Mountview Once Grand Now Sad

There are three prominent ridges that run to the north west of the centre of Brisbane town. In the early 1860s these ridges were where the more wealthy or prominent citizens of the town took up residence. Between these ridges were the low lying areas containing a vast range of dwellings usually small in size that catered for the workers. This area we now know as the roads of Wickham Terrace, Leichhardt Street and Gregory Terrace also early on was part of the Green Hills of Brisbane Town. There are still a small number of these substantial dwellings still standing that demonstrate the difference between the "top of the street" and "the bottom of the street". We now know the area as the suburb of Spring Hill and it is a very visual reminder of early Brisbane Town and early suburban growth. The areas of Kangaroo Point, South Brisbane and Spring Hill were the first suburban growth areas once commerce expanded within the early town and residential housing gave way to retail and commercial trade.
Mountview is listed on the Queensland Heritage Register and Brisbane City Council Register and a more complete historical picture of this house can be obtained from the following web links.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mountview_House

https://apps.des.qld.gov.au/heritage-register/detail/?id=602317

The following from the Queensland Heritage Register is a brief summary of how Mountview came about. The unobstructed views of the river, One Tree Hill and surrounding ranges would have easily provided a name for the house.  

"The earliest section of Mountview House, a two-storeyed stone residence, is believed to have been erected in the 1860s for Brisbane foreman carpenter Daniel McNaught. A two-storeyed brick wing designed by architect Andrea Stombucco was added in 1882, when the house was converted into a preparatory school for boys.

This part of Spring Hill was surveyed officially into suburban allotments in 1856, but was soon subdivided for closer residential settlement by speculative landowners. Along with Kangaroo Point and Petrie Terrace, Spring Hill was among the earliest of Brisbane's dormitory suburbs, attracting wealthier residents to the high land along the ridges, and the less affluent to the hollows in between: Hanly's Hollow [between Wickham Terrace and Leichhardt Street], Spring Hollow [between Leichhardt Street and Gregory Terrace], and York's Hollow [to the north of Gregory Terrace - an area occupied by a number of brick-makers in the 1850s and 1860s]."

The first reference of the Mountview link and the use of the house as a preparatory school with links to  the close by Brisbane Grammar School occurred in December 1879.

Mountview House became a boarding house and the Cameron Brothers from their office in the town Hall ran advertisements for the house. In 1890 an advertisement appeared describing the house as having 12 rooms, kitchen and servant quarters. In February of 1896 Mountview House advertised for boarders with furnished bedroom available and use of the kitchen. It appears from the advertisements that Mountview remained a boarding house through to the start of the first war. One of the key features mentioned is that it was on the "penny section tram". 

In July of 1916 the house was once again on the market and being promoted as one suitable for multi purpose use.

It does appear that the once magnificient home of Mountview or Mount View became a place of multi use. This situation is far removed from its original intention as a statement of position within the grand scheme of Brisbane's grand villas and homes of early Brisbane. Sadly in today's modern Brisbane it has now joined those reminders of a very different Brisbane. Heritage listed and sadly standing waiting for either its final decay with the ravishes of age or that wealthy saviour to rescue it back to its former glory.