college and the high school remained combined until 1962, when the high school separated and moved to another site. The restrictions of the Margaret Street site, even for the technical college alone, became apparent and in recent years development has concentrated on other sites in Toowoomba. As a result, the context of the Margaret Street site is still clear and is not obstructed by later buildings.</p><br>
<h2>Description</h2><br>
<p>The Toowoomba Technical College is located on the corner of Margaret and Hume Streets Toowoomba. The building occupies a prominent position in the towns centre. It is situated opposite Queens Park and marks the eastern entrance to the Toowoomba township.</p><br>
<p>The Toowoomba Technical College Building, Block A, is a two storey brick structure, relieved with sandstone dressings and some stucco, such as the pebble-dash balustrades marking the colonnade facing Margaret Street. All natural stone dressings are painted and the face brickwork has been coated with a clear finish. The eastern end of the north wing is equipped with saw tooth skylights facing south.</p><br>
<p>The building has an "L" shaped floor plan, with an internal staircase located approximately centrally on each wing. Many of the rooms still function as classrooms and fittings such as blackboards have been retained. Both floors of the college feature high ceilings with a "Ripple Iron" finish. This finish has also been used in the two brick toilet blocks that were built at the same time.</p><br>
<p>A number of temporary internal walls have been installed on levels 1 and 2 to create office space and additional classrooms and a kitchen has been installed in what was once the clerks office on level 1 and the commercial room on level 2.</p><br>
<p>Apart from Block A, the other buildings on the site include two brick toilet blocks contemporary with the main building though partially altered; a timber building from 1913, now shifted and elevated (Block B); a brick classroom/workshop built in 1931 (Block D); and a temporary wooden building, built in 1955 (Block C). Apart from the toilet blocks, the later additions are substantially different in style and form to the original building (Block A).</p><br>
<h2>Heritage listing</h2><br>
<p>Toowoomba Technical College (former) was listed on the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 October 1992 having satisfied the following criteria.</p><br>
<p>The place is important in demonstrating the evolution or pattern of Queensland&#39;s history.</p><br>
<p>The former Toowoomba Technical College was built in 1911 and holds a special association with the establishment of vocational education in regional Queensland and the development of Toowoomba as a regional centre.</p><br>
<p>The development of a purpose built Technical College in Toowoomba is associated with the formation of a branch of the Department of Public Instruction in 1905, established to centralise the control of technical education. With the intervention of the Government, funding improved and a number of new purpose-designed buildings were constructed, including the Toowoomba Technical College in 1911.</p><br>
<p>The place is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a particular class of cultural places.</p><br>
<p>The overall style and form of the building is also a good example of the style of educational facilities that government architect&#39;s were producing at the time.</p><br>
<p>The place is important because of its aesthetic significance.</p><br>
<p>The building holds a prominent position in the town, marking the eastern entrance to the central city area and is similar in style and form to a number of other Government buildings in the Toowoomba township.</p><br>
<p>The place has a strong or special association with a particular community or cultural group for social, cultural or spiritual reasons.</p><br>
<p>The former Toowoomba Technical College holds a special association with the establishment of vocational education in regional Queensland.</p><br>
<p>The place has a special association with the life or work of a particular person, group or organisation of importance in Queensland&#39;s history.</p><br>
<p>Designed by Thomas Pye, architect for the Department of Public Works and built by Alexander Mayes, Mayor of Toowoomba from 1916-1917.</p><br>
<p>Toowoomba Trades Hall is a heritage-listed Trades Hall at 19A Russell Street, Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by Matthew Williamson and built by Kell & Rigby. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 29 October 2010.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The Toowoomba Trades Hall in Russell Street was built in 1934 by Kell and Rigby to the design of architect MC Williamson, for the Toowoomba Trades Hall Board, a group associated with the Toowoomba Trades and Labour Council.</p><br>
<p>As collectives agitating for improved working conditions, trade unions have been present in Queenslands economic landscape since its early beginnings as a colony. By the mid 1860s, small groups of skilled workers such as bricklayers, carpenters and stonemasons had organized into unions in Brisbane. When Queenslands economy and immigrant population expanded during the 1880s, trade unionism and labour activism became more widespread, encompassing a broader cross-section of workers, including those employed in pastoral and extractive industries throughout the colony. Over time, union activity and membership has experienced marked periods of growth and decline, affected by prevailing economic, social and political factors.</p><br>
<p>Like other Queensland cities with significant industrial components to their economy, Toowoomba became a regional centre for union activity. From the 1860s notable events connected to the labour movement were occurring in Toowoomba. In November 1865 about 200 navvies on the Main Range railway working ten-hour days for 7s 6d went on strike and marched into Toowoomba, to agitate for eight shillings for an eight-hour day. Early in 1866 Toowoombas carpenters celebrated the commencement of the "eight hour system" for their trade. Although short-lived, it was at a meeting of 200 shearers in Toowoomba in March 1875 that the Queensland Shearers Union was formed, 12 years before another shearers union was established. During the shearers strike of 1891, ten prisoners convicted of rioting at Lorne Station (some local), were railed to Toowoomba for trial, en route to Brisbane. A large group of union supporters assembled inside and outside the Court House, cheering on the prisoners. Troops were assembled and the local magistrate read the Riot Act, before the situation was defused by allowing large numbers of unionists to attend the trial.</p><br>
<p>In the early 20th century, smaller scale manufacturing connected to pastoral, extractive, primary processing and public utilities were the dominant industrial activities on the Darling Downs, employing a workforce of some 6000 people. As its major urban settlement, Toowoomba had the largest industrial base of the Darling Downs, with a range of enterprises including engineering, coach and wagon works, joineries and furniture makers, tanneries, maltings and breweries. In the 1920s Toowoomba&#39;s biggest employers were the larger scale industrial operations of the Toowoomba Foundry, the Defiance Flour Mill, and the Darling Downs Co-operative Dairy and Bacon Factories. Queensland Railways were also a significant employer, as it was the hub of the South-western rail network.</p><br>
<p>Queenslands first Trades and Labour Council was established in Brisbane in 1885, superseded by the Brisbane District Council of the Australasian Labour Federation (ALF) in 1889. Until its demise in 1914, the ALF operated during a period in which some of Australias most tumultuous workers conflicts had occurred, including the maritime workers and shearers strikes of the 1890s. The 1910s saw the emergence of the rurally-oriented Australian Workers Union (AWU), which became Queenslands most dominant union organization and rival to other large union bodies. By 1922 a range of these such as the Brisbane Industrial Council, Trades Hall Board and Eight Hours Union had negotiated to form the Queensland Trades and Labour Council (QTLC). Within its structure affiliated provincial councils existed throughout Queensland.</p><br>
<p>From the mid-1910s, the union movement in Queensland entered into a pronounced period of expansion. In 1915 the TJ Ryan Labor government came to power, heralding the beginning of a long period of political dominance by this party, interrupted for only three years (1929–32) until 1957. The introduction of the Industrial Arbitration Act in 1916, created a system of arbitration and compulsory conciliation. The improved outcomes for workers that resulted from this system and preference for unionists informed a rapid increase in union membership from 35.3% in 1915 to 53.8% in 1918. By 1928 two thirds of Queensland workers held a union ticket. During the tenure of the Country and Progressive National Party government led by AE Moore (1929–32), union preference was eliminated, basic wages were reduced and some award protections were dismantled; and union membership fell from 68% to 45.4%. After Labor resumed power in 1932 and reintroduced earlier benefits, membership quickly recovered to 62.6% of the workforce in 1936, before peaking in 1948 at 81.1%. By 1935 Queensland also boasted more women unionists (57.1%) compared to the overall Australian average (35%). Between the 1920s and 1960s union membership in Queensland generally remained higher than the rest of Australia.</p><br>
<p>A meeting of delegates from various labour organizations met in Toowoomba in April 1911, forming an Eight Hour Anniversary Union to organize the citys first annual Eight Hour Day celebrations in May. Butchers, shearers, council workers, builders labourers, plumbers and tinsmiths, shop assistants, saddle and harness makers, and coal miners were among those who participated in the procession, which was followed by sports events and a "social" later in the evening. By early November it was reported that a Toowoomba Trades and Labour Council (TLC) had been established, deciding as one of their early actions to agitate for a universal Saturday half-holiday.</p><br>
<p>As the peak organization of union bodies in Toowoomba, the Trades and Labour Council (TLC) played a central role as the major advocate for the labour movement and workers rights on the Darling Downs. In this respect, it was similar to other provincial Trades and Labour Councils that existed throughout Queensland. Organizations affiliated with the Trades and Labour Councils varied in size and power and encompassed moderate to militant groups. The organization of Labour Day events in Toowoomba was an important annual activity with a range of events such as marches, football matches and dances being co-ordinated by the Council.</p><br>
<p>One of the key outcomes of the formation of Trades and Labour Councils and other larger union bodies was the establishment of trades halls, where unions and others involved in the labour movement could centrally gather for organizational activities, and to host educational and social events.</p><br>
<p>Queensland&#39;s first trades hall was established in Brisbane in 1891. While some were established in existing buildings, as occurred at Rockhampton (1914) and Townsville, others were purpose-built including those at Ipswich (1929), Brisbane (1891;1923) and Toowoomba (1934). By the 1930s fourteen regional Trades and Labour Council buildings existed in the state. Trades halls generally accommodated a large hall space and a collection of smaller rooms used for meetings and offices.</p><br>
<p>In Toowoomba, land was purchased in Bowen Street in 1916 with the intention of erecting a trades hall, but financial difficulties prevented this from occurring and the property was sold. In 1919 the Toowoomba Trades Hall Board purchased the Congregational Church in Margaret Street. A foundation stone was laid in February 1920 by Toowoomba MLA Frank Tenison Brennan (Labor member) to mark the churchs new use as Toowoombas Trades Hall. By 1929 the building was deemed unsuitable for Trades Hall purposes and the property was sold. In the same year, the Trustees of the Board acquired property (subdivision 35 and resubdivision 1 of subdivision 36 of suburban allotment 11, section 6) at the east end of Russell St for £1600. Title records show that this property was previously leased by a succession of publicans who operated the Western Hotel on the nearby corner of Russell and Ruthven St, though what buildings, if any, existed, or what purpose the site served is unclear.</p><br>
<p>When the Russell St property was purchased in 1929, the intention of the Trades Hall Board was to erect a two-storey building with shop space on the street. It was not until early 1933 when the financial position of the Trades Hall Board improved, that efforts to construct the new hall moved forward. The board initially engaged architect Arthur Bligh to prepare a design for the building, but following its rejection by the Toowoomba Council during 1933, it were not proceeded with. In October 1933, the Trades Hall Board appointed Matthew C Williamson as architect. Born in 1901 in Toowoomba, Williamson was an articled pupil with Francis Richard Hall in Brisbane (1923–29) before being employed as his assistant in 1929-30. Williamson worked for himself in Toowoomba from 1931, and was responsible for numerous projects in the city during the 1930s, as well as buildings in Dalby (including its Fire Station), Miles, Crows Nest and Oakey.</p><br>
<p>The following month plans prepared by Williamson in consultation with the Board were adopted and the architect was instructed to call tenders. Contractors conditions included preference to local men supplied through the Bureau of Industry who were financial union members; awards and conditions be strictly observed by the contractor and, where practicable, local material be used. Following approval for a loan of £2100, Kell and Rigbys tender of £3948 for the new hall was accepted in February 1934. A Sydney firm, Kell and Rigby established offices in Brisbane and Toowoomba in the early 1930s. Notable work undertaken included Toowoomba&#39;s Empire Theatre (1933), and the Masel Residence at Stanthorpe (1937–38).</p><br>
<p>Shortly after the tender was accepted, the particulars of the new trades hall were outlined in the Toowoomba Chronicle. The hall was to be a two storey brick building with the front elevation dressed with cement. On either side of the central main entrance two "rusticated piers" extending the height of the building supported a pediment. On either side of these, were spaces for tenants with provision for future shop fronts. The remainder of the ground floor contained committee rooms, supper room, kitchenette and a store room. Inside the main entrance a staircase led upstairs to the large hall space containing a specially treated dance floor of tallow wood with a platform, cloak rooms, ticket box and fire escape stairs. To improve ventilation, balconettes opened out from the hall on the building front of Russell Street. The report also outlined that the secretary of the board had devised a scheme where a voluntary levy on employed unionists of 1 pence per week would help to offset the cost of the hall.</p><br>
<p>A ceremony to mark the laying of the foundation stone of the hall occurred on March 23 (the date of 21 March inscribed on the stone is incorrect). Local Labor MLA E J Llewelyn performed the honours, remarking that the building would be, "...a decided acquisition to the city... a memorial of working class ideals-of union activities... would demonstrate that the workers of the city recognised their obligation to one another, and that they would stand shoulder to shoulder, one for all and all for one." In conjunction with the opening, a fete was held to raise funds for the hall. By this time the building was estimated to cost £4200 with half this amount "in hand" and the remainder sourced from the loan. Each Board member paid four shillings to have their name included on the stone, prepared by Toowoomba stonemasons Zeigler and Sons.</p><br>
<p>The Toowoomba Trades Hall was officially opened by Mr J Watson, president of the Trades Hall Board on Saturday 14 July 1934. A number of Labor parliamentarians and union delegates spoke at the ceremony highlighting the development and achievements of the labour and trade union movement in Toowoomba and beyond. For WJ Copley, Member for Bulimba, the completion of the hall "marked another epoch in the Labour movement in Queensland", contending there was not a better trades hall outside of Australia&#39;s capital cities. As part of the opening celebrations a "smoke concert" was held in the hall during the evening. A grand opening ball occurred in the hall the following week (17 July), the first of many dances held throughout 1934/35, as a way of raising funds to pay off the hall debts.</p><br>
<p>The Trades Hall Board formed a Rents Committee to manage the use of the hall, supper room and meeting rooms. The Toowoomba branch of the Amalgamated Society of Carpenters and Joiners may have been the first union to gather in the new hall, holding their regular meeting the night before the official opening. In 1934 the Board allowed unemployed workers to use rooms free of charge, on the condition "that no Communist agitation be carried on" and that any Board member could attend a meeting. The 1930s rental ledger of the trades hall records a diverse range of unions and Labor party organizations regularly using the rooms and hall for meetings and functions. In 1950 the State Labour in Politics Convention was held in the hall.</p><br>
<p>In facilitating the gathering of various union bodies at small and large meetings, the trades hall was an important place to discuss, debate, form positions and decide on actions related to workplace issues and industrial disputes of local, state and national importance.</p><br>
<p>Tenants listed at the address of the trades hall in 1939 included the Toowoomba Ruling Company (printers), boot repairer J Manson and two taxi hire companies. During 1942 the trades hall was among a number of Toowoomba buildings that were occupied for military purposes, with tenants and other users required to relocate elsewhere following its occupation as the Headquarters Office for the No. 3 Advance Ordinance Depot of the Australian Military Forces. At this time, the Toowoomba Ruling Company occupied two rooms, the Trades and Labour Council, Toowoomba and East Toowoomba ALP branches and nine individual unions were regularly using spaces in the building, and other unions were renting on a casual basis.</p><br>
<p>In addition to its primary function of providing a central gathering place for union-related activity, the building was an important social space for numerous Toowoomba civic groups that rented rooms and the hall. From ballerinas to boxers, the Buffalo Lodge to municipal bands, a diverse range of organizations made use of the building, although local "rock and rollers" were no longer allowed to hold dances following damage to the hall in 1959.</p><br>
<p>Since its opening in 1934, the Trades Hall Board has been responsible for the management and maintenance of the building. Over its history the board has been served by dedicated (and often longstanding) members who are commemorated by an honour board and photos in the lounge area upstairs. The board has included union delegates who went on to play larger roles in the civic affairs of Toowoomba and Queensland, most notably Jack Duggan, Secretary of the Trades Hall Board and President of TLC who was a longstanding local Labor member for Toowoomba, Minister for Transport (1947–57) and Leader of the Opposition (1958-1966). In December 1958 Duggan (then State Opposition Leader) unveiled a plaque right of the main entrance of the trades hall, to honour EH (Ted) Burrows&#39; service to the trade union movement. Ted Burrows was a member of the Trades Hall Board for 25 years and secretary for 14 years. At the same ceremony a photo of Lesley Wood was hung in the hall. He was the former ALP Member for Toowoomba, Leader of the Opposition prior to Duggan, and had died suddenly in March 1958.</p><br>
<p>Over time, some alterations have occurred to the building. In 1954 the Board sought an overdraft for the purpose of installing a new floor in the dance hall. Further extensive work on the hall was undertaken during 1959/60, with much of it being undertaken on a voluntary basis by workers from the Carpenters Union and board members.</p><br>
<p>The Trades Hall commemorated 50 years of use in 1984 with celebrations held in December of that year. Past and present board members and delegates attended including Jack Duggan, who by this time was the only surviving original board member.</p><br>
<p>To meet the requirements of tenants, the Toowoomba Community Legal Service, and to expand the availability of office space, some internal spaces of the trades hall were reorganized and altered in 1994. On the ground floor, some office spaces were extended and linked to adjoining rooms by partitions and doorways. The fronts of the offices flanking the corridor were replaced, with an earlier arrangement of silky oak panelling topped by glass windows reversed, and a door way into the supper room was removed. On the first floor, the western side of the hall was filled with a line of offices and a kitchen recess, an earlier stage was replaced and an office space was incorporated into the east side of the hall. The ceiling was also repanelled during these alterations. Despite these changes, the earlier internal configuration of the building remains discernible and an understanding of how the trades hall has functioned over its history is readily apparent.</p><br>
<p>In 2010 the Trades Hall continues to function as a meeting place for Toowoomba&#39;s unionists. The building is believed to be the oldest surviving purpose-built trades hall in Queensland in continuous use. Earlier examples from the first half of the 20th century that existed elsewhere in the state have been demolished (including those in Brisbane, Ipswich, and Rockhampton) or are used for other purposes (Townsville).</p><br>
<h2>Description</h2><br>
<p>The Toowoomba Trades Hall is a two storey rectangular masonry building finished with face brick with rendered details, and sited prominently on the north side of Russell Street between Neil and Ruthven Streets.</p><br>
<p>Its principal (Russell Street) elevation is a symmetrical tripartite composition of dark red face brickwork dressed with contrasting painted cement Classical details. The central main entry is articulated with rendered architraves and flanking rusticated pilasters that extend the full height of the building to meet the parapet. The entry double door leaves have been replaced with modern glazed aluminium framed leaves. Above the main entry, a cantilevered concrete balcony with large decorative console brackets and a wrought iron balustrade doubles as an entry awning. Above the balcony, a glazed arch-headed aperture with rendered architrave extends to the underside of a rendered frieze below the parapet. Its detailed glazing pattern includes multi-paned margins (some panes fitted with coloured leadlights), three sashes and a door leaf (opening off the stair half landing within). The outer sections of the facade beyond the rusticated pilasters mirror each other. At ground level, walls are rendered and include a centrally placed single door and fanlight flanked by double hung sash windows. Above, smaller highlights align with the top of a heavy masonry transom. Physical evidence including decorative suspension rod brackets and cover flashings confirms the location of proposed awnings abutting these transoms. Window and fanlight sashes are original, but the door openings have been fitted with modern aluminium framed glazed leaves. Cantilevered balconies at first floor level are decorated to match the central balcony. Above the balconies, walls are finished in face brick with a rendered frieze decorated with widely spaced rosettes. French doors with fanlights are centrally placed and flanked by double hung sashes. Door leaves and upper sashes are multi paned. The elevation is crowned by a stepped rendered parapet decorated with cornices, consoles, and a central pediment.</p><br>
<p>Side elevations finished in face brickwork terminate as parapets to conceal the corrugated iron gabled roof and box gutters behind. The right hand (east) wall has original window openings at first floor level.</p><br>
<p>The rear elevation facing Olcott Lane is also finished with face brickwork and terminates at roof level as a gable end. A projecting face brick rear wing contains the ground level kitchen, and two upper floors housing male and female lavatories. A timber staircase with corrugated iron skillion roof and partially enclosed with corrugated metal sheeting connects landings at doorways to the hall, supper room, lavatories.</p><br>
<p>The main entrance from Russell Street leads directly into an entrance lobby. The original elevated timber floor has been altered to accommodate ramped access from street level. Flanking original walls are rendered masonry. At the far end, original opposing door openings fitted with original joinery (including three panelled door leaves with original hardware) lead to the adjacent tenancies fronting Russell Street. The right hand (east) wall is also fitted with an original multi-paned high light fixed window. The ceiling is lined with decoratively arranged fibre cement sheets and cover battens. The original staircase joinery survives intact. The lower flight rises from the far right to a half landing over the front door, and a second flight rises beyond (parallel to Russell Street) to the floor above. A small ticket office to the right is built into the stair under-croft. The adjacent tenancies contain original plain quad skirtings, rendered masonry walls, and fibre cement and batten ceilings. The ceiling panel pattern in the right hand tenancy provides evidence of an original partition wall, since removed. Later doorways have been cut through to spaces behind.</p><br>
<p>Beyond the entrance lobby, the original fit out has been substantially altered, and evidence of the original configurations of walls and partitions are preserved in the intact fibre cement sheet and battened ceiling linings and remnants of original timber framed fibre cement panelled walls. A central corridor is flanked by plasterboard walls with Silky Oak doors and fixed glazing, all dating from the early 1990s and located in the original wall alignment (underneath and between boxed in steel beams and columns). Office spaces either side of the corridor are separated by similar early 1990s partitions, but do not follow the set out of original meeting rooms evident in the ceiling.</p><br>
<p>The supper room at the rear of the building has also been reconfigured to provide extra office space to the right. The original staircase abutting the rear wall provides access to original high level double doors leading directly to the rear landing, stairs, lavatories and hall above. The masonry wall that originally separated the kitchen at the rear of the building has been substantially removed. The kitchen fit out dates from the 1990s. The former ground floor landing at the rear of the building has been enclosed and fitted out as an equitable access lavatory which opens to a small lobby below the stairs. There is clear evidence of an original doorway that lead from the kitchen to the former rear landing. The supper room contains large timber tables that predate the building.</p><br>
<p>The upper floor hall has been subdivided with timber framed plasterboard lined partitions to provide a smaller hall, a lounge adjacent to Russell Street, and a series of offices. The floor is clad with original narrow hardwood tongue and groove boards, exposed in the reduced hall area. Outer masonry walls are rendered. The ceiling has been recently lined with plasterboard. Original roof structure knee braces extending below the existing ceiling have been boxed in. Window and door openings and joinery at the front and rear of the building are original. Original window openings along the right hand side stripped of original joinery and in filled with rendered masonry and glass block work. The reduced hall area has been recently been fitted with an imitation VJ wainscot panelling. At the rear of the hall, the floor provides archaeology of earlier larger stage configurations. The existing stage is also a bulkhead providing headroom over the supper room staircase below. To the left of the stage is a semi-enclosed space fitted out as a kitchen. The hall contains a number of timber tables that predate the building, and an early notice board containing Unions and Secretaries? Addresses. At the western end of the front lounge, a wall-mounted timber Honour Board lists past and present presidents, secretaries and trustees of the Toowoomba Trades Hall Board.</p><br>
<h2>Heritage listing</h2><br>
<p>Toowoomba Trades Hall was listed on the Queensland Heritage Register on 29 October 2010 having satisfied the following criteria.</p><br>
<p>The place is important in demonstrating the evolution or pattern of Queensland&#39;s history.</p><br>
<p>The Toowoomba Trades Hall is important in demonstrating the development of trade unionism, a movement that has made an influential contribution to the development of Queensland. The building demonstrates the growth of the labour movement and organization of workers in Toowoomba during the 20th century and illustrates the city&#39;s longstanding historical role as the industrial centre of the Darling Downs. The building has been a central gathering place for unions and the labour movement since its opening in 1934.</p><br>
<p>The place demonstrates rare, uncommon or endangered aspects of Queensland&#39;s cultural heritage.</p><br>
<p>The Toowoomba Trades Hall is important as Queensland&#39;s oldest surviving purpose-built trades hall, having sustained its original use since opening. Trades halls were established or built in large urban settlements throughout Queensland during the twentieth century. Since this time many earlier trades halls have been demolished or are no longer used for this purpose.</p><br>
<p>The place is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a particular class of cultural places.</p><br>
<p>The Toowoomba Trades Hall is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a purpose-built trades hall. Highly intact externally, the buildings scale and classical detailing successfully lend it civic prominence. Internally the provision of offices, meeting rooms, hall and associated spaces illustrates its primary function as a central gathering place associated with union-related activity. While some spaces have been altered over time to sustain the buildings ongoing use, important evidence of earlier internal configurations remain.</p><br>
<p>The place is important because of its aesthetic significance.</p><br>
<p>The Toowoomba Trades Hall is of aesthetic significance for the valuable and prominent contribution it makes - through scale, form, materials and design - to the distinctive visual character of the citys central business district. The building is an assertive expression of trade unionisms consolidation and presence in Toowoomba, reinforced by its use of classical detailing on its facade to project the concepts of permanence and stability. The use of classical architectural elements in the facades of institutional buildings, town halls, banks and commercial buildings was popular in the 1920s and 1930s and has made a noticeable contribution to Queensland&#39;s built environment.</p><br>
<p>Tor is a heritage-listed villa at 396 Tor Street, Newtown, Toowoomba, Toowoomba Region, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by William Hodgen and built in 1904. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 28 May 1999.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>Tor, a single storey timber residence, was constructed in 1904 for Mrs Frederick Hurrell Holberton. The residence was designed by Toowoomba architect, William Hodgen, Mrs Holberton&#39;s nephew and built by John Sweeney.</p><br>
<p>The Deed of Grant for the land on which Tor was to be built was issued to Lucy Harriet Fletcher on 19 November 1860. The grant comprised Portions 155 and 156, an area of just over 60 acres. Title passed to William Lord in October 1861 who later subdivided the property in 1877. James Williams purchased subs 21-23 of section two of portion 155, in March 1877, which comprised just over eight acres. Title for the eight acres was transferred to Frederick Hurrell Holberton on 30 November 1888. The Holbertons subdivided their property again in 1915. John Mundell purchased three acres, on which stood the residence. Sophia Holberton held title to the remaining two acres, which passed to Edwin Chisholm Bernays in 1916, following her death.</p><br>
<p>Hodgens first work on the site was in April 1903 when tenders were called for fencing. Sketch plans were prepared for the house before the end of February 1904 and tenders closed a fortnight later. John Sweeneys tender for £1,095 was accepted and a contract signed on 7 April 1904. Subsequent changes were made and further sketches were drawn. The extras for the changes (£53.4.0) was accepted on 6 June 1904 and the alterations added to the original contract drawings. By July, the roof framing was fixed.</p><br>
<p>While construction was proceeding, Hodgen had continued negotiations with his Aunt regarding many aspects of the house including, colour schemes and wall paper, as well as her requests for changes in window placements, verandah posts and mantles. At one point in a letter on 1 July 1904, Hodgen requests that his Aunt "...leave this to me to choose the best design I can for the money...". Despite his efforts to please his Aunt, Hodgen was unsuccessful. At the end of August 1904, she humiliated him on the site and he requested that someone else supervise the completion of the house. Their dispute may have been resolved as she paid full fees for his services in December that year (5% on the contract sum of £1020.18.0).</p><br>
<p>The dining room, drawing room and hall were all built with tongue and groove pine boarding which was then stamped with pressed metal ceilings. A pressed metal ceiling was also placed in the first bedroom. The foundations of the chimneys and hearths, carried up to the underscore of the metal plates, were constructed using blue stone set with lime mortar. The inner and outer hearths of all the fireplaces were laid with salt glazed bricks. Hodgen also designed the stable buildings which are still extant. The specifications book provides details about stumps, floors, walls and ceilings, fascia boards, windows, the coach house doors and the stable doors.</p><br>
<p>Frederick Hurrell Holberton died less than three years after the construction of Tor, however, title for the property had passed to Sophia in May 1902. On 4 June 1915, Tor was sold to John Mundell, covering an area of just over three acres. At around the same time Sophia purchased land in Campbell Street and again had Hodgen design a new residence. A small part of the property was subdivided in October 1959 for road purposes. The property was sold and subdivided again 1960 and the area of land was reduced from three acres to its current area of just over two acres. The present owners of Tor purchased the property in April 1966.</p><br>
<p>Later renovations to the building include altering the south-western wing to allow a kitchen to be built in the mid-1960s. The north-eastern and western verandahs were enclosed during the 1960s and early 1970s. Other changes include approval which was given in 1985 for the owners to build a garage at the southern end of the house.</p><br>
<p>In a study of the Toowoomba inner residential area prepared for the Toowoomba City Council in 1995, Tor was included in the section titled Places and Characteristics Valued by the Community.1</p><br>
<h2>Description</h2><br>
<p>Tor is a low set timber residence bounded on the west by Tor Street, the east by Devon Street and on the north by Wombyra Street. The U-shaped residence is sheeted in chamferboard and has a corrugated iron roof. The house has a ridge roof extension above the dining room and a gabled roof kitchen extension at the rear. Verandahs enclose the house on three sides and the verandah roof is supported on timber posts. The rear (western) verandah has been enclosed. A section of the front verandah on the north-eastern side has also been enclosed. The entrance is centrally located under a projecting portico with gable. A staircase is positioned on the southern side of the entrance portico. A second staircase is located in the south-western corner of the verandah and a third along the western side. A timber finial and timber bargeboards decorate the portico, which has a pressed metal ceiling.</p><br>
<p>Internally, Tor contains a centrally located hall with rooms opening off from both the western and eastern sides. Similar to other rooms in the house, the hall has a pressed metal ceiling and extant cedar joinery. The hall has timber skirting timber cornices. The living room is located on the south-eastern side. The room has a bay window and an ornate pressed metal ceiling, with a recess located in the south-eastern corner. The recess also has a pressed metal ceiling. The room has two decorative moulded arches with moulded architraves and keystones. Originally enclosed, one of the archways has been opened up and is now a doorway.</p><br>
<p>A bedroom is located on the northern side of the entrance, the room has French doors opening to the northern end of the eastern verandah. This section of the verandah has been enclosed. The verandah returns on the northern side with French doors opening to the main bedroom. The bedroom has a high timber ceiling and fireplace with tiled surrounds. A walk-in wardrobe is located along the western side of the room. The pressed metal ceiling in the bedroom has been replaced with timber. On the northern side of the hall are located two bathrooms and a bedroom. The bedroom has a bay window opening to the enclosed western verandah.</p><br>
<p>The dining room, on the southern side of the building, opening from the hall, has an ornate pressed metal ceiling with a ceiling rose. The brick fireplace has a timber surrounds with decorative timber dentils. A bay window is located along the southern side of the wall. A door opens to the south-eastern corner of the verandah.</p><br>
<p>The kitchen, located in the south-western wing of the residence, was created when two smaller rooms were combined to become one large area in the late 1960s. A doorway in the north-western corner of the kitchen opens to the rear, or western, verandah. The verandah has been enclosed and contains a family room and bar area. This was closed over in the 1970s. Located in the north-western wing of the residence are four rooms. One larger room has been divided into three rooms and there is a bedroom located to the west of the three rooms.</p><br>
<p>Externally, Tor is located on top of a small elevation and is surrounded by a well-established garden containing mature boundary plantings. A carriage-drive beginning at the south-eastern corner, sweeps around past the entrance and finishes at the north-eastern corner. The driveway extends around past the southern side of the building leading to the modern garage and also to the original timber single-storey stable buildings, located in the south-western corner of the property. The front (eastern) elevation has views to the tennis court located in the south-eastern corner.</p><br>
<h2>Heritage listing</h2><br>
<p>Tor was listed on the Queensland Heritage Register on 28 May 1999 having satisfied the following criteria.</p><br>
<p>The place is important in demonstrating the evolution or pattern of Queensland&#39;s history.</p><br>
<p>The architectural plans for Tor reveal the extent to which architects detailed their works.</p><br>
<p>The place demonstrates rare, uncommon or endangered aspects of Queensland&#39;s cultural heritage.</p><br>
<p>Of particular importance are the stable buildings located in the grounds. Extant stable buildings forming part of the original layout of the property are rare and add to Tor&#39;s significance.</p><br>
<p>Extant architectural plans and documentation for domestic buildings from the early twentieth century are rare and add to the significance of the place. The material provides first hand information about the original design of the residence and its finishings and the stable buildings.</p><br>
<p>The place is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a particular class of cultural places.</p><br>
<p>Tor is significant as an example of well-to-do domestic building from the early twentieth century, reflecting the wealth and status of a public servant and his wife in Toowoomba, a major regional centre in Queensland. The residence is built in similar style to a number of other Toowoomba houses including Gabbinbar, Fernside and Harlaxton House, combining large, low-set homes often surrounded by extensive landscaped areas.</p><br>
<p>The place is important because of its aesthetic significance.</p><br>
<p>Tor is significant for its strong streestcape, forming part of a group of similar houses in the area including Weetwood and Ascot House. An elegant residence set on an elevation in a large garden with boundary plantings, tennis court and a sweeping carriage-drive, Tor has a high level of aesthetic significance.</p><br>
<p>The place has a strong or special association with a particular community or cultural group for social, cultural or spiritual reasons.</p><br>
<p>Tor holds strong social significance for Toowoomba residents and is highly valued by the community.</p><br>
<p>The place has a special association with the life or work of a particular person, group or organisation of importance in Queensland&#39;s history.</p><br>
<p>Tor is significant for its association with William Hodgen, a prominent Toowoomba architect, who designed the residence for his Aunt, Sophia Hope Holberton, wife of Frederick Hurrell Holberton. William Hodgen was the founder of a Toowoomba architectural firm which continues to the present.</p><br>
<p>Unara is a heritage-listed detached house at 9-13 Tourist Road, East Toowoomba, Toowoomba, Toowoomba Region, Queensland, Australia. It was built. It is also known as Unara Community Health Centre. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 24 March 2000.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>Unara is a substantial timber residence built in c.1906 for Sir Littleton Groom and prominently located at the top of the Range on Tourist Road near the junction of the Warrego Highway.</p><br>
<p>Groom acquired the site on the edge of the Toowoomba Range overlooking the Lockyer Valley in 1904 and named the property Unara. The planning of the house was typical of the period, with a central hallway providing access to the principal rooms including a drawing room, study, dining room and bedrooms. The kitchen, pantry and servants quarters were located in a rear wing. A verandah surrounded the front section of the building. The main entrance, with a projecting gable roof, was situated on the northern side of the building.</p><br>
<p>When the residence was built for Groom, he was a prominent figure on the Darling Downs. He was born in Toowoomba on 22 April 1867, son of William Henry Groom, who had various political offices including Mayor of Toowoomba and member of the Legislative Assembly. Henry Groom won the seat of Darling Downs in the first Commonwealth Parliament but died soon after taking office. Littleton Groom took over his father&#39;s seat in a by-election and held it until his death in 1936 with the exception of the period 1929-32. Prior to entering Parliament, Littleton Groom practised as a lawyer, having studied arts and law at Melbourne University. He was admitted to the Queensland Bar in 1891. During his time in Federal Parliament Groom held various portfolios including attorney-general, home affairs, trade and customs and external affairs. He was knighted in 1924 and Groom served as Speaker of the House of Representatives from 1926 to 1929.</p><br>
<p>Following Groom&#39;s death in 1936 the residence was vacated by his wife and rented. It was later sold and converted into a guest house. In December 1945 the Division of Maternal and Child Health in the Department of Health purchased the property for £7682 for use as a Mothercraft Home. Similar homes were established during the 1940s at Clayfield, Sandgate, Ipswich and Rockhampton. These homes were intended to provide care for premature babies and for mothers requiring more intensive assistance in caring for infants.</p><br>
<p>Additions and alterations were undertaken to suit the new use. Many of the internal walls were sheeted with hardboard. The ceilings were also sheeted with the exception of the principal rooms which had pressed metal ceilings. In 1954 a wing was erected on the northern side of the building for staff quarters. This wing was completed for a cost of £12,000. Another wing with nine rooms was erected on the southern side in 1962. A new laundry and workshop was constructed in 1974. The mothercraft Home was closed in 1977 and the buildings were utilised as office accommodation by other divisions of the Health Department. The property was fully occupied and demand for additional accommodation resulted in the erection of a demountable block in 1986 at the rear of the site. The property was occupied by a variety of community health and allied health services until 1999 when the building was vacated.</p><br>
<p>The grounds are landscaped with mature shrubs, trees and hedges, lawn and pathways. It is probable that the pattern of landscaping, particularly the mature trees, date from the Groom period.</p><br>
<h2>Description</h2><br>
<p>Unara is a large, low-set timber residence constructed in 1906, that has elements of the Federation Bungalow style and is now part of a larger complex of buildings. The former residence has two wings added, a northern wing in 1954 and a southern wing in 1962, and an extension to the kitchen wing at the back. Until recently there was also a brick building that was constructed in 1974 but has now been demolished and only the floorslab remains. There is also a separate laundry and workshop building.</p><br>
<p>The original planning of the house is substantially intact and later additions are clearly articulated. Verandahs on the north and east have been enclosed and the building is entered from a doorway on the north-eastern elevation. Many of the rooms have been lined with hardboard and fibro. Several large, well proportioned rooms with high ceilings have elements of original fabric remaining, these include pressed metal ceilings, leadlight windows, tiled fireplaces and other decorative elements. There are original doors throughout, these are generally four panel doors with Art Nouveau style finger plates and lock furniture. There are a number of styles of windows, including many timber sash windows and a variety of recent styles such as sliding and casement windows.</p><br>
<p>Basins have been added in a number of the rooms, along with built-in cupboards and some new partitions. Two kitchens have been added and are generally equipped with basic timber joinery and stainless steel benches.</p><br>
<p>The exterior of the building is characterised by the large multi-gabled roof clad in corrugated steel with projecting gable ends with timber and roughcast infill and cupola-like corner treatment. There are also a number of large bay windows, one of which has multi-paned coloured glass windows. There are three red brick chimneys with high level square openings. The verandahs have been enclosed with fibro, however, the rest of the building is clad in chamferboards. The house is set on concrete stumps and is accessed via timber stairs. The stair on the northern elevation appears to be the original entry stair and has a timber balustrade and handrail. A concrete path leads from the entry gate on Tourist Road to these stairs and then along the eastern side of the house and 1954 wing.</p><br>
<p>Vehicle access to the site is provided on the southern end of the site and a large expanse of gravel driveway occupies this end of the site. Also on this side of the site are mature trees including a Kauri Pine and other pines and a Liquid Amber. Along the Eastern elevation is a tall camellia hedge and two large camellia shrubs flank the entry path. At the rear of the site are a large Magnolia tree, oak tree, long leaf pine and a timber tank stand covered with wisteria.</p><br>
<h2>Heritage listing</h2><br>
<p>Unara was listed on the Queensland Heritage Register on 24 March 2000 having satisfied the following criteria.</p><br>
<p>The place is important in demonstrating the evolution or pattern of Queensland&#39;s history.</p><br>
<p>Unara, a substantial timber residence built in c.1906 is significant for its strong association with Sir Littleton Groom who was a prominent figure in the Darling Downs for more than 30 years. For many years, he was the most senior Queensland conservative politician in the Commonwealth Parliament during its first decades and was well known at both state and federal level.</p><br>
<p>Unara is important in demonstrating the development of Toowoomba and in particular the desirability of the Range as a location for the residences of prominent and affluent citizens of the city.</p><br>
<p>The place is important because of its aesthetic significance.</p><br>
<p>Unara has aesthetic significance which derives from its pleasing design and setting within a large garden with mature trees, hedges, lawn and shrubs.</p><br>
<p>The place has a strong or special association with a particular community or cultural group for social, cultural or spiritual reasons.</p><br>
<p>The significance of Unara and its association with Sir Littleton Groom is enhanced by its location in the city and in relation to the Groom Memorial immediately opposite the property in a small park at the junction of the Warrego Highway and Tourist Road.</p><br>
<p>Vacy Hall is a heritage-listed villa at 135 Russell Street, Toowoomba, Toowoomba Region, Queensland, Australia. It was built. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 October 1992.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>This single storeyed brick residence was erected in 1899 for Gilbert Gostwyck Cory and his wife Ann Sophy, daughter of the Hon. James Taylor. It is one of a number of substantial residences erected along Russell Street, including Taylor&#39;s own residence, Clifford House. Designed by notable/prolific Toowoomba architect James Marks, and built by Alexander Mayes, a prominent Toowoomba builder and three-times Mayor of Toowoomba, it was the second residence to be erected on this site.</p><br>
<p>Cory arrived in Toowoomba in the late 1850s, and was employed by Taylor at Cecil Plains Station. Cory later became Taylor&#39;s partner and was involved in other pastoral ventures in Queensland. Cory was an active member of the Toowoomba and district community, serving on both the Jondaryan Shire Council, Toowoomba Town Council; Mayor of Toowoomba in 1891; a longstanding member and President of the Royal Agricultural Society; member of the Toowoomba Hospital committee; and a founding member of the Toowoomba Turf Club.</p><br>
<p>The land on which Vacy Hall stands had been granted to William Horton in 1852, and was acquired by Taylor in 1868, as part of a number of allotments purchased by Taylor and Henry Stuart Russell in the late 1860s. A residence is believed to have been erected in the mid 1870s, possibly as a present from Taylor to his daughter on her marriage to Cory in 1873. This building was damaged by fire late in 1898.</p><br>
<p>Taylor died in 1895 and the property passed into the hands of trustees, which included Taylors widow, two of Taylors sons, and Cory. In 1897 the property was transferred to Ann Cory. Ann died in 1909, and the property passed to Cory, who remained at Vacy Hall until his death in 1924.</p><br>
<p>Following Cory&#39;s death, Vacy Hall had a succession of owners. It remained a private home until the 1950s when it was converted to apartments, offices and finally a boarding house/hostel.</p><br>
<p>Vacy Hall was acquired by the present owners in 1986, who refurbished the building for guest accommodation. A timber cottage constructed of materials recycled from three derelict timber houses was erected on the site, and is used as the Reception office and manager&#39;s residence.</p><br>
<h2>Description</h2><br>
<p>Vacy Hall, set back from Russell Street to the south on a site sloping gently east, is surrounded by gardens and mature trees to the south and east with single-storeyed hostel buildings to the northwest.</p><br>
<p>This single-storeyed building, L-shaped in plan, has a twin hipped corrugated iron roof with a central box gutter, hipped projecting bays, a gable pediment to the south entrance and a central curved roof section to the northwest wing. The building is encircled by verandahs with lower skillion roofs, fluted square timber verandah posts and timber floors. The south elevation is symmetrical, and the entrance pediment, the central section of which is glazed in leadlight with the inscription VACY HALL, is supported by two large, rendered, square fluted columns framing concrete steps. Step out bays with sash windows and shutters open onto south, west and east verandahs from principal rooms. The panelled entrance door has a fanlight and sidelights with leadlight glazing.</p><br>
<p>The building has English garden wall bond brickwork, with decorative glazed brickwork features including quoining to corners, bays, windows and doors, arched headers to doors and windows, a circle pattern above the entrance door and stretcher courses to the base, below the sills and below the eaves. The building has six decorative brick chimney stacks and brick eave brackets.</p><br>
<p>The main section of the building has been refurbished for guest rooms, and the northwest wing, with some sections of verandah enclosed with fibrous cement, consists of a central corridor with hostel rooms and a kitchen.</p><br>
<p>Internally, the building has cedar joinery including panelled doors with fanlights, architraves, bays with seats, fireplace surrounds and skirtings. The octagonal shaped central hall has ornate plaster mouldings and cornice, faux marble finish to arches and wall panels and a radiating parquet which continues into the front and rear halls. Walls are plastered masonry with wallpaper to dado or picture rail height. Ensuite rooms have been added.</p><br>
<p>A single-storeyed, rendered concrete block hostel with a skillion roof is built adjacent to the building on the northwest. A single-storeyed weatherboard reception, with a hipped corrugated iron roof and concrete stumps, is located adjacent to the building on the west.</p><br>
<p>The grounds include a gravel drive from Russell Street with a turning circle and brick edging, mature trees to the south and east, hedges along the south and east boundaries and an expanse of lawn with gardens to the southeast.</p><br>
<h2>Heritage listing</h2><br>
<p>Vacy Hall was listed on the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 October 1992 having satisfied the following criteria.</p><br>
<p>The place is important in demonstrating the evolution or pattern of Queensland&#39;s history.</p><br>
<p>Vacy Hall, erected in 1899, is important in demonstrating the pattern of Queensland&#39;s history, in particular the development of Toowoomba as a prestigious residential location for Darling Downs pastoralists.</p><br>
<p>The place is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a particular class of cultural places.</p><br>
<p>It is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a substantial, late 19th century masonry Toowoomba residence, and exhibits a range of aesthetic characteristics valued by the community, in particular the contribution of the building and grounds, through form, scale, materials and plantings, to the streetscape of Russell Street and to the Toowoomba townscape; and the quality and crafting of the materials and finishes, including decorative brickwork, parquet floor, cedar joinery, plasterwork, and step-out bays.</p><br>
<p>The place is important because of its aesthetic significance.</p><br>
<p>It is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a substantial, late 19th century masonry Toowoomba residence, and exhibits a range of aesthetic characteristics valued by the community, in particular the contribution of the building and grounds, through form, scale, materials and plantings, to the streetscape of Russell Street and to the Toowoomba townscape; and the quality and crafting of the materials and finishes, including decorative brickwork, parquet floor, cedar joinery, plasterwork, and step-out bays.</p><br>
<p>The place has a special association with the life or work of a particular person, group or organisation of importance in Queensland&#39;s history.</p><br>
<p>It has a special association with the work of prominent Toowoomba architect, James Marks, who designed a number of residences in Toowoomba; and with James Taylor and Gilbert Cory who were influential in the early development of Toowoomba as a major rural centre.</p><br>
<p>The J. K. Wadley House is a historic house located at 618 Pecan Street in Texarkana, Arkansas.</p><br>
<h2>Description and history</h2><br>
<p>Built in 1895, it is a two-story, wood-framed structure, and is notable as a fine local example of the Free Classical type of Queen Anne styling. It is also locally significant as being the longtime home of John Keener Wadley, a lumber, railroad, and oil baron listed as one of the wealthiest men in the United States. The house features a wraparound porch with a pedimented gable, supported by grouped columns. The exterior is finished in clapboarding on the lower level and decorative cut shingles on the upper level. A low onion-domed turret rises from the southern corner.</p><br>
<p>The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on February 12, 1999. It currently functions as a bed and breakfast.</p><br>
<p>Weetwood is a heritage-listed villa at 427 Tor Street, Newtown, Toowoomba, Toowoomba Region, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by architect James Marks and built from 1888 onwards. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 October 1992.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>Weetwood, a residence at 427 Tor Street, Toowoomba, is a brick house built in 1888 for Richard William Scholefield.</p><br>
<p>The allotments on which this residence is situated were originally a part of the land purchased in 1862 as Portion 176, parish Drayton, County of Aubigny (160 acres), by James Taylor, politician and Mayor of Toowoomba in 1890; Thomas George Robinson, stock and land salesman and first Australian-born Mayor of Toowoomba in 1865; and James Watts Grimes, a local auctioneer.</p><br>
<p>During 1873, the title to Portion 176 was transferred to George Beresford King before it was again sold four years later. Thomas George Robinson was once more registered as a joint owner of the land along with James Williams and Gustavus Hamilton. On 28 March 1883, Robinson died, and the following year Hamilton died, soon after which Williams subdivided the land for sale. Subdivisions 11 to 14 comprising 6 acres were sold to Richard William Scholefield for £200 and registered in his name in December 1884. Scholefield was born in England in 1844, the son of William Scholefield and Charlotte Hay. He arrived in Australia in 1862 and went to Westbrook Station Station for "colonial experience". Between 1868 and 1873 he managed "Avington Downs" and "Alice Downs" on the Barcoo until they were sold. Francis Thomas Gregory, who moved to Queensland in 1862 and subsequently served as a member of the Queensland Legislative Council and as Commissioner of Crown Lands in Toowoomba, then offered Scholefield the job of managing Westbrook Station. He remained there until 1878 when Westbrook was sold and then entered into a partnership with Gregory in a stock and station firm located in Russell Street, Toowoomba.</p><br>
<p>In Toowoomba, Scholefield quickly acquired a prominent profile. He served as a Justice of the Peace and was a distinguished member of various local clubs, including the Downs Club and the Toowoomba Turf Club. His land in Tor Street adjoined the racecourse (now known as Clifford Park Racecourse), and between 1878 and 1890 Scholefield held four positions with the Turf Club, which instituted the Weetwood Handicap to honour his work. This race is still held annually in March. Scholefield was also a committee member of the Toowoomba Hospital and the Royal Agricultural Society of Queensland.</p><br>
<p>In the 4 years after acquiring the land on which Weetwood now stands, Scholefield was continually stumping and burning off but it remained unimproved until 1888 when tenders were called for the construction of Weetwood. Scholefield kept meticulous records pertaining to the house, which was designed by James Marks and built by Robert Godsall. Both Marks and Godsall had previously worked together on the construction of St Patricks Cathedral in Toowoomba and were well known in the area for their work. Marks was one of Toowoombas most prolific and experienced late-19th century architects and his most significant buildings include the Royal Bank of Queensland building, the Imperial Hotel, and St Stephen&#39;s Presbyterian Church.</p><br>
<p>Of the several grand private residences in Toowoomba designed by Marks, Weetwood remains one of his best. It was constructed to exacting standards, with Marks advising contractors to "take care that no paint or other stains are left on the floors or walls" and that "any damage done... by the contractors or the man in his employment will have to be made good at his (the contractors) own cost". This exactness was as much a reflection of Marks&#39;s professional application as it was an indication that Weetwood was intended to be the perfect home for Scholefield, his wife, Eva Louisa Scholefield, and their three children who were all born at Weetwood. No expense was spared, with the house costing a total of just under £2350 to build and Scholefield having 21 cases of fine furniture for his new house shipped from London on board the Taroba during 1888.</p><br>
<p>Construction ran smoothly during the latter half of 1888 and Scholefield recorded that he "commenced to reside" at Weetwood on 1 January 1889. The house was named after his fathers home in Leeds, England, and the premises included a lawn tennis court and stables described by Scholefields daughter as "beautifully built with tongue and grooved hardwood timber, and... of three horse stalls, a large buggy shed for two buggies, a harness room, a feed room, and a man&#39;s room". On the 6 acres of land the Scholefields also maintained a paddock for horses and cows as well as a fowl yard. The large garden included a variety of fruit trees and vegetables, which was attended to by a full-time gardener, George Smith, who was with the family for 20 years.</p><br>
<p>Following Scholefield&#39;s death in March 1902, his wife continued to reside there until her death in 1939. However, it was not until July 1945 that title to the property was registered in the joint names of Hector Kitchener McPhie and Victor Alexander Carpendale McPhie. Two years later Hector Kitchener McPhie became the sole owner of the estate and in 1948 transferred subdivisions 11 and 12, which left Weetwood standing on the present parcel of 2 acres.</p><br>
<p>In 1952, title to Weetwood was transferred to Campbell Stuart Jiear and since that time has passed to 2 further owners. The house has been well preserved and its grounds well maintained, with the recent addition of an in-ground swimming pool, shed and new boundary fencing. The horse stables, however, are no longer in existence.</p><br>
<h2>Description</h2><br>
<p>Weetwood is situated on the corner of Tor and Higgins Streets on two large allotments in West Toowoomba. They are each 4047 m2 in size and abut the Clifford Park Racecourse to the west. Tor Street has two lanes of traffic running in each direction and is therefore very busy, particularly with a number of large vehicles. The Toowoomba city centre is located approximately 2.5 km to the east.</p><br>
<p>The single storey residence is sited close to the western boundary with the Racecourse, approximately straddling the common boundary of the allotments. This provides a wide buffer of space between it and the road traffic. All exterior boundaries are lined with established trees and planting, allowing only partial glimpses of the house. There are two entries onto the site from Tor Street, however only the one toward the north-east corner is currently in use. The allotments are largely flat, and the house is founded on a base of raised ground, approximately half a metre high. This provides a 1.5m wide skirt of flat ground around the house, the edges of which slope steeply away. The sloped edge is less prominent at the south-east corner. The front facade best reflects the principles of unforced symmetry to which the design of the house largely adheres.</p><br>
<p>Weetwoods main hipped roof is U-shaped and surrounded on three sides by a curved verandah roof. This is penetrated by a barrel-roofed entry porch and elaborately framed timber pediment. A ridged roof joins the main one on the north-west corner of the building. The exterior walls to the main house are face brickwork. Along the length of the houses west face, is attached a skillion-roofed extension. This is clad externally in chamferboards. Located between the house and the western boundary is a large gable-roofed carport area. At the south-west corner this roof has been halted to allow for a pergola and small gable-roofed shed clad in weatherboards. These recent structures run the full length of the original house.</p><br>
<p>All roofs are clad in corrugated Colorbond steel and the main one is decorated with acroteria. The small overhang to the main U-shaped roof is supported by a series of double, carved timber brackets. These rest on a lip of brick extruded from the external wall. The brackets do not feature on the rear western facade. The eaves of the main roof are lined with painted, shot-edge timber boards. Two double and two single chimneystacks protrude through the main roof, and all are rendered and painted brickwork.</p><br>
<p>The verandah edges rest on 25 cm high brick walls and are capped with painted timber boards. The posts are divided into two parts by stop chamfering, and have astragals, capitals and carved timber brackets. On the east-facing edge, a low timber seat fits between each post and forms a simple balustrade. The verandah area&#39;s floor is clad in narrow shot-edge timber boards and is approximately 3m wide. The exposed underside of its curved roof is not supported by rafters, except where a hip occurs, such as where the barrel-roofed entry porch intersects with it. The verandah area looking north is partially enclosed by timber framing that supports some fixed glass, a sliding glass door and a low weatherboard-clad balustrade. All timberwork, except that lining the floor, is painted.</p><br>
<p>A short flight of stairs brings the visitor under the entry portico up to the front door of the house. The portico&#39;s pediment timberwork is elaborately framed in a style that James Marks & Sons became renowned for, while the front door has leadlight glass and timber panels to each side and a full-width, semi-circular fanlight above. All rooms overlooking the verandah have one or two sets of double doors with rectangular glass fanlights opening onto it. These double doors are all low waisted. A corbelled pattern of light brickwork, differentiated from the predominant dark speckled brick, surrounds all door and window openings. A large timber panel-clad bay window projects from the northern face of the house into the verandah space.</p><br>
<p>Interiors Contained beneath the main U-shaped roof are six rooms opening off a central hallway, which is accessed via the front door. This hall is divided in two by an arched opening. The semi-circular arch rests on plasterwork relief capitals. Two rooms open off the first segment of the hallway. These are currently used as bedrooms. The room to the right is extended by the bay that looks onto the north-facing verandah. This bay has two double-hung sash windows in its front face, and one on each of its angled sides. The sill height matches the low waist of the double doors. On the wall it shares with the adjoining room, this room also has an ornately carved timber mantelpiece and fireplace lined with ceramic tiles. A metal fire grate sits on the hearth, which is also lined with ceramic tiles. These walls only feature a plaster picture-rail fixed at approximately 3.5m. The room opening to the left off the central hallway has a mantelpiece and fireplace without ceramic tiles, also in its west-facing wall. The mantelpiece is decorated with simple, applied timber shapes and the hearth is edged with a low timber rail. A door opens from this bedroom into the next room along the hall.</p><br>
<p>Four rooms open off the second segment of the hallway. The first on the left is used as a bedroom. It has a mantelpiece and fireplace in the wall it shares with the next room towards the rear of the hall. This mantelpiece and fireplace match those in the bedroom described earlier, however there is no timber guardrail. The last room to open to the left off the hallway again has a simply decorated timber mantelpiece. However, its fireplace does feature an ornate rim and grate. Its guardrail, hearth and sides are lined with tiles, but only a few matching those in the first bedroom remain in place. A full-height, built-in cupboard has been attached to the wall between the fireplace and the exterior wall. It is lined with fibrous cement sheeting and is clearly a later addition as it disturbs the pattern of boards on the floor. In this room&#39;s west-facing wall there are a double-hung sash window and a door. These open onto the space contained by the rear skillion roof.</p><br>
<p>The first room that opens to the right off the second segment of the central hallway is used as a living room. Its fireplace and hearth, back-to-back with that in the first bedroom, are made of brick, while the mantel is of timber. Its walls have a painted timber picture rail fixed at 2.5m. The second room off this side of the hallway is used for dining. The design of its mantelpiece and fireplace matches the geometry of those found in the three rooms to the left of the hallway. It is centred on this room&#39;s northern wall, which it shares with the kitchen. The skirting in the dining room differs from those found elsewhere. Doors open from this room into the living room, the kitchen and a study to the rear of the house.</p><br>
<p>The floors throughout the main house are lined with wide, tongue and groove Pine boards. In the dining room and kitchen tiles have been laid over these. The floor to the fourth bedroom, in the south-west corner of the main house, is encircled with three rows of timber boards. The central line of boards is finished with a dark stain. There are eight-inch skirtings throughout, as there are six-inch architraves. All joinery and mouldings are of polished Cedar. The ceilings in each of the six main rooms and in the hallway are approximately 4m high. The kitchen, which sits under the ridged roof, also has a ceiling this high. The walls throughout are plaster. The original plaster ceilings in all the main rooms have been lined with fibrous cement sheeting and decorated with simple timber beading. The cornices in the second and third bedrooms, and in the living room are simple scotias. Those in the other rooms are simply timber boards fixed to the ceiling. Square, lattice grills are centred in the ceilings of the second and fourth bedrooms, and the dining room. Metal ones are featured in these and other rooms.</p><br>
<p>At the rear of the central hallway, a door with plain glass side panels and rectangular fanlight opens onto the space contained under the skillion roof. This opens into the carport area with a door and a number of small double-hung sash windows. The bathroom is situated at the southern end of this corridor of space. And at its northern end are a study opening with two double doors into the dining room, and a laundry opening into the kitchen. The brickwork remains exposed on the rear wall of the main house, which it shares with this corridor. The carport area consists of a very large covered space running the full length of the house and two storage sheds, which sit between it and the rear boundary to the Racecourse. This is where the original service wing would have been located.</p><br>
<p>Grounds Weetwood is surrounded by a large garden with low planting and many established trees. To the north between the house and the boundary are located a large area of paved driveway and a small gable-roofed shed clad in weatherboards. A vine hedge separates this from a fenced swimming pool. Along the boundary to Tor Street, on either side of the currently unused entry, stand two Norfolk Island Pines (Araucaria heterophylla). Between the house and its boundary with Higgins Street stands a large Bunya Pine (Araucaria bidwillii) in an area fenced off from the rest of the property. There is also a large Bougainvillea (Bougainvillea spectabilis) between this tree and the house. In the south-western corner of the second allotment is a smaller fenced-off pen with a timber and iron shelter, which may be the original fowl yard. All boundaries have timber-paling fences.</p><br>
<h2>Heritage listing</h2><br>
<p>Weetwood was listed on the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 October 1992 having satisfied the following criteria.</p><br>
<p>The place is important in demonstrating the evolution or pattern of Queensland&#39;s history.</p><br>
<p>Built in 1888, Weetwood is one of Toowoombas grander private residences of the late 19th century and remains important in demonstrating the evolution or pattern of Queenslands history and in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a particular class of cultural places. The house was constructed during a period of economic boom in Queensland and during the development of the Darling Downs as an important regional centre. The grandeur of the house reflects the burgeoning strength of Toowoomba during the 1880s and it remains a significant example of late-19th century domestic architecture.</p><br>
<p>The place is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a particular class of cultural places.</p><br>
<p>Built in 1888, Weetwood is one of Toowoombas grander private residences of the late 19th century and remains important in demonstrating the evolution or pattern of Queenslands history and in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a particular class of cultural places. The house was constructed during a period of economic boom in Queensland and during the development of the Darling Downs as an important regional centre. The grandeur of the house reflects the burgeoning strength of Toowoomba during the 1880s and it remains a significant example of late-19th century domestic architecture.</p><br>
<p>The place is important because of its aesthetic significance.</p><br>
<p>Toowoomba abounds with buildings and residences of cultural heritage significance and Weetwood remains an important and well-preserved element of the local streetscape. In this way, Weetwood contributes to the overall historical character of Toowoomba and its individual aesthetic appeal makes it a valued part of the area.</p><br>
<p>The aesthetic significance of Weetwood is characterized by a number of general and specific qualities. The specific qualities include the use of patterned face brickwork, and the proportions of the barrel-vaulted entry porch with elaborately framed timber pediment, the latter being a distinguishing element in the design work of the architectural firm James Marks founded with his sons. On the interior, the attributes of Weetwood&#39;s aesthetic significance include the finely crafted timber mantelpieces, and the quality and condition of the timber joinery throughout.</p><br>
<p>Wesley Uniting Church is a heritage-listed former church at 54 Neil Street, Toowoomba, Toowoomba Region, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by Willoughby Powell and built from 1877 to 1924. It is also known as Wesleyan Methodist Church. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 10 May 1997.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The Wesley Uniting Church was constructed in 1877 to the design of Willoughby Powell. In 1901 extensions designed by William Hodgen Jnr were made to the church which completed the building&#39;s cruciform plan. The building was the second Wesleyan Methodist Church in Toowoomba and, later, the head church of the Methodist church of the Toowoomba circuit.</p><br>
<p>Settlement of what was to become the Toowoomba area commenced at Drayton, now a suburb of Toowoomba, in the early 1840s. Thomas Alford opened a general store in the area in 1843. In the same year, residents of Drayton petitioned the Governor to form a township. A survey of the town was prepared in 1849. In laying out Drayton, Government Surveyor JC Burnett was instructed to mark out "suburban allotments for Garden and Agricultural purposes". The ideal site for what was known as the "Drayton Swamp Agricultural Reserve", later to become Toowoomba, was an area approximately three to four miles northeast of Drayton where two swampy creeks joined to form the headwaters of Gowrie Creek. The Agricultural Reserve included 12 allotments bounded by the left bank of the west swamp, and the present Bridge, West and Stephen streets.</p><br>
<p>Six of the 12 "Swamp Allotments" were first offered at auction in November 1849, however some were not sold until 1853. By late 1857, the name "Toowoomba" had gradually taken over from "The Swamp", as the town continued to expand. At the time of its incorporation into a municipality in November 1860, Toowoomba had well outgrown Drayton.</p><br>
<p>According to Maurice French, Toowoomba expanded rapidly in the 1870s as a result of the Selection Act of 1868 after which provisions and services for the new selectors were required. Many public buildings were erected or updated and a railway station, the "most-imposing in Queensland" was constructed.</p><br>
<p>By the 1870s the first Wesleyan Methodist Church in Toowoomba was too small for the growing congregation which was established in the early 1860s. The first Wesleyan Methodist services were held in Toowoomba in 1858 when Rev. Samuel Wilkinson visited the Darling Downs on a preaching tour. It was not until 1863 that a permanent minister was appointed to Toowoomba. In 1865 the Ipswich Wesleyan Methodist Circuit was divided forming the Toowoomba Circuit which comprised Toowoomba, Drayton, Ware&#39;s Farm, Jondaryan and Gatton.</p><br>
<p>To service the Wesleyan Methodist congregation in Toowoomba a stone church in Neil Street was constructed in 1864-65, prior to which services were held in a large building owned by the Presbyterian Church. A foundation stone for the first Wesleyan Methodist church, designed by James Cowlishaw, was laid by Mrs Groom on 19 October 1864. The church, a rectangular planned masonry building, was opened on 2 April 1865. This building was rendered inadequate for the growing congregation and temporary use was made of the School of Arts hall, but more permanent accommodation was sought.</p><br>
<p>The 1865 church and land was sold and another block, Suburban Allotment Thirteen of Section Seven, in Neil Street near the previous site was purchased on 13 April 1876 by trustees of the church for the sum of £550. Willoughby Powell was then commissioned to design a church for the site. Powell was in Toowoomba supervising the construction of the Toowoomba Grammar School. Earlier, Powell worked for Richard Gailey before joining the Queensland Public Works Department as a draftsman in 1874, when he won a competition for the design of the Toowoomba Grammar School. He maintained a practice in Toowoomba from 1875-77 designing many buildings including the Jewish Synagogue and several large houses.</p><br>
<p>The foundation stone of the Neil Street Wesleyan Methodist Church was laid by the Governor on 14 August 1877. As well, several smaller memorial stones were laid by ladies of the congregation and town. The contractor for the job was R Godsall, with a Mr Hudson responsible for internal fittings. The construction cost was about £2300.</p><br>
<p>The church was constructed of face brick with rendered masonry and freestone detailing and a high pitched gabled roof clad with timber shingles. The plan of the church was rectangular with entrance provided from two porches on either side of the western gable facing Neil Street and a small vestry extending from the eastern elevation. A tall broach spire surmounted the apex of the western facade. Internally, a semi-circular preaching rostrum, defined by curved timber balustrading was centrally situated adjacent to the eastern wall of the church. Evidence of this early arrangement survives in the church today.</p><br>
<p>The church was opened on 4 August 1878 and a report in a local newspaper, The Toowoomba Chronicle and Darling Downs Advertiser, provides a description of the ceremony and the building, which is described as "domestic Gothic very freely treated". This alludes to the simple design of the building in a Gothic revival style; a style widely employed on the churches of many Christian religious denominations during the second half of the nineteenth century. Among the elements which contributed to the style and which are found on the Neil Street Wesleyan Methodist Church is the steeply pitched roof, lancet window openings, stained glass panels, broach spire and internal fittings such as carved joinery, heavy timber trusses and, when constructed, a richly painted and gilded roof lining and internal decoration.</p><br>
<p>One of the particularly noteworthy features of the 1877 building was a large stained glass filled window opening in the western wall. This tracery window comprising three foiled lancets and a quatrefoil centred above them, was fitted with stained glass panels by Ashwin and Falconer of Pitt Street, Sydney.</p><br>
<p>Ashwin and Falconer were a Sydney partnership of Frederick Ashwin and John Falconer who formed by 1877 under the name Falconer and Ashwin, reversing the order of the names only later. Falconer was one of the earliest Sydney stained glaziers establishing his business in 1863 after his arrival in Australia from Britain in 1856. He continued in practice until 1892 when Ashwin and Falconer became known as Ashwin and Co. The company produced many outstanding windows including the glazed dome in the Sydney Town Hall. At least three known commissions were undertaken in Queensland including two figured panels at Farrington House in Alderley (since removed from this house and in an unknown private collection); panels for St James&#39; Church of England in Toowoomba which were designed by Edmund Blacket & Son as well as the window in the Neil Street Wesley Uniting Church.</p><br>
<p>In 1882 the Neil Street Church acquired a timber school room, designed by local architect James Marks. Early photographs of this building show a timber boarded structure with simple gabled roof to the north of the church. This building was extended in 1961 when a brick envelope was added, earlier alterations to this building include the addition of a stage proscenium in the first half of this century.</p><br>
<p>During the 1880s and early 1890s in Toowoomba many of the other religious denomination built permanent masonry churches, including the Primitive Methodist Church (1881); the Presbyterian Church built opposite and facing the Wesleyan Methodist Church in Neil Street (1882); the Roman Catholic Church (1883-9); and the Lutheran Church.</p><br>
<p>The local architect, William Hodgen Jnr, was commissioned in 1901 to extend the eastern end of the church with transepts and a vestry. This was four years after the unification of the Wesleyan and Primitive Methodist Churches. Primitive Methodism was established in the town in 1877 and was run from a church in Raff Street constructed in 1881. With the amalgamation, the Neil Street Wesleyan Church became the centre of Methodism in Toowoomba and the extension of 1901 may have been prompted by this reason.</p><br>
<p>In about 1924 a masonry fence and an iron gateway and gate were erected, replacing an earlier timber paling fence, to the memory of George Pitlow Merry who died on 30 October 1924.</p><br>
<p>Architecture, Engineering and Building Journal indicates that Cook and Kerrison, architects to the Methodist church, called tenders for the additions of a wall and porch to the church, however it is thought that this work was actually to be carried out on the adjacent school hall.</p><br>
<p>In 1977 when the Uniting Church was officially formed by the amalgamation of Methodist, Presbyterian and Congregational Churches, the Neil Street Wesleyan Methodist Church became a Uniting Church known as the Wesley Uniting Church. At that time the land was divested from the, then defunct, Methodist Church to become the property of the Uniting Church.</p><br>
<p>In 1998, the church was incorporated with its neighbouring building, the Empire Theatre, where it serves as a function room connected by a glass walkway.</p><br>
<h2>Description</h2><br>
<p>The Wesley Uniting Church faces Neil Street to the west, directly opposite St Stephens Uniting Church. The building is located adjoining the Empire Theatre to the south.</p><br>
<p>The church is constructed of Flemish bond brickwork with expressed coursing and rendered stone window surrounds and buttress caps, and has a rib and pan gable roof with ventilation gablets. The west elevation is framed by rendered turrets surmounting a buttresses at each corner, and contains a large pointed arch stained glass window consisting of three lights surmounted by a large quatrefoil. Entry porches are located on the north and south at the western end, and consist of low rib and pan gable roofs supported by short columns on large square bases, with pointed arch paired timber doors. Windows to the nave are lancet shaped, and the north and south transepts have a large intersecting tracery window surmounting a gabled pointed arch doorway which is flanked by lancet windows.</p><br>
<p>The interior of the church has rendered walls scribed to imitate ashlar stonework, and the roof construction consists of arched brace timber trusses supported by stone corbels. These trusses have original metal ties, which were incorporated to overcome the need for heavy king-posts, and diagonal timber lining boards with quatrefoil fretwork panels at the cornice line. The east wall has a pointed arch recess behind a large pipe organ, which has a curved timber screen at the front of the organist&#39;s seat, which is flanked by pointed arch doorways to the vestry. A low timber and glass narthex has been constructed under the west window between the north and south entry doors, and supports the relocated pulpit rostrum rail. The seating has been rearranged to form a semi-circle facing the south wall of the transept.</p><br>
<p>A single-storeyed face brick addition is connected to the north transept via an open walkway and adjoins a timber hall located to the northeast of the church. This structure has brick buttresses, a parapet wall concealing the roof, lancet windows with sandstone surrounds and a foundation stone dated 1961. The timber hall has a corrugated iron gable roof, weatherboard cladding, and a single-storeyed brick addition along its southern elevation.</p><br>
<p>The northern brick addition houses a kindergarten with a kitchen connected to the western end of the timber hall. The hall is entered from the southwest corner, and has a hardboard panelled ceiling with a stage at the eastern end with a stylised proscenium arch. Backstage contains storage areas, and the southern addition to the hall contains various rooms.</p><br>
<p>The Neil Street frontage has a metal fence with driveway entrances at the north and south end, and central metal gates with English bond brick gate posts with rendered details and commemorative plaques. The church grounds contain a semi-circular drive to the west front, with various commemorative plantings, and a driveway along the southern side to the rear.</p><br>
<h2>Heritage listing</h2><br>
<p>Wesley Uniting Church was listed on the Queensland Heritage Register on 10 May 1997 having satisfied the following criteria.</p><br>
<p>The place is important in demonstrating the evolution or pattern of Queensland&#39;s history.</p><br>
<p>The Wesley Uniting Church demonstrates the growth of Toowoomba during the 1870s. The Church demonstrates the spread of Wesleyan Methodism throughout Queensland</p><br>
<p>The place demonstrates rare, uncommon or endangered aspects of Queensland&#39;s cultural heritage.</p><br>
<p>The Church houses a rare and fine example in Queensland of the stained glass work of the prolific Sydney stained glass manufacturers, Ashwin and Falconer.</p><br>
<p>The place is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a particular class of cultural places.</p><br>
<p>The Church with its early Gothic inspiration, simple form and internal arrangement demonstrates the principal characteristics of a Wesleyan Methodist Church of the 1870s in regional Queensland.</p><br>
<p>The place is important because of its aesthetic significance.</p><br>
<p>Through its form, materials and siting, the Wesley Uniting Church makes a significant aesthetic contribution to the Neil Street streetscape and Toowoomba townscape. Together with St Stephen&#39;s Uniting Church, directly opposite to the west, the church is part of an important ecclesiastic group.</p><br>
<p>The place has a strong or special association with a particular community or cultural group for social, cultural or spiritual reasons.</p><br>
<p>The building has been the centre of firstly, the Wesleyan Methodist, then the Methodist religion in Toowoomba since its construction in 1877. Since 1977 it has been a Uniting Church. The building has special associations for the Uniting Church.</p><br>
<p>The place has a special association with the life or work of a particular person, group or organisation of importance in Queensland&#39;s history.</p><br>
<p>The Church is associated with the architect Willoughby Powell, and is one of his few Toowoomba buildings.</p><br>
<p>The White Horse Hotel is a heritage-listed former hotel at 456 Ruthven Street, Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia. A hotel known as the White Horse Hotel is known to have existed since 1866. The current two-storey building was built in stages, with much of the current fabric dating from renovations, which included a new facade and the remodelling of both wings. The verandah overlooking Ruthven Street had been removed by 1978, and an additional room was built about this time.</p><br>
<p>The hotel closed in 1986, and the building was subsequently converted into shops and offices in major renovations in 1988. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 17 December 1993. As of November 2009, the former hotel was occupied by two clothing stores and a hairdressing salon facing Ruthven Street, and an accountant&#39;s office elsewhere in the building.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The White Horse Hotel is a two storeyed brick building on Toowoomba&#39;s main street, Ruthven Street. It was erected in several phases with major alterations, including a new facade and internal refurbishing, attributed to Toowoomba architects, James Marks and Sons.</p><br>
<p>A hotel known as the White Horse Hotel is known to have existed on the site since 1866 when it was operated by Daniel Donovan. It was a two storeyed brick building with verandahs to Ruthven Street. In 1873, the property was acquired by Toowoomba storekeeper James Tant. After Tant&#39;s death, the hotel passed to his family and was operated by a number of licensees. In 1878, Louis Phillips is reported as running the White Horse Hotel, described as a well known and centrally located Hostelry with commercial rooms fitted with every convenience. Later licensees included John Long, who later built the Imperial Hotel, Daniel Schultz, and Edward Brosnan. In 1897, works costing £200 were undertaken by Toowoomba architect, William Hodgen and in 1906, tenders were called by James Marks and Son for improvements to the hotel.</p><br>
<p>The work is thought to be that of Reginald Marks, who from 1910-1917 worked with his father, James and brother, Harry. Reginald Marks is believed to have been responsible for the Taylor Building and Gaydons Building in Toowoomba. Markss building had a deep covered verandah which ran the length of the Ruthven Street elevation. Similar to the facade, it was ornately detailed. In common with many other Marks buildings it used ventilators designed by Harry Marks. Other substantial alterations to an earlier building appear to have been undertaken contemporaneously with the facade. Differences in ceiling treatments, some windows, chimneys, and detailing suggest that both wings of the hotel were remodelled at this time.</p><br>
<p>In 1914, the hotel was leased to William Hart, who advertised the hotel as the most central and comfortable hotel in the Queen City of Queensland with hot and cold baths and first class cuisine. In 1925, the hotel was acquired by John Donaghue. From 1924-1930 the hotel was leased to Albert George Callaghan. After Donaghue&#39;s death in 1930, the pub was run by his family.</p><br>
<p>By 1978, the verandah overlooking Ruthven Street had been removed and an awning was in place. About this time an extra ground floor room was created by enclosing the space between the Ruthven Street wing and the kitchen wing onto the rear lane, Jessie Street. In 1986, the hotel was closed. Extensive work was undertaken by the new owners to turn the pub into office and retail facilities. Work included the building of shops at ground level. The current owners acquired the property in 1988. Two ground floor shops fronting Ruthven Street are leased as clothing stores, whilst the rear kitchen area is used as a hairdressing salon.</p><br>
<h2>Description</h2><br>
<p>The White Horse Hotel is a double storeyed parapeted brick building with a street facade which is richly decorated with white cement render trim. It consists of two wings which form a T shape; a north-south running wing which fronts onto Ruthven Street, with an adjoining east-west wing extending to the rear. The roof is corrugated iron, made up of a combination of gabled and hipped roofs, with pot-bellied shaped ornamental chimneys and ventilators. The ground floor has been extensively refurbished and contains two shops either side of a central entrance, a shop to the rear, and a now disused annex in the south east corner. The upper floor contains now mostly unused hotel rooms and offices.</p><br>
<p>On the ground floor, a central entrance passage leads to an entrance hall containing a finely turned and carved silky oak staircase. Both the passage and the entrance hall have pressed metal ceilings, and the stair soffit is decorated with a pressed metal panel. The shop at the rear contains a carved timber fireplace, and to its southwest corner, a room with a large fireplace recess and a pressed metal ceiling.</p><br>
<p>The stairs lead to a generous foyer on the upper floor which links the two wings of rooms, and has pressed metal ceilings. Arched timber double doors to the south of the foyer lead to a corridor with a delicately patterned plaster ceiling. The corridor gives access to small rooms, each with similar ceilings to the corridor, and metal ceiling roses.</p><br>
<p>The northern wing contains substantially larger rooms accessed by an east-west corridor which also has delicate decorative plaster detailing. The doorways to the corridors are framed in rendered masonry with cement scrolls. The rooms to the north retain their fine plaster decoration and metal ceiling roses, and are well lit with rectangular casement windows with square fixed-light timber windows above them. The southern rooms retain none of these features. The south and northern rooms are linked by a small entry hall with timber French doors opening onto a balconette, and square timber windows above.</p><br>
<p>The white cement render elements to the facade form a rich tracery over the brickwork. Pilasters rise above the street awnings, finishing in small arches over square windows. These are spanned in groups of three by larger arches bisected with finial-like pilasters. Central paired windows are surmounted by a curved pediment which also has a finial-like projection, and the words "White Horse 1912" inscribed upon it. The white render pattern is elaborated with curls, scrolls and floral motifs, and the parapet is decorated with varied acroteria. The facade makes a picturesque aesthetic contribution to Ruthven Street.</p><br>
<h2>Heritage listing</h2><br>
<p>White Horse Hotel was listed on the Queensland Heritage Register on 17 December 1993 having satisfied the following criteria.</p><br>
<p>The place is important in demonstrating the evolution or pattern of Queensland&#39;s history.</p><br>
<p>There has been a White Horse Hotel on this site since 1866, and the place is significant historically for its association with the growth of Toowoomba as a regional rural centre since that time.</p><br>
<p>The place is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a particular class of cultural places.</p><br>
<p>It is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of an early 20th century hotel, in particular the flamboyant facade and interior elements such as the main stair, pressed metal ceilings, doorways, and fanlights.</p><br>
<p>The place is important because of its aesthetic significance.</p><br>
<p>It is important in exhibiting a range of aesthetic characteristics valued by the community, in particular the rich decorative detail of the facade makes a picturesque contribution to Ruthven Street; it also contains some fine decorative elements, in particular the pressed metal and plaster ceilings and silky oak staircase.</p><br>
<p>The place has a special association with the life or work of a particular person, group or organisation of importance in Queensland&#39;s history.</p><br>
<p>It has a special association with the work of Toowoomba architects James Marks and Sons, as a good example of their commercial work.</p><br>
<p>Whyembah is a heritage-listed detached house at 80 Campbell Street, East Toowoomba, Toowoomba, Toowoomba Region, Queensland, Australia. It was built, and renovated and enlarged in 1906. It is sometimes spelled differently, e.g. Wyembar.</p><br>
<p>The Queensland Heritage Council found that Whyembah was significant because it "demonstrates the principal characteristics of an 1890s ornate timber house in Toowoomba, and as a particularly picturesque house in a tree-lined street which includes a number of decorated timber houses, it exhibits aesthetic characteristics valued by the community" and it "illustrates the pattern of Toowoomba&#39;s development as a regional centre for southern Queensland".</p><br>
<p>It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 11 June 1993.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>Whyembah was built for John Rosser, a commercial traveller with the Brisbane firm of Thurlow and Co. Whyembah originally stood on approximately 1r 29p of land, adjacent to Queens Park in Campbell Street. Rosser was a keen lawn bowler, and the grounds of Whyembah included a bowling green at one time.</p><br>
<p>The house was renovated and enlarged in 1906, and the ceilings and walls lined in pressed metal.</p><br>
<p>After Rosser&#39;s death in 1925, his widow Margaret Ferrier Rosser remained at Whyembah. The property was acquired by William Ross Mackenzie in 1943 with the condition that Margaret Rosser could continue to reside at Whyembah until her death.</p><br>
<p>The property changed hands a number of times. During the 1970s it was turned into flats. Whyembah was acquired by new owners in 1979, who subsequently renovated and extended the house.</p><br>
<p>In 2007, the property was sold for $1,265,000.</p><br>
<p>In September 2010, Whyembah was bought at auction for $1,000,000 by Ken Gouldthorp, the Chief Executive Officer of the Toowoomba Regional Council.</p><br>
<p>In November 2014, the property was being offered for sale.</p><br>
<h2>Description</h2><br>
<p>Whyembah is a picturesque weatherboard house with a corrugated iron roof. It is located next to Queens Park, on a street with an avenue of mature trees and other timber houses, some of which are similar in form to Whyembah. The house is single storeyed, with a recent two-storeyed extension to the rear which meticulously imitates the original in external detail.</p><br>
<p>The exterior is an assemblage of projecting bays and verandahs, with roofs intersecting at the base of a flat-top pyramid roof. The eastern elevation has a projecting hipped roof bay, adjacent to a closed in verandah with a curved roof. The street elevation has a small balcony at the end of the closed-in verandah, which sits next to a projecting bay window. The street entrance, consisting of a projecting barrel vault supported on paired timber posts, is centrally placed. An L-shaped verandah links the street entrance to a less formal side entrance to the west, and contains a projecting corner bay window. Another bay window extends out from a projecting hipped bay at the southern end of the western frontage.</p><br>
<p>The house is rich in its decorative detailing. The verandah posts are chamfered, and have curved valances. The balustrades are cast iron. The main roof has curved eaves brackets, and sheet metal cresting adorns both the flat top of the main roof and the ridges of the smaller roofs. A polychrome brick chimney rises to the rear. The bay windows have small curved lead awnings, and the barrel vaulted entry has arched timber fretwork.</p><br>
<p>The house has timber sliding sash windows and timber doors. The street entry door has stained glass set in timber surrounds. The house contains some fine pressed metal wall and ceiling sheeting.</p><br>
<p>Whyembah sits on the northern end of a block of 1942 sq metres; the garden contain mature palms to the rear of the block, and a timber gatehouse to the south west corner.</p><br>
<h2>Heritage listing</h2><br>
<p>Whyembah was listed on the Queensland Heritage Register on 11 June 1993 having satisfied the following criteria.</p><br>
<p>The place is important in demonstrating the evolution or pattern of Queensland&#39;s history.</p><br>
<p>Whyembah, erected, illustrates the pattern of Toowoomba&#39;s development as a regional centre for southern Queensland.</p><br>
<p>The place is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a particular class of cultural places.</p><br>
<p>It demonstrates the principal characteristics of an 1890s ornate timber house in Toowoomba, and as a particularly picturesque house in a tree-lined street which includes a number of decorated timber houses, it exhibits aesthetic characteristics valued by the community.</p><br>
<p>The place is important because of its aesthetic significance.</p><br>
<p>It demonstrates the principal characteristics of an 1890s ornate timber house in Toowoomba, and as a particularly picturesque house in a tree-lined street which includes a number of decorated timber houses, it exhibits aesthetic characteristics valued by the community.</p><br>
