Glengarry

Walter Taylor’s signature cement blocks had been used prior to the Second World War for several buildings in the area, including the Graceville Uniting Church on Oxley Road, and proved to be an effective way of overcoming the building material shortage in the post-war period in the district. Building materials such as timber and brick were expensive at this time and Taylor’s cement blocks were not only relatively inexpensive, but also aesthetically pleasing and exceptionally durable.

The building blocks were fashioned from pre-cast concrete in Taylor’s workshop on Rakeevan Road, Graceville. They were then moved on to the building site and placed into position. Once in place the blocks were laced together with steel and concrete. This ensured that the building type was exceptionally sturdy. 

Walter Taylor was born in Sheffield England in 1872. His family had immigrated to Australia when he was ten years old. Walter worked for the railways in Queensland until 1902 when he returned to England to market some inventions. He returned to Australia in 1912, having spent much of his time overseas studying methods of reinforced concrete construction and use of coke breeze block and brick.

In Queensland, Walter undertook construction contracts with many leading architects, building such structures as Trittons furniture warehouse at North Quay, Brisbane Newspaper Company bulk stores at William and Margaret Streets, warehouse and offices for Hooper & Harrison Ltd, G Smith Esq, Hoey Fry Ltd, and Gordon and Gotch. He also built the nine story Craigston Flats in Wickham Street, No 2 Block and the Nurses Quarters at the Brisbane General Hospital, RSL Club in Elizabeth Street, Tristram’s Aerated Water Factory at South Brisbane and the Breakfast Creek Bridge, Albion.

Walter Taylor realised the growth and commercial potential of the Sherwood/Graceville area during the interwar period. In this district he constructed several buildings such as the Central Buildings at 327 Honour Ave (which contained shops and his own office), the shop and residence at 335 Honour Ave and a bulk store for his prefabricated concrete blocks at 11 Rakeevan Rd. He also designed and built the Graceville United Church and two homes for himself at 15 Molonga Tce and 95 Banks Rd. 

He is probably best known for the 1936 Walter Taylor suspension bridge that crosses the Brisbane River at Chelmer that he both designed and constructed. Taylor was heavily involved in the administration of the Methodist Church in Queensland for almost fifty years, and also in community work. He was president of the Graceville Progress Association and the Indooroopilly-Chelmer Centenary Memorial Bridge League. An inventor, designer and builder, Taylor was also an accomplished bookbinder, exhibiting in Brisbane in 1924 in conjunction with Lloyd Rees. 

In 1947 Ormond Campbell McDonald and his wife, Norma Mary, purchased a one rood bock of land on Molonga Terrace in Graceville. In the same year the Brisbane City Council Building Records detail the construction of a new dwelling on the site in 1947 for McDonald. The builder was Walter Taylor. The design of the house incorporated the use of Taylor’s patented pre-cast concrete blocks. 

‘Glengarry’ is an important example of an immediate post-war house designed and built by Walter Taylor that used his pre-cast concrete building blocks. The use of these concrete blocks was exclusive to the Sherwood/Graceville/ Chelmer and Indooroopilly areas and there are only a few surviving examples left. ‘Glengarry’ is an intact representation of one of Taylor’s post-war houses that was designed and built by him and as such is historically important to the Sherwood/Graceville district.

1. Historic Titles, Department of Natural Resources and Water

2. Queensland Post Office Directories

3. Metropolitan Water and Sewage Survey Maps, 1949

4. Immigration, Youth and Culture, Ed. Ralph Fones, Oxley-Chelmer History Group Papers: II, 1998

5. Ralph Fones, Sherwood: Council and Community, Oxley-Chelmer History Group, 1999

6. Brisbane City Council Building Cards

7. Queensland Electoral Rolls

8. The Courier Mail, Thursday 14 October 1943, p2