77 Enderley Road, Clayfield

Alexandra Raff purchased 32 perches of Blume’s land in Enderley Road in August 1923 and commissioned Brisbane architect, EP Trewern to design her new house.  The builder was B. Hollingsworth. Mrs Raff resided in her Enderley Road home with two other women, Doreen and Edith Raff, who were probably her daughters. The house was named Bilboa. This was also the name of the property at Bell in southern Queensland, where Alexandra Raff resided with her husband before his death. 

The house is one of several built in this section of Enderley Road during the 1920s when Blume subdivided and sold parts of his estate of Stanley Hall (now St Rita’s College). Like many other homes in Enderley Road and the surrounding area, it was architect designed and inspired by the latest housing styles of the Interwar period.  The house was featured in both the Architectural and Building Journal of Queensland in 1924 and the Queenslander in 1927. The photograph published in the Queenslander shows the timber of the gables, balustrading and bay window was originally stained, in contrast with the pale finish of the piers and external walls.

EP Trewern worked for the Queensland government before setting up his private architectural practice in 1920. He was also active in the development of professional bodies for architects in Queensland. Trewern is attributed with introducing the Spanish Mission style to Brisbane and is also known for his early use of the Mock Tudor and Californian Bungalow styles. 

The house at 77 Enderley Road is one of several homes Trewern designed that interpreted the newly imported Californian Bungalow style. He designed a similar house behind 77 Enderley Road in Florence Street.  Both houses feature the unusual semi-circular opening in the roof space. Although elevated, Mrs Raff’s house has several features commonly found in the Californian Bungalow style including the use of substantial masonry piers, roughcast rendering, a timber shingled skirt under the bay window and stylised leadlight glazing.

Mrs Raff sold her Enderley Road home in 1933 to Effie Watson. It changed hands twice more before being purchased by the present owner.

A pool was added to the property in 1982 and the house has been extended at the rear, possibly in 1994. An additional gable has been added to the roof at the rear of the house on the southern side. From Enderley Road, apart from the enclosing of part of the understory with french doors, the house appears much as it did in the Queenslander illustration in 1927.

The house is asymmetrical in form with one of the front facing gables projecting over a bay window with a flared weatherboard skirt. The window has multi-paned casement windows. An L-shaped verandah wraps around from the front to the western side of the house. Beyond the verandah is a second bay window, facing east. 

The verandah has substantial rendered masonry piers which are repeated in the boundary front fence. Parts of the understorey have been enclosed. An additional gable has been added to the roof space at the rear of the house. A swimming pool is located in the back yard.

1. Apperly, Richard et al. A pictorial Guide to Identifying Australian Architecture Sydney: Angus and Robertson, 1989

2. The Architectural and Building Journal of Queensland. Brisbane. June 1924

3. Brisbane City Council sewerage detail plans and building cards

4. Commonwealth Electoral Rolls

5. DERM. Titles Office Records

6. DERM,  Queensland Heritage Register 602390 El Nido. Viewed 22 August 2009

7. Kennedy, Michael Owen. Domestic Architecture in Queensland Between the Wars. Unpub Thesis. Master of Built Environment. 1989

8. Queensland Post Office Directories

9. Queenslander, 1927.