70 Enoggera Terrace, Red Hill

In October 1869 John Nott, a produce merchant purchased portions 740 and 741 on which number 68 would later be built. By 1875 title had passed to John Scott Mullin, a storeman and was shared jointly with his wife Elizabeth. Mullin’s name first appears in the 1891 Post Office Directory between Surrey and Nott Street, so the house can be said to be circa 1890-91. Owning both 70 and 68, the Mullins appear to have lived periodically in both houses during the 90s, however both structures were predominantly used as rental properties. After the death of Mullins early in the new century, Elizabeth remarried in 1908 and held title until her death in 1929.

One notable resident of the house was J Cecil Gasking, who occupied the house between 1895 and 1899. An artist and illustrator, Gasking was employed as a cartoonist on the Queenslander between 1892-7 and for a time conducted the publicity for Wirth’s Circus.

From 1900 till circa 1913 the house served as the Enoggera Terrace Police Station and an Office for Registered Births. In 1905 Jasper O’Brien was Station Sgt. He is shown in a photograph in the publication The Long Blue Line: A History of the Queensland Police, being a competitor in the Ambulance Sports of 1906, Police tug-of-war team.  

It is possible that Queensland architect and artist George Henry Addison designed both 70 and its identical neighbour 68. Addison rented 68 Enoggera Terrace from 1910 until his death in February 1922. Addison emigrated from England in 1883, initially practicing in Adelaide and Melbourne. In 1886 he arrived in Brisbane to supervise the construction of the London Chartered Bank for his Firm Terry, Oakden and Addison. He went through several partnerships but took up painting seriously during the financial depression of the early 1890s and became a regular exhibitor in the annual exhibitions of the Queensland Art Society. 

The interiors of Addison’s houses took precedence over the exteriors, achieving distinction through the use of a variety of Queensland timbers and the introduction of custom designed furniture and glass. Addison gave new impetus to local arts and crafts and advocated proper training of craftspeople. He drew not only the exteriors of his buildings but also interiors, fittings, surrounds and even the gardens and fences.

Addison served longest as an architect and valuer in Brisbane from 1907-19. He demonstrated how wooden cottages could be enlivened by wall dados and coffered ceilings, exploiting the possibilities of timber for decorative purposes. His last commission was the Church of the Sacred Heart at Rosalie in 1918. Upon his death in 1922, the funeral procession moved from No. 68, which had acquired the name ‘Yeovil’.

The houses have a transverse corrugated iron roof gable with another gable projecting centrally from the main roof towards the street.  The projecting gable end has a simple elegant battened face.  

A separate verandah roof, with hipped ends, wraps around the projecting front gable of the house. The gap between the main roof and the verandah roof is indicative of the buildings 19th century style of construction. This verandah has a simple geometric design timber balustrading and posts. 

Both houses are raised above ground level on stumps.  An elegantly detailed brick chimneystack is located to the left end of each house. 

Large mature trees are located in this area of the footpath.

No. 70 is currently being restored with the addition of a rear deck. A garage has been recently added to the right of the house, its gable reflecting the design on the house.

1. Australian art: artists working names authority list Australian National Gallery, 1990

2. Brisbane City Council Water Supply & Sewerage Detail Plans

3. Department of Natural Resources, Queensland Certificate of Title records

4. Environmental Protection Agency

5. Johnstone, W Ross The Long Blue Line Brisbane, Boolarong Publications, 1992

6. JOL Estate Map Collection and photographic collection

7. Lawson, Ronald Brisbane in the 1890s: A Study of an Australian Urban Society. St Lucia U of Q Press, 1973

8. McKellar's Map of Brisbane and Suburbs. Brisbane: Surveyor-General’s Office, 1895

9. Donald Watson and Judith McKay, Queensland Architects of the Nineteenth Century, South Brisbane: Queensland Museum, 1994