29 Legeyt Street, Windsor

The allotment on which the cottage stands was owned by James Grant, a Brisbane stonemason, from 1866 to 1876. It is possible he constructed the building as a rental property. According to the descendants of Samuel and Grace Smith, the cottage was rented by the Smith family after they emigrated from Yorkshire in 1874. Family history relates that one of their children, Grace, was born at 29 Le Geyt Street in September 1875. The Smith family purchased land elsewhere in Le Geyt Street and built a 'classic old Queenslander' to which they moved in 1877 as the cottage became too small for their family.  This house remained in the family until the 1960s.

Grant sold the 36 perch property to Jane Cameron in 1876. It had several owners over the succeeding decades, including William Hooper, James Martin and William Marshall. The property was subdivided into 2 parcels in 1925. The house with a remaining 23 perches of land was purchased by Alice Tucker (wife of William) at this time.

One outstanding feature of the character of Windsor, Lutwyche and the surrounding suburbs is the unusually large number of nineteenth  century brick residences. These range from grand houses such as 'Boothville' at Windsor, to small brick cottages such as those found in Bess Street and Fuller Street at Lutwyche. 

Brick making was one of the earliest manufacturing enterprises in Brisbane during the colonial period.  By 1871, census figures recorded 672 brick dwellings in Brisbane. Bricks were generally made by hand until the 1870s and 1880s, when mechanised processes such as the Hoffman method began to take over. During this period, the greatest concentration of brickyards in Brisbane appears to have been in the Lutwyche area. Brick makers in Lutwyche during the 1870s - 1880s included William Williams, Samuel Hedge and John Salt. 

The house is significant as a rare example in Brisbane of a modest brick cottage. It provides evidence of development of Windsor as an outpost of Brisbane during the mid-late nineteenth century, particularly of the flourishing brick making industry in the area at that time.

1. Information supplied by Ms. P. Masel. Letter to BCC Heritage 28 May 1998

2. Brisbane City Council Water Supply and Sewerage Detail Plans

3. Marsden, Brian S. AA century of building materials in Queensland and Brisbane, 1861-1961". Australian Geographer, Vol. 10 (Sept 1966)

4. Morrisson. W. Frederick F., The Aldine History of Queensland, Illustrated, Volume 2, (Sydney: The Aldine Publishing Company, 1888)

5. Queensland Certificates of Title

6. Queensland Post Office Directories

7. Shaw, Barry, (comp.). Stafford and Wilston-Grange Heritage Tour. Brisbane: Brisbane History Group, 1995