Bulolo Flats facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Bulolo Flats |
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| Location | 9 McLachlan Street, Fortitude Valley, City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia |
| Design period | 1919–1930s (interwar period) |
| Built | 1934 |
| Architect | Hennessey, Hennessey & Co |
| Architectural style(s) | Romanesque |
| Official name: Bulolo Flats | |
| Type | state heritage (built) |
| Designated | 13 November 2008 |
| Reference no. | 602188 |
| Significant period | 1934–present |
| Builders | P H Turner & Co |
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Bulolo Flats is a special apartment building in Fortitude Valley, Brisbane, Australia. It is listed on the Queensland Heritage Register because of its history and unique design. The building was created by the famous architects Hennessey, Hennessey & Co and finished in 1934. It was built to provide homes for young women working in a large department store nearby.
History of Bulolo Flats
Bulolo Flats is a two-storey brick building with eight self-contained apartments. It was built in 1934 for Thomas Charles Beirne, a well-known businessman and politician from Brisbane. He wanted to create special homes for the young women who worked at his TC Beirne Department Store in Fortitude Valley.
Who was Thomas Charles Beirne?
Thomas Charles Beirne (1860–1949) was a very important person in Queensland's retail history. He helped make Fortitude Valley a major shopping area. He started as a draper (someone who sells cloth and clothing) in Ireland. After moving to Australia, he opened his own store in Fortitude Valley in 1891.
His business grew into one of Queensland's biggest department stores. He even had a friendly competition with another store owner, James McWhirter. This rivalry helped make Fortitude Valley a very popular shopping spot.
Beirne was also involved in politics and helped the Labor Party. He was a member of the Queensland Parliament from 1905 to 1922. He also served on many company boards and helped the University of Queensland. In 1935, he gave a lot of money to the University to start the TC Beirne School of Law.
He was a very religious man and gave a lot to the Catholic Church. He was even given a special award by the Pope for his work. People remembered him as someone who greatly helped Brisbane grow.
Why were the flats built?
Thomas Charles Beirne cared about his employees. He built Bulolo Flats for young women who moved from the country to work at his department store. Many of these young women were living in the city for the first time.
The flats were located on McLachlan Street, very close to the main shopping area. This made it easy for the young women to walk to work. Each flat had its own bed-sitting room, a small balcony, a kitchen, and a bathroom. They even had two entrances: a private one and a service entrance for deliveries like milk or bread. There was a shared laundry area on the rooftop.
These flats gave the young women their own private homes. This was different from living in shared hostels or boarding houses.
Changing times for young women
Building Bulolo Flats showed how society's ideas about women were changing. These flats were designed for young women who earned their own money. It meant that many young, unmarried women could support themselves. They didn't always have to live with their families or in supervised places.
At the same time, the flats were only for women. This helped ease worries that single men and women living together might be seen as "immoral." By making it women-only, it showed that the young women living there were respectable.
Unique design for single women
Flats designed just for single women were not common in Queensland. Bulolo Flats was quite special. Some other "bachelor flats" or "flats for business girls" often had shared bathrooms or laundries. But at Bulolo, each apartment was self-contained. This meant each flat had its own private bathroom, toilet, and kitchen.
Bulolo Flats was built right after the Great Depression in the early 1930s. During this time, there was a big shortage of housing in Brisbane. Many young couples couldn't afford to buy homes. So, small apartment buildings became popular investments. For TC Beirne, building Bulolo Flats was more about helping people than making money. It provided jobs during construction and much-needed homes for young women.
The architects: Hennessy, Hennessy and Co.
The architectural firm that designed Bulolo Flats was Hennessy, Hennessy and Co. They were based in Sydney but had offices in Brisbane and Melbourne. They designed many buildings, especially for the Catholic Church.
The main architect for this firm during that time, Jack Francis Hennessy, junior, was actually TC Beirne's son-in-law. This connection likely played a role in them designing Bulolo Flats. Their buildings often used textured brickwork and styles like Romanesque, which you can see in Bulolo Flats.
What's in a name?
The name "Bulolo" likely came from the Bulolo goldfield in Papua New Guinea. There was a gold rush there in 1934, the same year the flats were built. This goldfield was getting a lot of attention from Australians at the time.
Bulolo Flats remained owned by TC Beirne's company until 1955. It is still owned by one company today and has not been sold off as individual apartments.
What Bulolo Flats looks like
Bulolo Flats is a two-storey brick building. It has eight apartments, with four on each floor. You enter the building from McLachlan Street through a central entrance. The roof is hidden behind walls called parapets. There's a laundry area on the roof at the back.
On each side of the building, there are wooden stairs and landings. These used to be service stairs but now act as fire escapes. The apartments on the upper floor and the front ground-floor flats have doors opening onto these stairs. The two back ground-floor flats have back doors leading to narrow spaces along the sides of the building.
The building is very well-made. The outside walls are made of reddish-orange bricks. The base of the building is made of cream bricks. Special dark brown bricks are used for decoration, like around the windows and along the top of the walls.
The front of the building has three sections, separated by simple brick columns called pilasters. On the upper floor, there's a window with an aluminum frame. On the lower floor, there's a porch over the main entrance. Above the porch, the name "BULOLO" is written in a cool, old-fashioned style.
You can see simple but effective decorations on the front. This includes different colored bricks, more brick columns at the corners, and textured brick patterns. There are also six small "grotesques" (decorative carvings, often of faces or figures) on the front, near the top floor.
Why Bulolo Flats is Heritage Listed
Bulolo Flats was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 13 November 2008. This means it's an important historical place that needs to be protected. Here's why:
Shows Queensland's history
Bulolo Flats is important because it shows how housing changed in Brisbane. It was built when there was a big housing shortage. It was also one of the few buildings made specifically for women. It helped address worries about single men and women living together in other types of shared housing. The building also shows that society was starting to accept that young women wanted to live independently.
Building apartments like Bulolo Flats helped Brisbane recover after the Great Depression. It was one of the first new residential buildings constructed after the economic downturn.
A rare type of building
Bulolo Flats is special because it's an uncommon example of apartments built just for single women during that time. Unlike some other "bachelor flats" where bathrooms were shared, each apartment at Bulolo had its own private bathroom, toilet, and kitchen. This made them truly self-contained.
Shows how these places were designed
Bulolo Flats is still in great condition. It's an excellent example of a well-designed apartment building for single women. Each small apartment had a bed-sitting room, a sleep-out area, a kitchen, a bathroom, and built-in cupboards. They also had both a front and a back entrance for deliveries.
The building still has its original features. This includes the planter boxes at the front, the decorative brickwork, and the small "grotesques" on the front. It also shows the great work of the architectural firm Hennessy, Hennessy and Co. They were known for their Romanesque style, which you can see in this building.
Connected to important people
Bulolo Flats has a special connection to TC Beirne, a very important Queensland businessman and politician. The flats show how much he cared about his employees. It also highlights his kindness and his strong Catholic faith. These qualities earned him a lot of respect from his staff and the community.
