Scotby

‘Scotby’ was constructed for the Hancock family around 1910, possibly designed by architect Edward M. Myers. The land had been part of Duncan Sinclair’s ‘Fairy Knowe’ estate, offered for sale in the early 1900s. Josias Henry Hancock, grandson of the founder of Hancock and Gore, and his wife Mary Isabella (nee Peel) purchased four allotments of the estate after their former residence was sold to the then Premier, William Kidston. The Hancocks were a wealthy and prominent Brisbane family, and their new house ‘Scotby’ was the setting for a number of social and charitable events during their residence. The high-set two-storey timber house was accessible from two streets and featured a ballroom which opened onto a tennis court. ‘Scotby’, sold by the Hancocks in 1965, is a striking Federation bungalow house which provides an example of the residential development of prestigious Mowbray Terrace in the early twentieth century.