St Ronans

These allotments were part of the sale of the land around Mayfield, one of the large  estates established in Hamilton/Ascot during the mid-to-late 19th century by Brisbane’s wealthiest residents. Mayfield is thought to have been built for Henry Bramston in the 1870s, with later additions done for Robert Russell Smellie, of Smellie & Co. From 1896, the grounds of Mayfield were subdivided into large allotments ranging from one rood to over an acre. Smellie died in 1898, leaving the property to his daughter, Florence. The original house of Mayfield was destroyed by fire in the 1990s.

With the arrival of the tramline along Kingsford Smith Drive (then Hamilton Road) and Racecourse Road in 1899, came a boom in residential development. During this period, many fine homes were built for Brisbane’s upper classes in the Ascot/Hamilton area. They were often designed by Brisbane’s leading architects, such as Claude Chambers, F.R. Hall and R.S. Dods.  Elegant, Federation style homes became a feature of these fashionable suburbs. 

In Queensland, the Federation style was adapted to the established tradition of timber houses with wide verandahs. The result was often houses with Marseilles terracotta tiled roofs and Federation inspired detailing on verandah balustrades and fretwork. Conservation architect, Robert Riddel, has noted the art nouveau tulip motif on the fretwork on the house at 38 Windermere Road and the presence of “generous servant accommodation off the kitchen, which identifies it with the era effectively ended by World War I”.  The tulip-patterned fretwork appeared again in the three-storey residence, Craig Athol, in Brunswick Street, New Farm, designed by T.R. Hall. The architect of 38 Windermere Road has not been established.

After the death of Annie May Eastman in 1915, the property was purchased by Robert Toby St. George Carfeild, who named the house St. George. A later name change is shown on a 1934 BCC sewerage detail plan which names the house St. Ronans. The house was sold several times in the decades after World War II and remains in private hands.

According to the present owner, the house features Wunderlich pressed metal ceilings and originally had gas light fittings. The Eastman family had a strong connection with the Wunderlich company.

1. Department of Natural Resources, Certificates of Title

2. JOL Estate Map Collection and photographic collection

3. Queensland Post Office Directories

4. Riddel, Robert. “Sheeted in Iron – Queensland” in Trevor Howells & Michael Nicholson, Federation Architecture in Australia 1890-1915: Toward the Dawn. Sydney: Hale & Ironmonger, 1989

5. Information kindly provided by Mr David Howard Tait, telephone conversation 5 November 2001