Secret panel cupboards are in the entrance hall and a very handy niche is provided for a nightlight on the staircase. Another niche is provided for the refrigerator near the kitchen. The lounge furniture — chesterfields and deep chairs— follows the scheme of color in brown, beige and gold, and the hangings are of satin brocade in the same tones. The dining room suite is in fashion able Queen Anne style and of beautifully polished mahogany. The many windows of this charming room allow the light to play upon the surface of the woods. The kitchen is exceedingly dainty and utilitarian In a scheme of two beautiful blues. The room has two-thirds cup board space and the sink and draining-board and fittings are in stainless monometal. Along with the bedroom wing upstairs is a small sunny sewing-room with iron-point and all necessities for sewing. The largest bed room is a charming room in beige, brown and apricot dainty apricot curtains, floral carpet in beige and brown, and modern bedroom suite. This room opens upon a balcony. There are two double and two single bedrooms upstairs one with, a charming view across the racecourse. The bathroom has vitrolite walls, glass tiles, and beautiful green porcelain fittings.
Queensland Country Life (Qld. : 1900 - 1954), Thursday 3 May 1945, page 13
D. C. CAMERON RETIRES
Finding the strenuous life he has led since the war started beginning to affect his health, Mr. D. C. Cameron retired on April 30 from the position of general manager of Brisbane Wholesale Meat Pty. Ltd., and in future will devote his time to his private interests. Mr. Cameron, however, will continue for the time being to act as a director of the company. On Monday evening the staff of the company presented Mr. Cameron with an inscribed gold liunter watch (said to be the only gold watch in captivity in Brisbane!), stock whip, spurs, etc., and Mrs. Cameron was the recipient of a beautiful bedroom clock. Two other directors of the company Messrs. B. Gissell, who arrived by plane from America, and Mr. A. S. Latta, of Sydney-attended the function.
Last week Mr. Cameron was the guest of honor at a dinner at Lennon's Hotel, arranged by the meat trade. All sections of the trade were represented, Mr. Jack Land, president of the Wholesale Meat Traders' Association, presiding. Those present included Messrs. E., F. Suncers (Deputy Meat Controller), E. H. Lindsey (Deputy Prices Commissioner), S. Cochran (late Deputy Director of Rationing), and Col. Flney (Commerce Dept.), when tributes were paid to Mr. Cameron's work on behalf of the trade generally during his 30 years' association with it.
Particular reference was made to his work on the Meat and Allied Trades Federation of Australia, of which he is a State past-president and senior vice-president of the Federal body, as representative of the Wholesale Meat Tradera' Association on the State Meat .Advisory Committee, and as chairman of directors of the master butchers' produce selling organisatjon. Mr. Cameron was presented with a travelling bag.
For many years Mr. Cameron was in partnership with Mr. James Anderson in the Valley, and they reputedly owned the largest cash meat business in Australia. About 15 yearo ago Mr. Cameron purchased his partner's share in the business, and developed it into a company known as the Brisbane Wholesale Meat Pty. Ltd. About five years later the business was acquired by Wilson Meats Ltd., London, with Mr. Cameron retaining management of the Brisbane subsidiary.
Queensland Country Life (Qld. : 1900 - 1954), Thursday 5 February 1953, page 3
Meat Trade Authority Sets Abattoir A Problem
By D. C. Cameron
Mr. D.C. Cameron, Clayfield, Brisbane, well known meat trade authority, wants to know what steps are being taken to provide treatment facilities at Brisbane abattoir for the handling of fat stock if producers, aitd the seasons, make possible an increase of, say, 20 per cent, in the immediate future. He suggests that this and other points he raises should be the subject of an impartial inquiry.
Brisbane and the Architectural Home Prior to the Second World War
As I have previously said the decade leading up to the second world war was one of significance in Brisbane home design. The timber and tin construction, the sameness of appearance plus the abundance of home designs available from readicut companies such as Campbell and Sons and Brown and Broad produced a sameness to home design. The State Advance Bank (prior to the Housing Commission) produced catalogues of plans of homes that are now what we see as our timber character homes. Most were built as working class family homes. The following aricles provide an insight into "modern" architecture for the more discerning client.
The Architectural Debate Timber and Tin Versus Well Designed Architectural Home
Telegraph (Brisbane, Qld. : 1872 - 1947), Tuesday 10 January 1939, page 14
TWO STOREYS OR ONLY ONE 'THE TWO TYPES COMPARED'
Dear Sir,
We are about to build a new home. There are just the two.of us, not long married, and we are prepared to spend about £1,300. We would like a two-storey home but »» nat ni nnr friends sav that two-storey houses are not convenient and that you do not get value for money in accommodation compared with the orthodox type of house. Will you try to help us ?
That is not an extract from an actual letter, but it is typical of several queries which have been asked during the past 12months. Whether to build in one or two storeys is a question which the average Queenslander seems, to find perplexing. Probably it is because, most of his friends own houses that have been built on the one-floor plan. The first thing to consider is the building site. This is the deciding factor in all home-making plans, but if the site is of say anything from 30 perches upwards and has a reasonable frontage to it then it is likely that most architects would recommend a home on the single floor plan. Architects generally are agreed that the single-floor plan is the ideal for Australian conditions of living. As a rule the housewife is maid-of-all-work as well as hostess, and it is necessary to her happiness that her routine work should be minimised as much as possible. One of the most effecive ways of achieving this is to group the rooms in such a manner that her walking will be reduced, if she is planning a day in the kitchen, and some wives still do that, you know, it will save her a deal of time and worry if she can answer the front door bell simply by walking a few feet across a porch or through a corridor. But the common sense of the single-storey floor plan is defeated when the floor is hoisted several feet into the air by stilt-like stumps as has been the common practice in Queensland. Provided the building site is elevated and provides a fair outlook, there is no excuse for high stumps, and nothing looks nicer than a well-built home of single-storey set snugly on the ground with only a low plinth to give it the necessary ventilation. On the other hand while many builders have popularised the low-built home they have made a serious mistake in totally enclosing the underneath area of the house.
Ventilation is essential to the longevity of the flooring timber, otherwise the. space, beneath becomes a reservoir of 'foul' air which lends itself to disease, and it is only a matter of time before sections of the flooring will require to be renewed. The man who buiids a home of single-floor plan on high stumps when the site itself is elevated and roomy is making, work for the household. If anyone ever bothered to keep a check on the matter it would probably be found that the average- Queensland housewife spends five years of her life walking down and climbing stairs, whereas two or three shallow steps would serve her purpose just as efficiently, and certainly with greater comfort and. safety. However if his client had a regular, building site no architect would lay down a hard and fast rule that only a single-floor plan should be built. In recent years the two-storey plan has become very popular in Brisbane. It lends itself to the picturesque in design and is certainly very suitable for this climate because the ground floor which accommodates the living room is always cool, having the advantage of the space occupied by the bedrooms as well as the roof area.
WHAT is more important is the fact that the area of the two-storey home is only about half that of the single-floor type, and this is a decided advantage in those suburbs, where building sites are of limited size because of Council valuations and the popularity of the locality. Therefore a compact and comfortable home may be erected on a comparatively small allotment arid still allow plenty of breathing space around if for gardens and lawns. As to the convenience, of the two-storey home, this goes without saying. Usually the bedrooms are situated on the upper floor. Once the household is astir and the general tidying-up finished there is little need to return to the bedrooms again. And even if it is necessary to go upstairs occasionally the effort is no greater than is used in the average Queensland home of orthodox design, because there are no more steps. Certainly the bedrooms are more private than in the two-storey home than they are in the design of only one floor, because in the latter they are usually situated near the front of the house, and it is this that led to the old custom of always taking visitors into the main bedroom. Actually the bedrooms are the most intimate rooms in a home, and it is right that their privacy, should be preserved. The two-storey plan generally provides accommodation near the entrance porch in which guests may make themselves comfortable and deposit hats and cloaks and entertaining is dignified and cosy. As to cost, there is very little difference. The two-storey plan usually costs a little more, but there are always ways in which sonic compensating arrangement may be made. Taking all things into account the average young couple who are building their first home can be assured that the two-storey plan will give them pleasure. Many will argue that this type is by far the more convenient, and it certainly provides scope for effective detail that frequently cannot be achieved in the single-floor plan.
Courier-Mail (Brisbane, Qld. : 1933 - 1954), Saturday 26 March 1938, page 10
Brisbane Building With More Artistry
By BURNETT NETTERFIELD
Last year Brisbane spent £1,066,458 on 1754 homes. The attainment of the million mark was the cause of general satisfaction in the building and allied trades and professions, because, not since the 'good old days' before the depression had this level been reached, but the total was not a record. In 1926 the expenditure on homes was £1,864,842.
Brisbane, however, is now building more artistically than in that boom year, and with more regard for climatic and social conditions. Those who wisely chose in the nadir of the depression to sink their savings into real estate, timber, bricks, arid mortar, found building contractors cutting prices to the bone in the hope of obtaining a contract and earning bare wages. The client with a few hundred pounds at his disposal was so able to dictate terms that, for the price of the cottage built unimaginatively, and in a rush, during 'the good old days' of high wages and high prices, he was able to build, relatively, a mansion. And it was distinguished by a freer expression of artistic ideas. The fortunate few with money to spend on new homes, finding that a pound went further than ever it had gone before, let their imagination go accordingly, and a new and most welcome spirit became manifest in Brisbane suburban building. Though building costs have since risen almost to pre-depression levels, generally there has, been no return to the stunted architectural ideas of a decade or so ago. The best new homes are bold in their conception, and, almost with abandon, people are now using colour which accords with the gaiety of Queensland sunshine.
ARCHITECTURE tells more or less accurately, the. history of a people. In a search of the various suburbs of Brisbane the discerning eye sees 'period' written large and bold over types of settlement. There is the pioneer manor house that deserves to stand for all time There is the pioneer cottage that, mouldering in age ought to be pulled down. Then comes the conventional cottage representative of the first, two decades of this country, characterised chiefly by lack of plan.' Particularly during the post- war period, Brisbane suburban building slavishly followed a convention that dictated the exclusive use of wood and galvanised iron. Floor plan mattered not in the least provided everything was dead on the square and that a veranda — an alleged open space— was on at least two or three sides. The veranda, of course, ceased to be an open space, and was blinded or louvred-in when, inevitably, the family found the glare and the wind and the driving rain unbearable. As a concession to art, the front of a house was adorned with a gable, or, if funds permitted, two of them meaninglessly reared their heads. In the good old days, time was so much the essence of a contract that nobody planned for comfort, convenience or climate. So the depression was for the good if the fortunate few, with money in their pockets and courage in their breasts, had time to reflect and break with tradition. Hitherto loyalty to a local and national industry had forbidden the use of anything but timber as a chief building constituent. While the community showed no desire completely, to foresake an old and trusty friend, represented by timber, homebuilders of a sudden decided to admit more generally other building materials to equal rank and thus timber has been used in association with bricks and mortar, cement, asbestos cement, fibrous plaster, composition building board, structural glass and tiles. Like timber, for walls and floors, galvanised iron had heretofore been used almost exclusively as a roofing material, but within a year it had to take its chance in competition with glazed and varigated coloured tiles and asbestos-cement sheeting. Not only did building materials change, but mode of building also. Fresh inspiration was sought from far-off countries and times from Mediterranean shores and California, from Elizabethan and Georgean England, and from Continental countries of modern times that itrcamline their houses as well as their cars and planes. For the creation of new forms of art in the suburbs in recent times, Brisbane has much for which it must thank its young architects, many of whom, soon after qualifying, fortified their own ideas by inspiration derived from 'grand tours' abroad. Returning to Queensland, soused in the artistic ideas of times md places foreign to their fellow citizens, they attempted, not to transplant exotics, but to adapt architectural growths to local climatic and social conditions. No typically Australian style of domestic architecture has yet been evolved, nor do architects hold out any hope of anything satisfactory being evolved. In seeking our architectural inspiration from abroad and in the pages of history we would appear to be making a better job of things than by relying on our own inventiveness. By adaptation of others' ideas some day we may produce something typically Australian.
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