Significance
Criterion AThe place is important in demonstrating the evolution or pattern of Queensland’s history.
Inchcolm is important in demonstrating the interwar evolution of Wickham Terrace as an important medical specialist precinct in Brisbane, and is associated with the development of specialist medicine in Queensland
Criterion DThe place is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a particular class of cultural places.
Inchcolm is an accomplished and intact building which is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a purpose-built interwar medical office building, including in the restrained design the assertion of medical specialist prestige
Criterion EThe place is important because of its aesthetic significance.
As one of a related group of classical facades, and in particular in association with adjacent Lister House, Inchcolm with its neo-Georgian facade exhibits a strong contribution to the Wickham Terrace streetscape, which is valued by the community
Criterion HThe place has a special association with the life or work of a particular person, group or organisation of importance in Queensland’s history.
The building has a special association with Brisbane architect EP Trewern, as an example of his work
History
This five-storeyed masonry office building was constructed in 1930, on a site which has been associated with the medical profession since the 1880s, when the first Inchcolm was established by Dr John Thomson. This building contained both his private residence and consulting rooms, and during the 1910s and 1920s it operated as a private hospital.
The property was transferred to the Wharf Street Congregational Church in 1925, and subsequently sold in 1929 to Inchcolm Ltd, a group of medical practitioners initiated by George Douglas. The company commissioned Brisbane architect Eric Percival Trewern, who was influential in popularising Georgian revival style in Brisbane domestic building during the interwar years, to design a new medical office building for the site.
Constructed by builders J I Green & Son in 1930, Inchcolm was part of the interwar redevelopment of the medical precinct along Wickham Terrace, which included Brisbane Clinic (QHR 600171), Ballow Chambers (QHR 600164), Wickham House, and Craigston (QHR 600165). Their construction constituted the second phase (the first being in the 1880s) of the Terrace's growth as a medical precinct, and was indicative of new directions toward specialist medicine in Queensland in the interwar years.
Inchcolm continues to be used by the medical profession.
Description
Inchcolm is located at the eastern end of Wickham Terrace, overlooking the city centre, within an area dominated by buildings accommodating the medical and allied professions.
The building comprises four storeys to parapet level, with a basement and another floor above and behind the parapet.
The Georgian-style facade is of English bond face red brickwork, contrasted with rendered detailing. The ground floor level is rendered and scored to resemble ashlar, and the small projecting arched entrance is crowned by a cornice and parapet.
Internally the building is divided into suites of medical offices, accessed via a narrow central corridor on each level.
The ground floor lobby features entrance doors with cut bevelled glazing, dark-stained silky oak panelling to picture-rail height, plaster ceiling panels with moulded cornices, and terrazzo borders in the passageway in front of the elevator, which is located in the middle of the eastern side of the building. This panelled and metal-meshed lift installation, which was designed to accommodate stretcher patients, is circled by a staircase which services all levels. The stairwell walls are rendered and pointed to resemble stone work.
Although some remodelling of individual offices has occurred, the interior public spaces remain substantially intact and sustain the ambience of a 1930s building.
