33 Eton Street, Nundah

In 1935 Mrs Florence Rose purchased a block of land on the corner of Eton Street and Sandgate Road. In January 1937 Mrs Rose was listed in the Register of New Buildings as applying to build two brick houses on Sandgate Road and Eton Street, Nundah. The builder was recorded as being B. J. Bartlett. The houses were estimated to cost £2000 and £1900; it is unclear which was the most expensive.
 
The Rose family were prominent residents in Nundah. As proprietors of the Imperial Picture Theatre on Sandgate Road (demolished), Charles and Florence Rose played a large role in the Nundah entertainment scene. Charles died in 1930. His Obituary stated “Mr Rose…identified himself with the various bodies formed to promote the progress of the Nundah district”. 

On 26 October 1937 The Courier Mail published an article entitled “Multiple Home Building that Avoids Charge of “Mass Production” Advantages Illustrated Well by Houses at Nundah”. The article considered the benefits of building two homes under one contract thus benefitting the owner “by using in each the same medium of building”. The article drew on the example of the two newly built houses by Mrs Rose at Nundah. Each house was individually designed to face their respective streets. The architect, Clifford. E. Plant, “advised the erection of two double-storeyed brick houses but insisted that if the monotony of repetition were to be avoided each house was to be distinctive in character”. The article went on to state:

the harmony of the two houses is contained in line and colour. Added to the modern character of both is the Spanish Mission touch about the verandahs and entrance porches. In each case the exterior brick walls are finished in texture plaster, and red tile roofs are uniform. Though the similarity between the two houses is strong, yet a subtle difference stimulates interest.

At the time the house was considered luxurious. Internally the design included ‘modern’ conveniences such as separate electricity systems, internal toilets, and continuous hot water. The two-storey home was unusual in Nundah when it was built. In this period the majority of housing stock in the district was the traditional timber home commonly known as the ‘Queenslander’. 33 Eton Street and 1359 Sandgate Road were striking exceptions. The Spanish Mission style was popularised in the interwar period in Australia by the influence of Hollywood on popular culture. Many of the Hollywood movie stars’ homes were designed in the style and so became sought after and fashionable in home design in Australia. As a proprietor of the Imperial Picture Theatre in Nundah, Mrs Rose’s motivations for the design of the two houses may have been influenced both by the movies and the desire to build fashionably in Nundah.

1. The Courier Mail, Tuesday 26 October 1937, p 12

2. The Brisbane Courier, Thursday 19 June 1930, p 19

3. Judy Gale Rechner, Brisbane House Styles 1880 to 1940: a guide to the affordable house, Brisbane: Brisbane History Group Studies No. 2, 1998

4. Historic Titles, Department of Natural Resources and Water

5. Queensland Post Office Directories

6. Metropolitan Water and Sewerage Survey Map

7. Queensland Electoral Rolls

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

9. Johnston, Anna “‘God being, not in the bush’: The Nundah Mission (Qld) and Colonialism, Queensland Review, v. 4, no. 1, April, 1997, p. 71-80

10. From Pioneering Days: Nundah, Northgate, Virginia, Nundah and Districts Historical Society Inc, 2002

11. University of Queensland, Queensland Places, http://queenslandplaces.com.au/home

12. Booroodabin: A Sesquicentenary History of Breakfast Creek, Bowen Hills, Newstead and Teneriffe, 1823-2009, The Queensland Women’s Historical Association Inc, 2009