Benevenuti Residence 1

By 1854 there were about 150 dwellings in the Fortitude Valley area, stretching as far as Breakfast Creek. In 1858 Wickham Street was surveyed from the corner of Ann Street to Boundary Street. At this stage very few commercial premises had been erected, and Valley residents relied on North Brisbane traders for supplies. Despite these difficulties the population was steadily growing. A government census in 1861 showed that there was a total population of over 1300 people in Fortitude Valley by that year. 

Accompanied by the widespread economic boom of the 1880s were population and building booms. Between 1881 and 1891, Brisbane’s population increased from 37 000 to 100 000. More than half the increase in metropolitan population during the period 1881-1886 was concentrated in Fortitude Valley, Spring Hill, Newstead and South Brisbane. 

The densely packed houses of working men and women were predominant in the Valley. To cater for the influx of working class families, new housing was built on tiny allotments in narrow streets, where speculators had divided estates into the maximum possible number of blocks of land. Tiny cottages sprang up in the streets beyond the Valley’s commercial centre. It was this type of subdivision which prompted the government in 1885 to pass the Undue Subdivision of Land Prevention Act which prohibited the subdivision of allotments smaller than 16 perches. 

Within a very short time span the residential nature of the Valley began to be eroded. As the 1890s progressed those residential sections in close proximity to the rapidly growing retail and industrial areas were changing. The Valley became a heterogeneous area, and it was not uncommon for houses to have motor garages, factories, churches and even hotels as neighbours. 

Antonio Benvenuti immigrated to Brisbane in 1871. In his birth place, Padua, he was an esteemed linguist in European languages and a competent violinist. He arrived in Brisbane with his wife Catherine and three sons Luigi, Victor and Italo. On moving to Brisbane Antonio became involved in the Brisbane musical scene and opened his own violin school, being listed in the Post Office Directories first as ‘professor of music’ in 1879 and then as ‘teacher of music’ in subsequent years. Benvenuti worked closely with influential Brisbane musicians such as R. T. Jefferies to establish musical groups, hold cultural events and promote patronage of this art in Brisbane. He travelled throughout Australia playing concerts and was nicknamed the ‘modern Paganini’.

In 1874 Antonio purchased approximately forty–five perches of land in Agnes Street Fortitude Valley. In 1879 he built a timber house on the lot that he called “Italia” and this was the family house for the next twenty years. 

With his three sons, who were also proficient musicians, the Benvenuti family continued to travel extensively throughout Queensland and Australia providing musical entertainment. All three of Antonio’s sons were fine musicians and the four of them were collectively known as the Benvenuti Quartet.   

In 1890 the Benvenutis built another house beside the first on 31 Agnes Street. This was a two-storey timber house with dual front verandahs. This residence was rented out over the years to various tenants, the first being Frank Pallymen, a watchmaker. This property remained in the Benvenuti name until 1901 when it was sold to Ola Peter Troedson who was first listed at the Fortitude Valley address in the Electoral Rolls in 1901.  

In 1899 the Benvenutis built another house on the other side of the original home. 23 Agnes Street followed the same design as 31 Agnes Street. This residence was to be home for Victor Benvenuti, Antonio’s son. Victor was first listed at the address in 1900 as a musician. Victor was important in the Brisbane music scene in this period in his own right. As well as being an integral part of the Benvenuti Quartet, Victor was the conductor for Brisbane’s Theatre Royal for many years and played an important role in Brisbane’s cultural life.  

The three houses on Agnes Street are important surviving residences connected to the Benvenuti family. As a set of intact timber houses built in the late nineteenth century they are rare remnants of the residential nature of this part of Fortitude Valley prior to the increase of commerce and industry in the area.

1. Brisbane City Council Building Registers

2. Department of Natural Resources and Mines, Queensland Certificates of Title

3. G. Greenwood and J. Laverty. Brisbane 1859-1959: A History of Local Government. Brisbane: BCC, 1959.

4. Mahlstedt & Son, City of Brisbane Detail Fire Survey, Map No. 30, 1951

5. Metropolitan Water and Sewerage Board Survey Maps, Detail Plan No. 151, 1914

6. Queensland Post Office Directories, 1894-1949

7. Watson, Donald and Judith McKay. A Directory of Queensland Architects to 1940. (St. Lucia: U of Q Press, 1984)

8. Watson, Donald and McKay, Judith. Queensland Architects of the Nineteenth Century: A Biographical Dictionary. Brisbane: Queensland Museum, 1995

9. Il Globo, “The Benvenutis: Family of Italian Musicians from Padova (Padua) Implanted in Brisbane in 1871”, 19 February 1990