Queensland Teachers' Union Building (former)

Baldwin was a Brisbane-born architect who trained in Sydney before returning to Brisbane in 1923 where he ran an architectural practice until 1932. By May 1928, it was reported that Baldwin had drafted plans for a four-storey reinforced concrete building that included a flat roof and a basement. Reflecting the spread of Brisbane’s retail precinct out of Queen Street and into the surrounding streets, Baldwin’s design included space for two shops plus commercial offices on the ground floor and the provision for a café in the basement. The first floor was to be used by the QTU, while the second and third floors were leased as city offices. The fourth floor included a QTU conference room and ballroom that featured a generous use of silky oak and a sprung floor. The building was designed in the Florentine Renaissance style, which was rarely used for Brisbane’s buildings. It was remarked that Baldwin’s design “strikes a new note in Brisbane” and compared “very favourably with the most up-to-date buildings in Brisbane.”1

Brisbane builder Peter Frew completed the Queensland Teachers’ Union Building during 1929 for a total cost of approximately £22,000. The terracotta roofing tiles and the building’s ornamental zinc work in the awning and elsewhere were provided locally by Wunderlich Ltd. Particular effort was put into the ornate wood-panelled wall and plaster ceiling of the conference room and ballroom on the top floor. This was because this room was to be used for the annual QTU state conference and the annual teachers’ ball. It was reported that this room was to be “elaborately furnished and will surpass anything of its kind yet in Brisbane” for “no expense is being spared to make it attractive and comfortable”.1 The building was finished and occupied by 1930.

A number of important QTU campaigns were run from this building. These included the abolition of the automatic sacking of female teachers after they were married; the move away from one-year trained teachers to three-year diploma courses run from Queensland’s new teachers’ colleges and colleges of advanced education; changes to state school curriculums and higher pay and better conditions for teachers. This building remained the QTU’s headquarters until the union moved to new headquarters (now Landmark Place) in Boundary Street, Spring Hill in 1974. The QTU sold 81 Elizabeth Street to Myer Realty Ltd on 6 May 1977.

As with most commercial premises within the CBD, the Queensland Teachers’ Union Building has undergone a number of internal changes. Brisbane City Council approved alterations to the building in 1952, 1960, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977 and 1978. The exterior and interior of the ground floor, in particular, has been altered from its original appearance due to two new shop fronts. The pressed metal ceiling in the awning was damaged by the insertion of strobe lights for a basement nightclub in the 1980s and the ceiling is now covered with modern materials. The ornate conference room and ballroom is still largely intact.     

Patricia and Siobhan Cosgrave noted the Queensland Teachers’ Union Building as once “possessing a roof garden and a magnificent conference hall of silky oak” in their 1989 publication The Brisbane Year Book.1 The Brisbane History Group identified the Queensland Teachers’ Union Building as a part of Brisbane’s commercial heritage in 2002, when they included it in their publication Walking Tours – Brisbane’s Commercial Heritage 1900-1940.

A suspended awning with nameplate and ornamental zinc work hangs over the footpath. The pressed metal ceiling in the awning was damaged when strobe lights were inserted into it for a basement nightclub and the ceiling is now covered with modern materials. 

The ground floor occupied by shops is the least intact part of this otherwise almost pristine building.

1. J.V.D. Coutts (ed.), The Architectural & Building Journal of Queensland, 10 May 1928, p.59

2. Quoted in Brisbane History Group, Walking Tours – Brisbane’s Commercial Heritage 1900-1940, (Brisbane: Brisbane History Group, 2002), p.30

3. Cosgrove, Patricia & Cosgrove, Siohban, The Brisbane Year Book, Sydney, Collins, 1989

4. Brisbane City Council, Properties on the Web, website, post-1946 building cards

5. Brisbane City Council, 1946 aerial photographs.

6. Brisbane City Council, Sewerage Map 1913

7. Brisbane History Group, Walking Tours – Brisbane’s Commercial Heritage 1900-1940, Brisbane, Brisbane History Group, 2002

8. Cosgrove, Patricia & Cosgrove, Siohban, The Brisbane Year Book, Sydney, Collins, 1989

9. Coutts, J.V.D. (ed.), The Architectural & Building Journal of Queensland, 1928.

10. Department of Natural Resources, Queensland. Certificates of Title and other records

11. John Oxley Library, photographic collection.

12. John Oxley Library, newspaper clippings files

13. Mahlstedt & Son, City of Brisbane Detail Fire Survey, Map No. 12, 1951

14. Queensland Post Office Directories, 1868-1949

15. Watson, Donald & McKay, Judith, A Directory of Queensland Architects to 1940, Brisbane, Fryer Memorial Library, 1984