Valhalla

Postal records first list Thor Jensen as living in Rosemount Terrace in 1912. By this time, Windsor was well established as a residential district.  Windsor was elevated from a shire to a town in 1904.  The establishment of the railway line through Windsor at the turn of the century encouraged denser residential development in the area. Valhalla was one of the first half-dozen houses to be built in Rosemount Terrace which is only a stone's throw from Windsor railway station. Jensen reportedly built Valhalla with £500 he earned surveying for the Government in Western Queensland. 

Jensen purchased the surveying firm of Mr. Authorised Surveyor Matthews in 1908 and set up practice in Queen Street. With his partner, Jack Bowers (originally his cadet) and Frank Walters, an engineer, Jensen was responsible for surveying many of Brisbane's developing suburbs, including the Cribbs Island Estate in 1916 (since resumed to make way for the airport), Cannon Hill Estate in 1912 and the Great Blue Estate at Oxley circa 1917. The firm also surveyed the Surfers Paradise Estate in 1917 which Jensen had purchased in partnership with Mr Arthur Blackwood. According to the Jensen family, Thor Jensen coined the phrase ‘surfers’ paradise’ while walking across the dunes with Arthur Blackwood.  By the early 1950s, the firm had relocated to the Post Office Branch of the Bank of New South Wales building at 260 Queen Street.  Jensen served as a consulting engineer to several local authorities, including the Southport Town Council in the 1930s. 

Jensen's commitment to the development of the surveying profession in Queensland is reflected in his involvement with the Queensland Institute of Surveyors. A councillor for many years, he was elected president in 1916 and represented the Institute on the Queensland Surveyors' Board from 1931-1935. Jensen was also a real estate developer in partnership with Harold Blackwood.

Jensen died in the early 1970s after his retirement. The firm continues today as the Jensen Bowers Group and is believed to be the oldest surviving surveying firm in Queensland.

Since the death of Thor Jensen, Valhalla has been leased to various tenants, including Frank Walters, his business partner. Valhalla is significant as the home of a prominent Brisbane surveyor who made a significant contribution to the development of Brisbane. The house also provides evidence of the consolidation of Windsor as a residential district early in the twentieth century.

1. Australian Surveyor, June 1962, p.99-100

2. Brisbane City Council Water Supply and Sewerage Detail Plans

3. Queensland Post Office Directories

4. Phone interview with Steven Bowers, Managing Director, Jensen Bowers Group, 7 August 1997

5. Information provided by Miss Thoreen Jensen, 30 November 1999