Goldsmith's Terrace

Allotment 165 fronted Wickham Terrace and Berry Street, which was then called Little Edward Street. The allotment was subdivided in 1861 to reserve a block on the corner of Wickham Terrace for the Wesleyan parsonage. Allotment 165B, a two-rood site on the slopes behind the parsonage, was sold to James Warrell. 

Warrell quickly subdivided and sold his block and in 1863 subdivision 4, a 19 perch allotment, was purchased by John Stack. Six years later the property passed to tailor Andrew Betz, who had a house constructed there. In 1873 his ‘very superior’ four-roomed cottage was advertised for sale, but Betz retained the property until 1878. The site passed through a number of owners before it came into the possession of Bernard Goldsmith in 1885.

The Goldsmith family arrived in Queensland from Germany in the early 1880s. Brothers Bernard and Adolph became businessmen, with interests in a Mount Morgan mining company and the Philadelphia Hop Bitters Company. Bernard, of Rockhampton, was married in Brisbane in April 1885 and bought the Spring Hill block in July. He sold cigarettes from the property in late 1886 and early 1887.

The property was transferred to Goldsmith’s mother-in-law Sarah Goldsmid and another owner before it was registered in the name of Adolph Goldsmith in January 1888. In August, architect John J Lough called for tenders for ‘brick additions’ and ‘fence walls’ to Goldsmith’s Berry Street property. Bernard engaged Lough, though the property was still in Adolph’s name, and Adolph funded the building with a £2000 mortgage from Thomas Mills. Although the work was described as ‘additions’ it is unclear whether any of the older wooden house survives, as the property which was built consisted of three matching attached brick houses.

John Lough was a Sydney-based architect who resided briefly in Brisbane, from 1887-1892. While in Brisbane Lough focused on providing education to architecture students, but he also ran a small private practice. Two other Lough-designed buildings are still standing and are included on the heritage overlay: ‘Carfin’, a residence in Ascot (1888) and Charlotte House (1889) which is also on the Queensland Heritage Register [600082]. 

The Goldsmiths’ decision to build three houses on a single allotment was unusual. Terrace houses were rare in nineteenth century Brisbane, and tended to be restricted to inner city areas. Although some terrace houses were built in Spring Hill they only constituted a small number of properties; the 1885 Undue Subdivision of Land Act had intended to prevent the development of slums by restricting the construction of attached houses. The Goldsmiths circumvented the regulations by keeping the three houses under a single title. A similar approach was taken for the construction of Cook Terrace in Milton, which was built in the same year. 

Although unusual, the terrace house was theoretically a wise investment. Brisbane was experiencing a population and economic boom and demand for property in Spring Hill was particularly high. In April 1889 the lease of ‘Goldsmith Terrace’ was advertised. The terrace consisted of three two-storied six and eight room attached houses, each with a kitchen, bathroom and washhouse, and each leased separately. From 1890 tenants were listed in the ‘boarding house’, as it was described, while the Goldsmiths moved to South Brisbane.

The Goldsmiths’ management of the terrace did not last long. In 1890 the economy slumped and Bernard Goldsmith’s former business partner began legal proceedings against Goldsmith. The case took nearly two years, and both Adolph and Bernard were convicted of perjury in 1891 and imprisoned. While gaoled they returned to court for the hearing to wind up Bernard’s insolvent estate. The Berry Street property was transferred to mortgagee Thomas Mills in 1893. A site trustee, Mary Kerwin, was nominated in 1896 or 1906.

The terrace was rented to a series of tenants, most of who moved on within a year. By 1890 Spring Hill was the most densely populated suburb in Brisbane and rental properties continued to be in high demand, particularly by those who worked nearby or in the city. A plague case was reported in one of the tenants in 1900, although the newspaper was quick to note that the terrace was ‘of clean and tidy aspect’ and that it was not known where the tenant had contracted the disease. Seven contacts in the house were isolated in Goldsmith Terrace.

Use of the name ‘Goldsmith Terrace’ diminished from the early 1900s. The terrace continued to be inhabited even as commerce moved into the area. A garage opened next door in 1919, while Fanny Goldsmith, wife of Bernard, ran a shop on the opposite side of Berry Street.

In 1920 the three ‘substantially built brick buildings’, each of three storeys and with basements, were offered for sale. ‘Being so centrally situated, and the construction of the buildings, makes them most suitable for letting as Residential Flats.’ This suggestion took advantage of the new trend of high density dwelling, but the property did not sell. By 1920 Spring Hill’s rapid downfall as a desirable residential area had already begun. It was seen as a crime-ridden slum area, a reputation not eased by brawls in Berry Street in 1928 and 1933. There was also violence within the terrace itself. An assault on a tenant in December 1946 ended in his death and the assailant, his stepson, was convicted of manslaughter.

The Kerwin family retained the terrace until 1950, though the family does not seem to have played an active role with the property. A manager ran the flats in the 1940s, when the murder occurred. The terrace was sold in 1950 and again in 1951. The new owners had the property licenced as a residential tenement for 27 people throughout the 1950s, advertising the terrace as serviced flats, rooms and share rooms. Spring Hill’s appeal continued to decline, with land valued lower than at Sandgate in 1952. The suburb’s ‘narrow streets’ and ‘huddled houses’ were blamed for the low values, and the terrace was singled out as a particularly densely packed property.

The terrace was sold to the Returned Sailors’ Soldiers’ and Airmen’s Imperial League of Australia in 1960. The league had purchased the site of the Wesleyan parsonage on the corner of Wickham Terrace in 1955, and retained both properties until 1986. The terrace was amalgamated with the Astor Hotel that fronts Wickham Terrace and is used for budget accommodation

1. Queensland Daily Guardian, 17 November 1863, from Spring Hill: A Report by the National Trust of Queensland

2. Brisbane City Council aerial photographs, 1946, 2012

3. Brisbane City Archive Brisbane Images

4. Brisbane City Council City Architecture and Heritage Team, citations

5. Brisbane City Council Water Supply and Sewerage Board detail plan, 1914

6. Brisbane City Council, Properties on the Web, Building Cards

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

8. McKellar’s Map, 1895

9. National Library of Australia’s Trove website, The Brisbane Courier, The Telegraph, The Queenslander, The Courier Mail, The Sunday Mail

10. National Trust of Queensland, Spring Hill: A report by the National Trust of Queensland (no date)

11. Queensland Places: Spring Hill (website)

12. Queensland Post Office Directories

13. State Library of Queensland, Picture Queensland (website)

14. Watson, Donald and Judith McKay. Queensland Architects of the 19th Century: A Biographical Dictionary. Brisbane: Queensland Museum, 1994