Naldham House premises of the Australian United Steam Navigation Company Mary Street Brisbane Queensland

Naldham House is a heritage-listed

office building An office is a space where an organization's employees perform administrative work in order to support and realize objects and goals of the organization. The word "office" may also denote a position within an organization with specific dut ...

located at 193 Mary Street,

Brisbane CBD Brisbane City is the central suburb and central business district of Brisbane, the state capital of Queensland, Australia. It is colloquially referred to as the "Brisbane CBD" or "the city". It is located on a point on the northern bank of the ...

City of Brisbane The City of Brisbane is a local government area (LGA) which comprises the inner portion of the metropolitan area of Brisbane, the capital of Queensland, Australia. Its governing body is the Brisbane City Council. Unlike LGAs in the other mainl ...

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

, Australia. It was built from 1864 to 1889. It is also known as AUSN House. It was added to the

Queensland Heritage Register The Queensland Heritage Register is a heritage register, a statutory list of places in Queensland, Australia that are protected by Queensland legislation, the Queensland Heritage Act 1992. It is maintained by the Queensland Heritage Council. As a ...

on 21 October 1992.

History

The building was built initially in 1864, extended in the late 1870s, but substantially rebuilt in 1889 for the Australian United Steam Navigation Company. It served for almost a century as a shipping office. In 1988 major external and internal alternations were carried out in converting the building into premises for a club. The site, adjacent to the

Brisbane River The Brisbane River is the longest river in South East Queensland, Australia, and flows through the city of Brisbane, before emptying into Moreton Bay on the Coral Sea. John Oxley, the first European to explore the river, named it after the Go ...

, was acquired by the

Australasian Steam Navigation Company The Australasian Steam Navigation Company (ASN Co) was a shipping company of Australia which operated between 1839 and 1887. Company history The company was started as the Hunter River Steam Navigation Company in 1839. In March 1851, the compa ...

(ASN) in March 1852 although the company did not construct wharves until 1859 the company's first wharf had been erected on the new site followed by a second wharf near Eagle Street in 1861. In 1864 a two-storeyed office was erected and occupied by Henry O'Reilly, the ASN's

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

agent. This building was situated on the northern (tower) end of the present Naldham House. In 1877 the ASN's Brisbane office was elevated from agency to branch status, and at some time between 1875 and 1878 the office building was extended to the Felix Street corner. In the mid 1880s the ASN was taken over and amalgamated with several other shipping companies to form the Australasian United Steam Navigation Company (AUSN) which became a dominant force in Queensland and Australian shipping. In August 1888 architects McCredie Bros & Chambers called tenders for the extension of the Felix Street offices of the AUSN. The successful tenderer was J R Locke of Redfern,

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

. At a cost of the upper storey was demolished and two new floors were added, a tower and cupola built into the northern end, a balcony included in the Mary Street side and new entrances formed. In 1914, MacDonald Hamilton & Co became agents for AUSN and instigated internal renovations (c. 1915-20), including silky oak panelling on the first floor. They were also responsible for the change of the name to Naldham House which was the firm's telex address, derived from the middle letters of their name (MacDoNALD+HAMilton). This firm was an agent for a number of shipping, insurance and trading companies, including the Australasian United Steam Navigation Company. MacDonald Hamilton & Co managed AUSN activities until the winding up of the AUSN in 1960. They carried out further internal renovations and a new entrance to Mary Street was constructed. The firm remained in the building until 1986. In 1988-1889 major alterations and additions were undertaken as part of the incorporation of the building in the new riverside development,

Waterfront Place Waterfront Place is an office building in the Brisbane central business district in Queensland, Australia. It is located at 1 Eagle Street, beside the Brisbane River. It was constructed by renowned Queensland builder and developer F. A.&nb ...

. This work included the demolition of the adjacent bond store and the replicates details of the Mary Street facade on the previously blank eastern wall, which has now become the main entrance facade. In 1994, Naldham House was purchased for $3.2 million by the Brisbane Polo Club, who operated the building as a private club and conference centre. In May 2015, the club was facing debts and decided to wind up, after accepting an unsolicited offer of $10 million from Singapore developer and hotelier Koh Wee Meng. In January 2016, Dexus Property Group (owners of Waterfront Place) purchased Naldham House for $14 million as a strategic acquisition, describing it as "the front door of the Waterfront Place precinct".

Description

Naldham House, located on the corner of Mary and Felix Street, is a three storeyed rendered brick building with

basement A basement or cellar is one or more floors of a building that are completely or partly below the ground floor. It generally is used as a utility space for a building, where such items as the furnace, water heater, breaker panel or fuse box, ...

. The building forms a thin rectangle in plan form with the tower being located at the river end. Redevelopment of the adjacent site has now removed the visual link with the river. The principal facade is to Mary Street and contains a

colonnade In classical architecture, a colonnade is a long sequence of columns joined by their entablature, often free-standing, or part of a building. Paired or multiple pairs of columns are normally employed in a colonnade which can be straight or curv ...

on the ground and first floors. The detailing on the facade is a free adaptation of classical detailing, with ascending orders on succeeding levels. On the first floor there are paired fluted

pilasters In classical architecture, a pilaster is an architectural element used to give the appearance of a supporting column and to articulate an extent of wall, with only an ornamental function. It consists of a flat surface raised from the main wall ...

without capitals. The

at this level has paired

columns A column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. In other words, a column is a compression member. ...

with stylised Ionic capitals. The window openings on the second floor are large and have semi-circular arched heads. Between these openings are paired pilasters with one large

Corinthian Corinthian or Corinthians may refer to: *Several Pauline epistles, books of the New Testament of the Bible: **First Epistle to the Corinthians **Second Epistle to the Corinthians **Third Epistle to the Corinthians (Orthodox) *A demonym relating to ...

capital that extends across the top of both. Above the capitals is a plain

frieze In architecture, the frieze is the wide central section part of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic or Doric order, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Paterae are also usually used to decorate friezes. Even when neither columns nor ...

, a

cornice In architecture, a cornice (from the Italian ''cornice'' meaning "ledge") is generally any horizontal decorative moulding that crowns a building or furniture element—for example, the cornice over a door or window, around the top edge of a ...

and a

parapet A parapet is a barrier that is an extension of the wall at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony, walkway or other structure. The word comes ultimately from the Italian ''parapetto'' (''parare'' 'to cover/defend' and ''petto'' 'chest/breast'). Whe ...

composed of Italianate

balusters A baluster is an upright support, often a vertical moulded shaft, square, or lathe-turned form found in stairways, parapets, and other architectural features. In furniture construction it is known as a spindle. Common materials used in its cons ...

. The narrow northern facade has the date "1888" on the upper frieze. The most distinctive feature of the building is the octagonal tower with

cupola In architecture, a cupola () is a relatively small, most often dome-like, tall structure on top of a building. Often used to provide a lookout or to admit light and air, it usually crowns a larger roof or dome. The word derives, via Italian, from ...

at the river end. The cupola, tower end and street facades of the building are intact. The eastern facade, which now contains the main entrance, incorporates classical detail. The date "1988" appears below the cornice. The building has been refurbished internally. The interior including a new staircase was constructed in the manner of a late nineteenth century colonial club.

Heritage listing

Naldham House was listed on the

on 21 October 1992 having satisfied the following criteria. The place is important in demonstrating the evolution or pattern of Queensland's history. Naldham House provides evidence of major shipping activity along the town reach and of the former prominence of the Australian United Steam Navigation Company in Queensland's maritime industry The place is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a particular class of cultural places. The building is a fine example of a late nineteenth century maritime building with an imposing architectural presence. The place is important because of its aesthetic significance. The building is a fine example of a late nineteenth century maritime building with an imposing architectural presence. Naldham House is significant as a remnant of a former streetscape of opulent mercantile buildings.

References

Attribution

External links

{{commons category-inline, Naldham House Commercial buildings completed in 1864 Queensland Heritage Register Heritage of Brisbane Buildings and structures in Brisbane Office buildings in Queensland Mary Street, Brisbane Clubhouses in Queensland Articles incorporating text from the Queensland Heritage Register