71 Oriel Road, Clayfield

The North Coast railway opened in 1882, with a line running from Eagle Junction to Ascot via Clayfield.  The Eagle Junction Post Office then opened in 1883.  A tram line was run along Sandgate Road from 1901, from Breakfast Creek to Wagner Street, further opening up the suburb to residential development.  

In the late 1880s several large residences were constructed and Clayfield began to rival Hamilton as the choice, exclusive suburb of north Brisbane due to its proximity to the city centre and the racecourse.  This is reflected in the private schools which were introduced to the suburb in the late nineteenth century including Brisbane Boys College (Clayfield College – the boys school was later moved to Toowong in 1931 and the school became a girls college for many years), St Rita’s Girls College, St Michael’s College and St Mark’s College (all of which were developed by their resident churches).  

With the growing popularity of Clayfield as an exclusive suburb, and emerging development opportunities after the closure of the brickworks, the population grew significantly from 1911 to 2011:

                    Census Date    Population
                         1911                 2049 
                         1976                 9525
                         2001                 9010
                         2006                 9534
                         2011                10,006

The suburb boasts a number of outstanding heritage houses, built in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

The original land for this site was part of portion 89, which was purchased by James Sutherland in 1858, then sold to Edward Blundell who had also purchased portion 88. John Blanc owned portions 88, 89 & 90 in 1876 and subsequently subdivided the land into 16 perch blocks and sold it from 1887. The Queensland Deposit Bank and Building Society purchased much of the subdivided land that year, with the remainder sold in double (32 perch lots) in 1888 and 1889.

Charles Stafford Miles purchased 2 acres 32 perches from the Queensland Deposit Bank and Charles Fletcher purchased two subdivisions (subs. 24-26) in November 1913, but sold it two months later to George Haenke in January 1914. Charles Fletcher did not live on the property but went on to be a law clerk living in Franz Road.

George Haenke was the son of Johann Wilhelm “William” Haenke, a German blacksmith who had migrated to Australia in the 1860s and married another German immigrant, Fredericke Christina Louisa Muller, in 1869. George and his brothers all became well-respected professionals – John Martyn Haenke was an architect based in Toowoomba and Martin William Haenke was a well-respected Ipswich architect and business-man.  George Haenke ran a successful pharmacy in Albion and married socialite Elsie McCaskie in March 1915.

Following the purchase of the land, George Haenke employed his brother Martin Haenke to design the house for himself and his then-fiancé Elsie. Tenders were put out for contractors in December 1914 with plans available to be viewed at the Albion pharmacy. Martin Haenke was George’s older brother born in 1875 who was articled to Ipswich architect Henry E. Wyman in 1891. Martin exhibited drawings at the National Association of Queensland exhibition and won a prize for ‘illumination’ at the Ipswich Show. He worked in Melbourne with architects Lloyd, Taylor and Fitts. He began his own practice in Ipswich as “architect and electrician” and by 1916 was well-known featuring in an illustrated poem in the Sunday Truth – not only as a well-known, successful architect and planner but also a coal prospector. He acquired interests in the Rhondda Colliery and other mines at Bundamba, Rosewood, the Darling Downs and Central Queensland. Watson & Mackay state this “his architectural work at the turn of the century is significant as a local adaptation of the European Art Nouveau style, often using extreme asymmetry.” George Haenke’s house in Oriel Road displays these characteristics.  

The house construction was completed by late 1915, as George and Elsie Haenke are registered as living in Oriel Street in the 1916 Queensland Electoral Roll and are recorded as receiving mail there in 1917. The house remained the family home until Elsie’s ill-health forced the sale of the home in 1976.  George had passed away ten years earlier in April 1966.  

The house has changed ownership numerous times in the last 40 years.  The property has increased significantly in value in recent years due to its prominent location and sizable yard, and has remained relatively unchanged since 1927.
 

The verandah is wide, with intact paired timber posts and ornamental timber valance.  

The architectural plans for this building feature details of the internal timber fretwork, some of which is still intact (see images below).  

Evidence of the inter-war renovations are still evident, with the parquetry-flooring, detailed timber architraves around the doorways and windows, and ornate plaster ceilings still intact. The internal doors feature double doors with leadlight infill panels, and the bay window at the front of the house still features the original casement windows.  

1. Watson, Donald & Judith McKay, A Directory of Queensland Architects to 1940, UQ Library, 1984

2. Queensland Title Deeds

3. Queensland Electoral Rolls

4. Wise's Post Office Directories

5. Digitised newspapers and other records. http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper

6. Centre for the Government of Queensland, Queensland Places – Clayfield, http://queenslandplaces.com.au/clayfield (accessed 2 August 2017)

7. Brisbane City Council 1911 Contour Map

8. Brisbane City Council Detailed Plan No. 250 and associated surveyor notebooks

9. Brisbane City Council Properties on the Web

10. Maps (aerial and historical)

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

12. Richard Apperly (et al), A Pictorial Guide to Identifying Australian architecture Sydney: Angus and Robertson, 1989

13. Conrad-Gargett Heritage Impact Report (2017)– original plan of building