Cintra House is a heritage-listed

villa A villa is a type of house that was originally an ancient Roman upper class country house. Since its origins in the Roman villa, the idea and function of a villa have evolved considerably. After the fall of the Roman Republic, villas became s ...

at 23 Boyd Street, Bowen Hills, Queensland, Australia. It was built from 1863 to 1890s. It is also known as Cintra. 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. A ...

on 21 October 1992.

History

The original Cintra, a two-storeyed Georgian influenced stone house, was built in 1863-64 for George Dudley Webb to a design by

Benjamin Backhouse Benjamin Backhouse (182929 July 1904) was an architect and politician in Australia. He was a Member of the New South Wales Legislative Council. Early life Benjamin Backhouse was born in England in 1829. He was a Bachelor of Arts and was educa ...

. It comprised four rooms on each level, surrounded by a ground floor verandah. StateLibQld 1 117280 Boyd Dunlop Morehead

In 1877 the property was bought by

Boyd Dunlop Morehead Boyd Dunlop Morehead (24 August 1843 – 30 October 1905) was a politician in Queensland, Australia. He was Premier of Queensland from November 1888 to June 1890. Early life Boyd Morehead was born in Sydney, New South Wales, the second son ...

, a successful pastoralist and businessman who was

Premier of Queensland The premier of Queensland is the head of government in the Australian state of Queensland. By convention the premier is the leader of the party with a parliamentary majority in the unicameral Legislative Assembly of Queensland. The premier is ap ...

1888–1890. He was also the uncle of P.L. Travers who is best known as the author of the Mary Poppins series of children's books. To accommodate his growing family, Morehead extended the house to the south. This extension now forms a separate residence. A rear service wing is thought to have been built in the 1870s. Possibly about 1890 he added the faceted bay on the eastern side. The old verandah was replaced with two-storeyed verandahs along the northern and western sides. Morehead died in 1905 and in 1912 Cintra was acquired by railway contractor and businessman Acheson Overend. In 1925 he sold Cintra which was then divided into two, the connection to the southern extension being dismantled. The southern extension eventually, with alterations and additions, became the Cintra Nursing Home. Cintra House became Our Lady of Victories Convent in 1927. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

the American army used the bungalow (but not the main house) as a photographic laboratory. From 1966 to 1973 it was the headquarters of the Queensland Motor Sporting Club. In 1973 it was purchased by Noel Kratzman and refurbished. It then became Cintra House Galleries until 1987 when it returned to its original use as a family home.

Description

Cintra House is a two-storeyed masonry house dating from the 1860s, with double-storeyed verandahs on two sides and with a corrugated metal roof. A gabled service wing extends off the rear. The eastern elevation features a double-storeyed faceted bay (possibly 1890). The present two-storeyed verandah running along the northern and western sides, has cast-iron balusters, double posts, and

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 ...

. On the lower level, the latticed valance replaced an earlier scalloped

tongue and groove Tongue and groove is a method of fitting similar objects together, edge to edge, used mainly with wood, in flooring, parquetry, panelling, and similar constructions. Tongue and groove joints allow two flat pieces to be joined strongly together ...

valance at the time of refurbishment. The capitals to the lower level posts were removed at the same time. A small verandah above the entrance

porch A porch (from Old French ''porche'', from Latin ''porticus'' "colonnade", from ''porta'' "passage") is a room or gallery located in front of an entrance of a building. A porch is placed in front of the facade of a building it commands, and form ...

is of similar design and materials as the main verandah. Internally the house has been renovated with little of the earlier fabric surviving. It now consists of two reception rooms and a dining room on the ground floor and five bedrooms upstairs. A modern kitchen is located in the service wing. The house is situated in a prominent hillside position with good views of the Brisbane River. The sweeping north lawn is lined with a row of mature palm trees.

Heritage listing

Cintra 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. A large "villa" residence which embodies structural and stylistic changes from the 1860s, reflecting changing affluent lifestyle and tastes. The place is important because of its aesthetic significance. Its landmark quality as one of Brisbane's most commanding hilltop residences. The place has a special association with the life or work of a particular person, group or organisation of importance in Queensland's history. Its association with Boyd Morehead.

References

Attribution

External links

* {{cite news , url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article22926322 , title=BRISBANE'S HISTORIC HOMES. , newspaper=

The Queenslander ''The Queenslander'' was the weekly summary and literary edition of the '' Brisbane Courier'', the leading journal in the colony—and later, federal state—of Queensland since the 1850s. ''The Queenslander'' was launched by the Brisbane New ...

, date=6 March 1930 , accessdate=16 November 2014 , page=50 , via=National Library of Australia — newspaper article about Cintra House by

Florence Eliza Lord Florence Eliza Lord (1879–1942) was a journalist in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. She is best known for her long-running series of articles on ''Brisbane's Historic Homes'' in The Queenslander newspaper. She sometimes published under the pse ...