Maxwell's Residence (former)

Godfrey Freeman White, a contractor, amalgamated Lot 302 with his own Lot 303 on 16 July 1862. He then subdivided the land into blocks suitable for housing and commenced a land sale on 3 August 1863.

By the 1880’s, Petrie Terrace was developing into a fashionable Brisbane address, with the result that a number of new housing estates were offered for sale in the side streets running off the terrace.  These included the Bishops Hill and Petrie Terrace Estate of 1883 and the Caxton Street Estate of 1889.   

  

James and Catherine Maxwell purchased Subdivisions 18 and 19 of Lot 302 on 30 April 1885. They obtained two small, vacant blocks, totalling 14 perches of land, in what was then called Bell Street.

In the 1887 edition of the Queensland Post Office Directories, J. Maxwell is listed as living at 4 Twine Street, Spring Hill. Then Maxwell disappears from the Queensland Post Office Directories for a number of years.

On 25 March 1893, Maxwell mortgaged the site for ₤150 through Johannes Engelinoler (?). His first listing at Bell Street was in 1893 edition of the Queensland Post Office Directories. His occupation was noted as a cooper (barrel maker). 

He sold the property to James Douglas on 14 February 1894. Douglas was a railway guard who probably was based at the nearby Roma Street rail yards. 

The residence was extended in 1970 at a cost of $450.

It is also now known as 62 Pratten Street.

This is an 1890s low-set, residence that has retained much of its original form, including its detached kitchen.  The street survey conducted by the Brisbane City Council’s Heritage Unit in 2001, revealed that, while there are a number of 1890’s residences located around Petrie Terrace, only a few of these have retained their detached kitchens. Of those that are left, many of the detached kitchens have been incorporated into the main residence such that all that is left of the kitchen is its distinct roofline. The Maxwell’s Residence’s location at the end of two narrow Petrie Terrace streets also makes it unique.

1. Brisbane City Council, Properties on the Web, website

2. Brisbane City Council, 1946 aerial photographs.

3. Brisbane City Council, post-1946 Building Cards

4. Brisbane City Council, Sewerage Map No. , 2 February 1927

5. Brisbane City Council’s Central Library, local history sheets.

6. Department of Natural Resources, Queensland Certificates of title and other records.

7. John Oxley Library, Brisbane Suburbs – Estate Maps

8. Queensland Post Office Directories, 1868-1949