Hillyards Shop House facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Hillyards Shop House |
|
|---|---|
Building in 2015
|
|
| Location | 615 Stanley Street, Woolloongabba, City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia |
| Design period | 1840s - 1860s (mid-19th century) |
| Built | c. 1865, 1920s |
| Built for | George Hillyard |
| Official name: Hillyards Shop House | |
| Type | state heritage (built) |
| Designated | 21 October 1992 |
| Reference no. | 601059 |
| Significant period | 1860s, 1920s (fabric) c. 1865-ongoing (historical commercial use) |
| Significant components | carriage way/drive, residential accommodation - manager's house/quarters |
| Lua error in Module:Location_map at line 420: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value). | |
The Hillyards Shop House is a very old building in Woolloongabba, Queensland, Australia. It's located on Stanley Street and is considered a special historical place. It was built around 1865 and changed a bit in the 1920s. This building is important because it shows us what life and businesses were like a long time ago.
Contents
History of Hillyards Shop House
This two-storey brick building was built in the mid-1860s. A watchmaker named George Hillyard bought the land in 1865 and had the house built.
It was one of the first brick buildings in the area, which was then called One-mile Swamp. This part of Stanley Street was becoming an important business area in the 1860s.
The Hillyard family ran a successful watchmaking and jewellery shop here for almost 20 years. Their shop even had a clock tower at one point! This tower was a handy guide for people travelling by, like drovers moving animals.
After George Hillyard passed away in 1881, his wife opened a fancy toy shop in part of the building. His son, William Hillyard, kept the watchmaking business going. They sold the property in 1885.
Over the next 100 years, many different small businesses used the ground floor. The first floor was rented out as rooms for people to live in, and later, people lived there for a while.
What Hillyards Shop House Looks Like
Hillyards Shop House is on Stanley Street, near Clarence Corner. It's right next to another old brick building from around 1865 called Pollocks Shop House.
The building has a main shop on the ground floor. Upstairs, there are rooms where people used to live. There's also an arched covered path that goes through to the back of the property. This path has been closed off and turned into another shop.
At the back, there's a brick and iron kitchen area. It's a single-storey part that sticks out along the side.
The main part of the building has a steep roof made of corrugated iron. It has a flat square area at the very top. It was probably covered with wooden shingles when it was first built.
Front of the Building
The front of the building has a small brick wall at the top called a parapet. This wall might have been added later. It has three decorative urns and a triangle-shaped part called a pediment. In the middle of the pediment, there's a round opening with a ventilation duct to let air in and out.
There's also a covered area over the first floor, like a balcony, called a verandah. It used to stick out without support from below, but it's now covered with boards. A curved iron awning over the street is held up by thin metal poles.
The ground floor has been changed over time. The main shop front was likely updated in the 1920s.
Inside the Building
The first floor is mostly still in its original condition. It has five rooms, including a large front room called a parlour. The ceilings are 12 feet high and made of timber. They have round holes in the middle for air.
The brick walls are very thick, about 370 millimeters. They are covered with plaster. The inside walls are made of wide timber boards. There are narrow timber rails for hanging pictures and wide skirting boards along the bottom of the walls.
Three sets of wide French doors with small windows above them open onto the front verandah.
The kitchen area at the back has three rooms and a double fireplace. This part probably had the kitchen, dining room, and a servant's room originally.
Even though some parts have been changed, the building still looks a lot like it did when it was first built. The biggest changes are that the old clock tower and the original staircase inside are no longer there.
Why Hillyards Shop House is a Heritage Site
Hillyards Shop House was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 October 1992. This means it's officially recognized as an important historical place. It met certain rules to be listed:
- It shows how Queensland's history has changed.
Hillyard's Shop House is a rare example of a shop house from the 1860s. It has a separate service wing and a covered path for carriages. This shows a way of life that isn't common in Brisbane anymore. It's important because it was part of the early business growth in the Woolloongabba area in the 1860s.
- It shows rare or special parts of Queensland's history.
Again, it's rare to find a shop house from the 1860s that is still mostly complete. It helps us understand how people lived and worked back then.
- It is beautiful and important for how it looks.
The building is a key part of the Clarence Corner street scene. It's especially important because it's one of two similar brick, two-storey shop houses built around 1865 right next to each other on Stanley Street. It adds a lot to the look and feel of Woolloongabba.
