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This classic old Queenslander is in Rolle Street in Brisbane's Holland Park West, just behind my house and a few doors down. The street was originally full of character homes like this one, but, as they were all on large blocks of land, as time has gone by they have been moved or demolished and have been replaced by blocks of units (condos for our US visitors). That's progress for you.
This particular house was occupied up until about a year ago by an aged guy who appeared to live by himself. He was old but he still got around OK. I used to see him walking back from the local shopping centre (Greenslopes Mall) with bags of groceries. He was bent and frail but determined. In the mornings he used to sit at his front door and read the paper. He was probably a bit deaf bacause he would have the radio blaring. The house has been in poor condition since I moved into the area in 1999 and it has deteriorated since then.
Anyway, one day I noticed that I hadn't seen him around for a while. As time went by it became obvious that he wasn't there anymore and I hoped that he had just moved into a nursing home or similar. However, one day recently the sale sign by the Public Trustee appeared and now it's been sold. The place is very badly damaged by white ants so I'm betting it'll be demolished to make way for more units.
Vale, another local landmark. I made a quick visit to the house to capture this photographic record before the inevitable demolition.
If you have any information or stories about this house and its history I would love to hear from you by email or in my Visitor's Book.
The front and main entrance of the abandoned house where the old owner used to sit and catch the morning sun. |
The back door and stairs of the abandoned house. That Australian icon the Hills Hoist sits proudly in the foreground. Every Aussie kid from my generation would remember swinging around on the arms of these, because every home used to have one just like this. |
The back stairs of the abandoned house could use some attention - watch that first step! |
These side stairs lead from the back of the house up to the kitchen. It looks like the owner had a small dog or perhaps grandchildren visiting at one stage - the small gate at the top of the stairs would have been for that purpose. |
The entire house has been heavily infested with white ants. Their damage is vey visible on this window sill just above the side stairs. |
The west side of the abandoned house, looking from the front back toward the side stairs. |
Termites and wood rot have even heavily damaged the hardwood house stumps. The house is now a little unsafe structurally, as the damage to this stump in the nort west corner shows. |
The east side of the house provided access to the VERY large back yard. With this much space to play in, any kids brought up here would have been very lucky. |
Some of the house stumps had been replaced by reinforced concrete stumps, but even they were in very bad condition. |
The back yard was really very large. |
There was an old outside toilet at the back of the house, again another termite victim. |
The former front verandah had been closed in and divided into two areas; a type of sunroom/entry where I'm standing (where the old man used to sit in the mornings) and a "workshop", now empty. |
The entry led into a reasonably spacious lounge and dining room area and also into the main bedroom to the right. |
The main bedroom was bright and sunny. The light looks like it might date back to the 1930's - what an Art Deco beauty! |
For some reason the house had two kitchen areas. This is the main one; the exit to the side stairs can be seen. |
This is the second kitchen area. The door leads out to the back stairs. The opening to the right leads into a back room. |
More termite damage in the second kitchen. |
The back room probably served as a bedroom I'm guessing. |
Termites have heavily damaged the back room interior wall. |
The bathroom was functional without being elegant! |
There was another room on the east side off the loung room, probably another bedroom. |
There were several functional areas under the house. This downstairs shower is somewhat deteriorated. |
The laundry was also downstairs. Every home used to have this type of concrete washing trough. |
A pointer to the old place's ultimate fate..... |
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