Ferguslea

The house was built on land which was originally part of more than 28 acres of land transferred by Deed of Grant from the Crown to Johann Gottfried Wagner in 1858. The area has a rich German heritage because of the establishment of a German Mission in Nundah in 1838. Wagner, a shoemaker, was one of the original Lutheran missionaries who settled in the district and whose families remained in the Nundah/Clayfield area and took up farming after the closing of the mission in the 1840s. Many of the street names in this part of Clayfield reflect this German heritage, although some, for example, Bismarck and Berlin Streets, were altered in the name of patriotism during World War I. 

During the second half of the 19th century, the Clayfield area attracted wealthy residents who could afford to establish themselves on large country estates. With the arrival of the railway to Sandgate through the district in 1882 and easier access to the city, Clayfield continued to be a sought after residential suburb. The pattern of building substantial, often architect designed houses, on large allotments continued into the early 20th century as the old country estates were broken up and sold for residential development.

In 1883, Johann Wagner subdivided and sold some of his land, keeping over 16 acres. After his death in 1893, his property was further divided and sold as the Wagner Estate. The advertisement for the estate proclaimed “this land is situated in one of the most healthy and convenient suburbs of Brisbane”….where “about 27 trains pass daily to and from the City”.

Ten of the subdivisions in the Wagner Estate, totalling 1 acre and between Franz Road and Childs Street, were purchased in 1894 by Mary Campbell Anderson, the wife of James Anderson. Postal records indicate that the James Anderson was living in Franz Road by 1897-99, although it is not known if this was at no 36 or no. 42-44.

James Anderson established Anderson and Co., a shipbuilding and boiler works at Kangaroo Point in the 1860s. Evans and Phelan later joined the firm and by the 1880s, Evans, Anderson and Phelan had established the Phoenix Foundry at Charlotte and Mary Street in the City and expanded the shipyard at Kangaroo Point, manufacturing boilers, pumps and ornamental railings as well as ships. 

Over 120 perches of James Anderson’s land, including the site of the subject house,  was transferred to Emmeline Anderson, his daughter–in-law, in 1918. In 1948, it was subdivided and over 17 perches was sold. The remainder of the property remained in the Anderson family until after the death of Emmeline in 1967. In 1968, the property at 36 Franz Road was sold to the present owner.

A Brisbane City Council detail plan which probably dates from circa 1930s depicts the house with the name Ferguslea. The house has retained its large grounds of some 50 perches. 

Ferguslea is significant for the evidence it provides of the history of Clayfield, a prestigious residential suburb that during the 19th and early 20th centuries attracted families from the professional classes such as the family of James Anderson.