Addresses

At 634 Main Street, Kangaroo point, Queensland 4169

Type of place

House, Clinic

Period

World War I 1914-1918, Interwar 1919-1939

Style

Queen Anne

This is an image of the local heritage place known as Residence

634 Main Street, Kangaroo Point

634 Main Street, Kangaroo Point Download Citation (pdf, 499.92 KB)

Addresses

At 634 Main Street, Kangaroo point, Queensland 4169

Type of place

House, Clinic

Period

World War I 1914-1918, Interwar 1919-1939

Style

Queen Anne

Constructed between 1914 and 1922, this timber and tile house is representative of Federation Queen Anne style middle-class housing at Kangaroo Point during one of the later stages of Kangaroo Point’s residential development in the 1910s. In 1963 the residence was converted into a doctor’s surgery and has been used for health services since.

Also known as

Capsellig

Lot plan

  • L1_SP192115;
  • L1_SP196755;
  • L1_SP192466;
  • L1_SP196776;
  • L151_SP184377;
  • L1_SP196759;
  • L1_SP196761;
  • L12_SP190809;
  • L103_SP206213;
  • L1_SP190814;
  • L1_SP190810;
  • L1_SP190740;
  • L1_SP190741;
  • L1_SP190743;
  • L50_SP192111;
  • L61_SP192115;
  • L1_SP196760

Key dates

Local Heritage Place Since —

Date of Citation —

Construction

Roof: Terracotta tile;
Walls: Timber

Criterion for listing

(A) Historical; (E) Aesthetic

Interactive mapping

City Plan Interactive Mapping

Also known as

Capsellig

Lot plan

  • L1_SP192115;
  • L1_SP196755;
  • L1_SP192466;
  • L1_SP196776;
  • L151_SP184377;
  • L1_SP196759;
  • L1_SP196761;
  • L12_SP190809;
  • L103_SP206213;
  • L1_SP190814;
  • L1_SP190810;
  • L1_SP190740;
  • L1_SP190741;
  • L1_SP190743;
  • L50_SP192111;
  • L61_SP192115;
  • L1_SP196760

Key dates

Local Heritage Place Since —

Date of Citation —

Construction

Roof: Terracotta tile;
Walls: Timber

Criterion for listing

(A) Historical; (E) Aesthetic

Interactive mapping

City Plan Interactive Mapping

History

This Federation Queen Anne timber and tile residence located on the corner of Main and Bell Streets, Kangaroo Point was constructed between 1914 and 1922.

Kangaroo Point was Brisbane’s earliest suburb, dating from the 1840s. Its residential development continued throughout the nineteenth century and into the 1920s. The land on which this house is sited was part of an original land purchase of 4 acres 3roods and 24perches from the New South Wales government made by David Bell in 1855. It was sold in 1875 to land speculator Harry Clifford Love, who later formed a  partnership with his brother Joseph Herbert Love. Their financial difficulties, which eventually resulted in insolvency, delayed the subdivision and sale of the land until the turn of the century. Sale of this Denver Estate started in 1902 so the majority of houses on Bell Street were not built until the twentieth century, whereas adjacent streets feature the colonial styles fashionable in the 1880s.

Between 1911 and 1915 builder John Herbert Gillespie purchased seven blocks in the Denver Estate. Using four contiguous blocks (lots 33-36) on Main Street, Gillespie excised land from the rear of them to create another block fronting Bell Street. The creation of a large suburban block was a deliberate strategy to produce a sufficiently spacious block for a middle-class residence at this key location on a main road. A house was built, on the 34.3 perches remaining of lots 33-35, between 1914 and 1922, probably by Gillespie. He amalgamated the blocks in 1931. 

Gillespie was listed in the Queensland Post Office Directory as a resident in Bell Street from 1913, where he owned land, then at this location on Main Street (between Bell Street and 650 Main Street) from 1930. He lived there until his death in 1954. The property was transferred to his wife in 1958 but she in turn passed away in 1961 and it was sold. 

In 1963, probably in accordance with the changing nature of land use in Kangaroo Point, the property was converted to a doctor’s surgery and used as professional rooms thereafter. Underneath the house was built-in using brick, with entry and double car garaging accessible from Bell Street.

Description

This timber and tile residence draws its influences from the Federation Queen Anne style. The house plan is assymmetrical with varied roof shapes, terracotta roof tiles and ornaments. Designed to suit its corner block, the front verandah entrance facing the corner of Bell and Main Streets has a timber gable screen. The associated verandahs have been glassed in.

The original front door is interwar style, being high-waisted with a stained-glass port hole. The entrance has a decorative, semi-circular timber surround with stained-glass fanlight and quarter panels. A stained-glass porthole window is also featured on the verandah.

The interior has stained glass French doors with fanlights, pressed metal ceilings and a decorative archway from the hall. The metal fireplace with timber surround and mantelpiece has been restored.

Statement of significance

Relevant assessment criteria

This is a place of local heritage significance and meets one or more of the local heritage criteria under the Heritage planning scheme policy of the Brisbane City Plan 2014. It is significant because:



References

  1. Brisbane City Council WebBASX, maps, building cards

  2. Brisbane Land Use Map 1882

  3. Department of Natural Resources, titles information

  4. The Denver Estate, Kangaroo Point 1902, Land Sale Poster No. 1976, John Oxley Library

  5. McKellar's Map of Brisbane and Suburbs. Brisbane: Surveyor-General’s Office, 1895

  6. Brisbane City Council City of Brisbane Land Use Maps 1951

  7. Murtagh, Therese. Development of the cultural landscape in south Kangaroo Point through seventy years of land acquisitions 1854-1924. Postgraduate Diploma in Arts (History) thesis, The University of Queensland, 1994

  8. Queensland Post Office Directories


Citation prepared by — Brisbane City Council (page revised September 2020)

World War I 1914-1918, Interwar 1919-1939
Queen Anne
House
Clinic
At 634 Main Street, Kangaroo point, Queensland 4169
At 634 Main Street, Kangaroo point, Queensland 4169
  • L1_SP192115;
  • L1_SP196755;
  • L1_SP192466;
  • L1_SP196776;
  • L151_SP184377;
  • L1_SP196759;
  • L1_SP196761;
  • L12_SP190809;
  • L103_SP206213;
  • L1_SP190814;
  • L1_SP190810;
  • L1_SP190740;
  • L1_SP190741;
  • L1_SP190743;
  • L50_SP192111;
  • L61_SP192115;
  • L1_SP196760
Historical, Aesthetic