Abbotsleigh

Buckinghamshire-born George Keen erected a small shingled cottage on this property soon after he purchased it in November 1877. He later demolished this cottage and constructed the present house. 

According to F.E. Lord’s article in the Queenslander of 3 November 1932, the Keens’ new home, ‘Abbotsleigh’, originally consisted of a basement, ground floor surrounded by verandahs on three sides, front and back balconies and two attic rooms.  The house featured “ornate iron palisading round the balcony and round the little projections from the ends of the two attic rooms” suggesting that the upper storey has since been altered. Built on elevated land in Bowen Hills, ‘Abbotsleigh’ had commanding views to Eildon Hill in Windsor, Albion, Mayne and the D’Aguilar Range as well as to the city from the western verandah. A brick kitchen adjoining the rear, northern corner of the house appears to have been retained.

‘Abbotsleigh’ was home to George, his wife Mary and their ten children until George’s death in 1926. His widow Mary survived him by only three years but the property remained in the ownership of the Keen family until 1955. 

Keen evidently shared in Brisbane’s 1880s economic boom when increasing numbers of migrants made their home in the township and businesses expanded. Bowen Hills was by then established as a residential suburb close to the city and the Sandgate railway line which opened in 1882. With the lower areas populated by workers in modest dwellings, the hills were the preserve of those of better means who built more substantial residences like ‘Abbotsford’ and ‘Miegunyah’. This elegant two-storey timber home, in what is now an inner suburb with a significant amount of commerce and light industry is evidence of that period of the city’s and Bowen Hills’ history. 

In 1949, the Keen family was granted Council approval to move and alter the house. A comparison of 1946 and 2011 aerial photographs indicates that the house was moved only a short distance towards Abbotsford Road.  It was possibly at this time that the upper storey was altered as in 1955, approval was given to convert ‘Abbotsleigh’ to a ‘tenement’.  The following year, an application to enclose the verandah was also approved. 

The front façade is symmetrical with a central door flanked by two large windows. The front door has a rectangular fanlight.

Photographic evidence suggests that the original brick kitchen at the rear, northern corner of the house has been retained.

Several mature trees, including a large, significant Weeping Fig tree, provide some visual protection for the house from the busy traffic of Abbotsford Road.

1. Certificates of Title.

2. Post Office Directories.

3. Queensland Women’s Historical Association. A Look Back in Time: A History of Bowen Hills - Newstead and ‘The Creek’. Breakfast Creek: QWHA, 1996.