Lewisham - Queensland National Bank

There will be Brisbane residents who remember the function centre 29 Murray Street situated in Brisbane's northern suburbs. This house currently called Lewisham is the next door neighbour to 29 Murray Street.

 It has a place in Queensland's colonial history with the original ownership by the Queensland National Bank. The author and historian Geoffrey Blainey said "The Queensland National Bank is one of the greatest stories in Australian banking history. Its risk taking and state-wide network contributed mightily to Queensland's development in the late 19th century." Like many houses that have stood the test of time with many different owners addingtheir own touch Lewisham is currently known as Oakleigh House. From the records the first name was Fairie Knowe in April 1902. The name Fairy Knowe was a common one as there was a house in Ipswich called Fairy Knowe which had notices relating to a birth for the wife of Inspector Galbraith and the death of John Mitchell. Both these notices were only a month apart. Fairy Knowe may have been a boarding house. At East Brisbane another Fairy Knowe belonged to Duncan Sinclair. These were both written about in 1900. Using the heritage register information this house may have been the Fairy Knowe from Ipswich that was transported to the current site somewhere between 1900 and the advertisement in 1902.

Queensland’s reliance on external capital, often unsympathetic to the State’s development opportunities, led to local investors establishing the Queensland National Bank in 1872. Over the next three decades, Queensland’s economic growth, centred around the wool industry, gold production and a developing cattle industry, facilitated the rapid growth of the bank and its branch network. It became the official bank of the Queensland Government in 1879 and remained so for more than 40 years, in many ways linking the government’s financial standing to that of the bank. The first general manager, Edward Drury, was both entrepreneurial and autocratic – building deposits and the bank’s investments at a remarkable pace. By 1880, the Queensland National Bank operated 30 branches and held more than 40 percent of all deposits and advances in Queensland. Information taken from the State Library of Queensland Blog. https://leaders.slq.qld.gov.au/inductees/queensland-national-bank/

The following is taken from the Brisbane City Council Heritage Register.

This house was probably designed by Henry Edmund Wyman, an Ipswich architect, as an investment property for the Queensland National Bank. Wyman designed a similar bank manager’s residence in Nicholas Street, Ipswich, in 1893. The Queensland National Bank obtained this site, part of the ‘Langley Bank’ Estate, in 1896. The house, known as ‘Oakleigh House’ or ‘Fairy Knowe’, was leased to tenants, including Edward Rees, father of artist Lloyd Rees. In the late 1940s it became part of the reception and wedding centre venue along with 29 Murray Street, but reverted to use as a single dwelling in 1995.

Wilston was sparsely settled from the mid-nineteenth century, desirable for its proximity to the Newmarket Saleyards and other industries, but too far from the city to be in high demand. A nineteen acre allotment, including this site, was granted to William McDonald in 1856, but apparently was not occupied. A building and economic boom in the 1880s encouraged land sales. Purchasers included David Laughland Brown, who bought suburban allotment 22, a 16 acre block running between Newmarket Road and Enoggera Creek. He had ‘Langley Bank’ built on his estate, fronting Newmarket Road. However, the entire site was transferred to the Queensland National Bank in 1896, possibly as part of the dissolution of Brown’s company. The opening of the long-promised Enoggera railway line in 1899 spurred residential growth in Windsor, Wilston and Newmarket. Taking advantage of the residential potential of the area, the Queensland National Bank rechristened Brown’s estate the ‘Langley Bank Estate’ and began to sell subdivisions in 1901.It was one of a number of large existing estates which were carved up into residential allotments in the early years of the 1900s. Residential estates such as this one and the Harle Estate on the northern side of Wilston Railway Station, provided convenient access for residents to the city by train. It is possible that the bank transported one of its former bank residences to the site in the early twentieth century. The property bears a striking resemblance to another former bank residence, the Ipswich branch manager’s residence, constructed in 1893 and moved to Moggill in the 1970s. According to Buster Zoeller, a former resident of the neighbouring house, 29 Murray St, this house was transported from Ipswich by bullock dray in the early 1900s. The house, known as ‘Fairy Knowe’, was advertised for let in 1902. James Buyers, branch accountant for AMP, moved into ‘Fairy Knowe’ on Murray Street in 1903. Buyers’ house was offered for sale in February 1909 and Edward Rees, father of artist Lloyd Rees, moved in by August 1909. Zoeller remembers the artist, Lloyd Rees, living in the house, using the small building in the yard as a studio. Offered for rent again in 1911, the house was occupied by Frederick and Matilda Lucas, and title to the property was granted to Matilda in 1916. The Lucases renamed the house ‘Lewisham’. Rees’ studio building served as a school room for the Lucas and Zoeller children who were taught by a private tutor

The Lucas Family, Bruce Lucas and Lewisham

The Lucas family were previously living in Milne Street Albion (now Clayfield) in 1905 and 1907 when children were born at their house "Lewisham". When they moved to Murray Street after 1909 they renamed the house "Lewisham". On March 31, 1912 the first Lucas born child at Lewisham was recorded. The first Lucas child was Frederick Bruce Lucas who was commonly known as Bruce Lucas. He became a prominent architect in Brisbane. Born in Victoria in 1898 to Frederick Speake and Matilda Lucas he enlisted in 1917 in the AIF and gave his profession as draftsman and address as Murray Street, Windsor. Following training at Brisbane Central Technical College, and in London and Sydney, Frederick Bruce Lucas began his architectural practice in Brisbane in 1927. Early in his career Lucas looked abroad for inspiration, exploring the popular Californian Bungalow, English Tudor and Spanish Mission styles. However, only three other houses in the Mediterranean/Spanish Mission style have been positively identified as the work of Bruce Lucas. He enterd a partnership with Robert Cummings in 1936. Both Lucas and Cummings went on to be prominent post-war architects, particularly active in the professional organisation of architecture and architectural education in Queensland. 

There is a connection here between the renowned artist Lloyd Rees and the architect Bruce Lucas. The studio wing to the southern side of Lewisham was used by the Rees family and the Lucas family as both a school room and studio. It is reported that a young Lloyd Rees used the studio in his formative years. The Rees family only lived in Lewisham between 1909 and 1911. It could be assume that a young Bruce Lucas used the studio in his younger years and in his study as a draftsman and in his development as a leading architect of his period.

Frederick Bruce Lucas (1898-1973) a veteran of World War I, studied at the Architectural Association, London, had a B.Arch. degree from the University of Sydney (1922) and in 1930 had met Robert Cummings with whom he formed the architectural partnership, Lucas and Cummings in 1936. He was a part-time teacher from 1937 to 1947, acting Professor and Dean in Professor Cummings's absence, and Reader at the time of his retirement in 1966. He was President of the Queensland Chapter of the R.A.I.A. several times and national president in 1938-9. One of the most admired and loved members of the profession, he was given the Gold Medal of the R.A.I.A. at a ceremony in 1970, and the Bruce Lucas Library was established in his honour at the R.AJ.A. in 1967.