Harris House

General

More images…

Also known as

Cliffordene

Classification

State Heritage

Register status

Entered

Date entered

26 July 2019

Types

Residential: Detached house

Residential: Villa

Theme

6.4 Building settlements, towns, cities and dwellings: Dwellings

Builder

Ivory, Montague

Construction periods

1912–1946, Mature trees

1912, Villa

Historical period

1900–1914 Early 20th century

Style

Eclectic

Location

Address

1 Clifford Street, Toowoomba

LGA

Toowoomba Regional Council

Coordinates

-27.56036684, 151.94709086

Significance

Criterion AThe place is important in demonstrating the evolution or pattern of Queensland’s history.

Harris House (c1912), a Federation-era villa residence, is important in demonstrating the development of Toowoomba as the principal urban centre of the Darling Downs region in the 20th century. During the late 19th and early 20th century, wealthy members of society in the region established substantial homes in Toowoomba, such as Harris House, reflecting their financial and social position.

Through its setting, form, scale, high quality design, materials and aesthetic treatment, Harris House illustrates the lifestyle of Toowoomba’s prosperous residents.

Criterion DThe place is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a particular class of cultural places.

Harris House is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a substantial, early-20th century suburban villa residence. A single storey, masonry house in a garden setting, Harris House is a fine and intact example of its type, displaying high quality workmanship and materials, and retaining its formal plan, with entrance portico, hierarchical arrangement of generously sized rooms, and surrounding verandah.

Harris House demonstrates the principal characteristics of Federation-era domestic architecture, and is a good and highly intact example of a masonry house in a Federation style in Queensland. Characteristics of this type include: its lowest form; asymmetrical plan with protruding bays and rooms; red face brick construction; complex roof form clad in terracotta tiles; elaborate verandah detailing; leadlight glazing to principal windows; and use of a wide variety of ornamental features derived from historical styles. The high quality interior finishes and fittings demonstrate popular contemporary materials and patterns, including a range of pressed metal ceilings and cornices, glazed tiles, and the use of art nouveau-style motifs for ceilings, mantelpieces and leadlight glazing.

Criterion EThe place is important because of its aesthetic significance.

Harris House is important for the beautiful attributes of its composition and fine architectural quality. The symmetrical east façade is a well-proportioned composition of formal building elements including bay windows, ornamental gables and a tall projecting portico, which, in combination with the house’s elevation above street level and substantial front staircase, creates an impressive entrance sequence. Rooms are formally arranged around a wide central passageway, which is dramatically lit by a roof lantern. Largely intact, the generously sized rooms and spaces retain high quality fittings and finishes, including timber joinery, decorative plasterwork, ornate mantelpieces and pressed metal ceilings.

A grand, Federation-era suburban villa residence, Harris House is important for the picturesque qualities of its form, materials, aesthetic treatment and garden setting, including: its asymmetrical plan with complex roof form punctuated by gables, chimneys and a roof lantern; use of contrasting materials and colours, such as red face brick, terracotta tiles and light coloured concrete; its richly detailed ornamentation; and its attractive, generously-sized garden, which enhances views of the house from Clifford and Margaret streets.

The house is visually prominent on its elevated corner site and framed by mature trees, including three large Atlas cedar trees, which make a substantial contribution to its Federation-era suburban villa setting.

History

Harris House, a substantial Federation-era masonry residence, located at 1 Clifford Street in the regional city of Toowoomba, was constructed c1912, probably by its owner, Toowoomba building contractor Montague Ivory. It is important in demonstrating the development of Toowoomba as the principal urban centre of the Darling Downs region in the 20th century. Harris House also demonstrates the principal characteristics of a substantial early 20th century suburban villa residence and of Federation-era domestic architecture, and has aesthetic significance for its beautiful attributes, picturesque qualities and streetscape contribution.

European settlement of the Toowoomba area, traditional country of the Giabal and Jarowair people, commenced in 1840 when squatters occupied pastoral runs on the Darling Downs. The small settlement of Drayton evolved from 1842, but was soon surpassed by a more desirable location six kilometres to the northeast, known as Toowoomba from the 1850s. Better suited to market gardening, with a more reliable water supply, and supported by squatters and land speculators, Toowoomba was incorporated as a municipality in 1860. Its rapid economic and social development was influenced by local residents who strongly promoted the prospects of the town, and political representatives who successfully lobbied for government funding for civic improvements.[1]

Toowoomba expanded rapidly from the late 1860s, becoming the main urban centre of the Darling Downs by 1888. The arrival of the railway in 1867 secured the town's development and subsequently made it the hub for the Southern and Western railways. The Selection Act 1868 brought selectors to the district, improvements to freehold estates, and revived trade with western areas. Toowoomba’s economy diversified to include numerous small-scale manufacturing firms, while the majority of administrative, service and other government and education functions for the surrounding region were established in the town.[2] Its progress was reflected in improvements to the physical environment, through important capital works projects, including the draining of its swamps, improved water supply, gasworks for lighting, extensive tree plantings and the initial development of Queen's Park. Earlier temporary structures were replaced with more permanent and impressive buildings.[3]

Toowoomba experienced an urban land boom throughout the 1870s and 1880s. Newtown, its first working-class suburb, was created in the 1880s, while speculators extended the ‘shopkeepers’ residential areas to the north east of Ruthven, Russell and Margaret Streets, the commercial core of the town. Prosperous Darling Downs landowners, business-owners and professionals established residences in Toowoomba; and from the 1880s, the town acted as a summer resort for those seeking a cooler climate, including Queensland Governors.[4]

By the turn of the 20th century, Toowoomba had outstripped the development of every other urban centre on the Darling Downs, with its population in 1901 equalling their combined populations. After the passage of the Local Authorities Act 1902, Toowoomba became the Town of Toowoomba on 31 March 1903, and on 29 October 1904 was proclaimed the City of Toowoomba.[5] The 1910s were a period of commercial and social expansion for the new city.[6]

The land on which Harris House stands was purchased from the New South Wales government in 1852 by ex-convict and Bull’s Head Inn publican William Horton, as part of an approximately 32 acre [13ha] block.[7] Horton became Toowoomba’s ‘first, largest and most eager purchaser of land’.[8] In 1868, he sold the block to pastoralist and parliamentarian James Taylor, who was a major Toowoomba land speculator and advocate. Following Taylor’s demise in 1892, approximately 17.5 acres [7ha] of this land, bounded by Clifford, Margaret, West, and Hill Streets, was subdivided into 64 x 40 perch [1000sqm] allotments in 1899. John Hugh Munro purchased subdivisions 1 to 3 of this estate, the site of Harris House, but subsequently sold the land in 1909 to Toowoomba building contractor, Montague Ivory.[9] Earlier that year, Ivory had purchased adjoining allotments 4 and 5, while allotments 6 to 8 had been purchased in his wife’s name.[10]

Ivory was residing in Toowoomba and working as a building contractor by 1901.[11] Born in 1861, he moved from Sydney to the Warrego region in Queensland c1892.[12] He lived in Charleville from about 1893, where he was a tobacconist and the treasurer of the Charleville Branch of the AWU, until c1900.[13]

Ivory’s work as a building contractor in Toowoomba and Warwick during the first two decades of the 20th century included regionally important projects. In Toowoomba, he constructed a 75ft [23m] brick chimney stack at Perkins & Co. Brewery, Margaret St (1901) an additional storey on the Fire Brigade Building in Neil Street (1906); two additional wings for Crawford’s Freemason’s Hotel on the corner of Neil and Herries Streets (1906); and completed extensive alterations and additions to W Jones & Son’s malt house at Black Gully in Toowoomba in 1907 [QHR600852 Toowoomba Maltings].[14] In 1908, Ivory won the tender for additions and alterations to the Toowoomba Post and Telegraph Office.[15] During 1910-11 Ivory resided in Warwick for 12 months, constructing a brick department store for Messrs Barnes & Co [QHR 600956 Barnes and Co. Trading Place], before departing the town in March 1911.[16]

By 1913, Ivory was living in Harris House on the western corner of Clifford and Margaret Streets (1 Clifford Street) and remained there until c1919, when the house was sold.[17] The designer and builder of the house are not known, but considering Ivory’s role in the building industry, it is believed he built the house for himself, as well as the adjacent houses at 3 Clifford Street and 256 Margaret Street. In 1919, Ivory reconfigured the allotments that comprised 1 and 3 Clifford Street to create three allotments, including an allotment to the west, which became 256 Margaret Street.[18]

Harris House was designed in an ornate style characteristic of the Federation-era. Federation style is a broad term used to describe the dominant style of Australia’s domestic architecture during the late 19th and early 20th century. This eclectic and highly decorative style, influenced by contemporary British and American examples, drew inspiration from a variety of historical styles, but most notably from Tudor or ‘Old English’ rural architecture. Sometimes described as ‘Queen Anne’ style, and more decorative than the concurrent ‘Arts and Crafts’ style, which focussed on honest expression of function and truthful use of materials, Federation style was used most extensively in New South Wales and Victoria. The typical Federation villa residence was a free-standing, single storeyed bungalow set within a generous garden. It had red face brick walls, with a complex roof form of hips and projecting gables, clad in terracotta Marseilles tiles, and often punctuated by picturesque chimneys. Floor plans were asymmetrical with protruding rooms, bays or towers, and the exteriors were enlivened by a wide variety of window types and shapes, and elaborate verandah detailing. Gable ends were decorated with timber and stucco ornament, and leadlight windows displayed coloured glass in flowing patterns, demonstrating the growing influence of Art Nouveau on decorative details. Regional variations of the style occurred, due to factors such as localised building traditions, the availability of building materials and individual tastes. In Queensland, the style was often applied to traditional timber houses with corrugated iron roofs, influencing their roof forms, timber verandah detailing and other ornamentation. Non-domestic buildings too, at this time, adopted an eclectic ‘Free Style’ of architecture that combined elements and details from classical, Romanesque, Art Nouveau, Queen Anne and Arts and Crafts styles, and utilised  visually contrasting materials such as dark brick and light stone or stucco.[19]

Harris House was a substantial, red face brick, single storey villa residence with a terracotta Marseilles tile-clad roof featuring multiple gables, three chimneys and a central roof lantern. It was elevated by an earth embankment above street level and its front verandah was accessed by wide staircase that led to a tall, gabled entrance portico. The exterior was highly ornamented with concrete mouldings that contrasted with the red brick walls, including quoins to wall corners, pilasters framing a pair of bay windows, and scrolled brackets to eaves and overhangs. The formal floor plan located principal rooms at the front (east) end of the house, accessed by a wide central passageway lit by the roof lantern, and service rooms at the rear (west). A rear entrance landing and laundry were, at some early stage, built up against the southwest corner of the house. In addition to the lantern, daylight to the centre and south-western parts of the house was maximised by high windows in the south and west walls, and glazed fanlights to all doors.[20] The principal rooms were given high quality finishes and materials in popular contemporary materials and patterns. Surviving original or early features include plaster walls, timber floors and joinery, a variety of Wunderlich pressed metal ceilings and cornices, fireplaces with vibrant glazed tiles and ornate timber mantlepieces, leadlight windows with Art Nouveau-style patterns, and semi-circular arches with plasterwork ornamentation in the central passageway.[21]

In 1919, Mary Kelly, wife of medical practitioner, Arthur F Kelly, purchased Harris House.[22] The house was known as ‘Cliffordene’ by the time the Kellys sold it in October 1921. The purchaser was John Mitchell Harris, who had recently married for the second time, to Malvena Sears.[23]

Harris, born c1862, arrived in Australia from Scotland in the late 1880s.[24] By 1893, he owned a residence in Mary Street, Gympie.[25] He was residing in Winton at the time of his first marriage in 1895.[26] In 1897, he was working as a journalist in Winton, while in 1898 he was the proprietor of the Winton Herald newspaper.[27] Between about October 1901 and 1905, Harris resided in Cairns, working as the manager of the drapery department of Burns Philp & Co, and travelling widely in North Queensland.[28] In April 1906, Harris purchased GP Merry’s drapery located in the Alexandra Building on Ruthven Street, Toowoomba. He built the business into one of the largest draperies on the Darling Downs, occupying the northern shop from 1906 until c1935.[29] He was a member of the Queensland Turf Club, Tattersall's Turf Club, and the Toowoomba Turf Club, and also a life member of the Toowoomba Royal Agricultural Society. Harris died on 12 July 1933 at Sandgate, aged about 71 years. He was survived by his widow and daughter, Neva (born 1925).[30]

It is unknown if Harris made any major alterations to Harris House during his residence there, but by 1934 a bathroom with shower and indoor WC had been constructed on the south verandah.[31] The grounds of Harris House were well established by the 1930s and contained a number of features. A pre-1934 sewerage detail plan of the property shows that an earth embankment ran around the north, east and south sides of the house. A wide pathway led straight to the main entrance stairs from Clifford Street, and two smaller, parallel pathways led south from a Margaret Street entrance, past the rear of the house. A fernery was located in the northwest corner of the grounds and a garage and earth closet in the southwest corner. A driveway to the garage ran along the southern boundary.[32] 

Following Harris’ death, the executors of his estate approved additions and alterations to Harris House to create a flat on the north side of the house. Architect William Hodgen drew up the plans in May 1934 and the work commenced on 26 November that year. By 24 January 1935, contractor George Conrad Strohfeldt had completed the changes, for a cost of £279.10, and the house had been repainted by his brother, Henry Martin Strohfeldt, for £24.10.[33]

The flat occupied the original sitting room and dining room, which were linked by a new sleep-out built on the north verandah. The sleep-out was carefully detailed to preserve the existing verandah structure and balustrade, and featured arched leadlight panels above banks of casement windows. A section of verandah adjacent to the west side of the dining room was demolished, and a timber, skillion-roofed structure built in its place, containing a dining room, kitchenette and bathroom. This addition was clad in timber chamferboards and had V-jointed (VJ) board and flat sheet linings. A door was inserted to link the flat’s dining room with the service rooms of the original house, and a second laundry was created by dividing off part of the existing laundry.[34]

The flat was tenanted by April 1935, when Mrs Cowan and her daughter, of Stanthorpe, were reported as having rented Mrs J M Harris's flat in Clifford Street. The flat was available for rental again in November 1938 when Mr and Mrs Harold Walsh stayed in the flat ‘for some weeks’ holiday in Toowoomba’.[35] Mrs Harris continued to reside at 1 Clifford Street until c1984. She passed away in 1988.[36]

Aerial photographs show that by 1946 the gardens contained a dense grouping of trees and plantings in the northwest corner (in the vicinity of the fernery) and three mature Atlas cedars (Cedrus atlantica), along the Margaret Street boundary.[37]

For a number of years leading up to 1990, the house was unoccupied and required repairs to cracked internal walls. Its picket fence had been removed and replaced with a metal fence.[38]

In March 1991 plans were drawn by Anthony Kibble & Associates Architects to convert the residence into multi-tenancy offices. Alterations and additions included: a new bitumen driveway and carpark in the southwest corner of the grounds; the replacement of the verandah rooms, laundry and landings along the south and west sides of the house with a concrete verandah matching the existing front verandah; installation of toilets and a kitchenette; removal of the 1935 sleepout on the north verandah; relocation of the windows from the sleepout to the rear 1935 rooms; removal of the bathroom and kitchenette in the 1935 rooms; and other repairs and renovations, including painting the exterior.[39]

On 15 October 1994, after completion of these alterations, the Honourable Mr Justice John Harris Byrne RFD, grandson of John Mitchell Harris, opened 1 Clifford Street as Harris House. A brass plaque adjacent to the front door commemorates the official opening. The building served as offices in subsequent years.

After the death of its owner, Neva Byrne, nee Harris, on 14 August 2014, the house was gifted to the National Trust of Australia (Queensland) (NTAQ).[40] By the end of May 2019, the NTAQ had retiled the roof, painted the building’s exterior, and plastered and painted the interior for use as offices and meeting rooms.[41]

In 2019, Harris House is no longer a private residence, but retains a high degree of intactness. Its garden includes pathways and remnant mature trees. It is a good example of a substantial early 20th century suburban villa residence from the Federation era, which reflects the wealth and status of the major city of Toowoomba.

Description

Harris House is a substantial, single storey villa residence in a Federation-era style. It occupies a prominent 0.19ha site on the corner of Margaret and Clifford streets, located within a mixed residential and commercial area on the western side of the Toowoomba central business district. Facing Clifford Street to the east, the house is elevated above street level and a wide staircase leads to the main entrance. The house is set within established gardens containing mature trees. In 2019 the property is undergoing repairs and renovations.

House (c1912, with 1935 and 1994 additions)

The single storey house is of red face brick construction with a tiled roof, central roof lantern, and wide verandahs around most of its perimeter. The front (east) elevation is the most ornate, with a tall entrance portico the dominant feature. Rectangular bay windows are symmetrically placed on either side of the main entrance door, which has a glazed surround. The red face brick contrasts with extensive concrete elements and ornamentation.

The rooms are arranged in a hierarchy with principal rooms in the front (east) section of the house, and service rooms in the rear (west) section. The front section contains four rooms, an entrance vestibule, a wide central passageway lit by the roof lantern, and a side passage leading to a south entrance door. Rooms on the south side of the central passageway were likely to have been bedrooms. The northeast corner room was likely a sitting or drawing room, with the dining room adjacent.

The rear section contains a central passageway that leads to a west entrance door, with the original kitchen and a third bedroom on the south side. Former storage/servants rooms on the north side of the passageway are fitted out as toilets and a kitchenette (1994). A skillion-roofed, timber-clad addition in the northwest corner of the house (1935) contains two interconnected rooms. 

Features of state-level cultural heritage significance also include:

Exterior

·         Concrete foundations

·         Double face brick exterior walls with pale tuck pointing

·         Timber-framed roof clad in terracotta Marseilles tiles with decorative finials and ridge capping (replaced with new tiles in 2019 in similar profiles)

·         Complex roof form, including paired hipped ends; a north-facing gable over the dining room; two matching east-facing gables; a projecting gable-roofed portico over the main entrance; a square central roof lantern; and separate skillion verandah roofs

·         Roof lantern, including: timber framing; ogee roof form; corrugated metal sheet cladding; pyramid-roofed ventilation fleche supported by four small columns; four-light, timber-framed windows; and pressed metal internal linings

·         Face brick chimneys with arched caps

·         Concrete exterior ornamentation, including: roughcast render finish to portico, gables and verandah arches; a variety of mouldings; star and swag details to principal gables; scrolled brackets; moulded quoins at wall corners; and classical-style pilasters framing the bay windows

·         Timber dentil bargeboard mouldings

·         Concrete door and window lintels

·         Timber, six-panel front door with timber moulding ornamentation, brass hardware including knocker, round handle and lock, and a timber finger plate

·         Leadlight side panels and fanlight to the front door, featuring multi-coloured stylised birds on a clear oval background within a grid of green glass

·         Leadlight side panels to principal windows, featuring multi-coloured floral, leaf and heart motifs on a background of green and clear glass in a grid pattern

·         Original and early timber-framed windows, including: double-hung sash windows; two-light casement windows with two-light fanlight to the kitchen; and high-level windows in south and west walls

·         Original and early window hardware

·         Metal window hood over pair of windows in the north wall, including perforated metal fringe and two ornamental gables infilled with pressed metal

·         Verandahs to the northeast, east and southeast sides, including: timber floor; concrete balustrade with round balusters; tapered, square concrete verandah posts; arched concrete verandah beams; and coved ceiling lined with V-jointed (VJ) timber boards and edged with timber mouldings

·         Main entrance stairs, including concrete balustrade

·         Evidence in the external brickwork of pre-1935 structures built against the southwest corner of the house, including traces of paint, wall and ceiling lines and weathering

Interior

·         Concrete internal partitions

·         Single-skin timber partitions lined with VJ boards in the western passageway and kitchenette

·         Clear-finished timber board floors

·         Plaster walls with rounded corners

·         Timber joinery, including: wide moulded skirting boards to principal rooms; narrower moulded skirting boards to service rooms; moulded architraves, picture rails and dado rails; low-waisted, four-panel doors, some with timber finger plates; framed timber board door to rear (west) entrance door; part-glazed doors with coloured, figured glass panes; and rectangular, horizontally centre-pivoting fanlights with figured glass

·         Original and early door hardware, including round timber handles

·         Semi-circular arches to the central passageway with plasterwork ornamentation

·         Arched openings to bay windows with plasterwork ornamentation

·         High ceilings lined with pressed metal in a variety of patterns that show the hierarchy of rooms, including: bold, large-scale geometric or floral patterns to ceilings in principal rooms, the entrance hall, central passageway and the roof lantern; detailed cornices and borders to principal rooms, particularly the dining room; round ceiling ventilation panels with six-pointed star detail; and plainer, finer-grained patterned ceilings, borders and cornices to service rooms and other spaces.

·         Traces of early paint schemes on walls and pressed metal ceilings and cornices

·         Arched openings to bay windows, with Classical-style plasterwork ornamentation

·         Corner fireplace to Main Bedroom, with an oak mantelpiece featuring a small inbuilt cabinet with an art nouveau-style motif  carved into the door; an arched cast iron fireplace insert; and glazed tile-clad hearth

·         Fireplace to the Sitting Room, with timber mantelpiece and surround; square cast iron fireplace insert; glazed tiles with a poppy flower pattern; and a glazed tile-clad hearth

·         Fireplace to the Dining Room, with timber mantelpiece, cast iron fireplace, and blue glazed tiles cladding the surround and hearth.

·         Surviving Kitchen features, including a cast iron cooking range, tiled hearth, and glazed wall tiles (tiles on the wall in the southeast corner indicate the location of a former sink)

·         Ceiling mounted cords/pulls to operate lights

·         A wall mounted gas light fitting in the rear (west) passageway, and circular wall mounts (fittings removed) in other locations

·         Remnants of an early bell system

·         Early fringed velvet pelmets to windows and doors in principal rooms

1935 addition

·         Timber-framed, skillion-roofed form

·         Brick piers

·         Timber chamferboard cladding

·         Timber floor and joinery, including lambs tongue-profile timber skirtings

·         Part-glazed, panelled door and rectangular fanlight to the kitchenette, glazed with clear patterned glass

·         Timber VJ board-lined walls with picture rail and narrow shelf

·         Flat sheet ceiling linings with batten cover strips

·         Two sets of relocated windows within arched frames, containing leadlight panels above three-light casement windows with figured glass

Elements not of state-level cultural heritage significance include: non-original paint colour schemes; the 1994 verandah addition along the west side and western end of the south side; modern gutters and downpipes; tiles cladding the main entrance stairs; verandah floor tiles in front of the main entrance door; modern timber reproduction doors and windows; tiled dado in the entrance vestibule and central passageway; mirrors; modern light fittings; the kitchenette and toilet fit-outs; air-conditioning units; and modern carpet and other floor coverings.

Grounds and views

Harris House is set back from Clifford and Margaret streets, and surrounded by gardens on the east, north and northwest sides. The gardens contain a number of large, mature trees, open lawns and garden beds. The location of some early pathways has been retained, now formed by modern materials. The house’s elevation above street level and corner location make it a prominent feature of the streetscape.

Features of state-level cultural heritage significance also include:

·         Views of the house from Margaret and Clifford streets

·         Open, garden setting surrounding the house

·         Sloped earth embankment surrounding the eastern end of the house

·         Location of the pathway from Clifford Street to the main entrance stairs

·         Location of the steps and brick pathway from Margaret Street to the west verandah

·         Three large, mature Atlas cedar (Cedrus atlantica) trees along the Margaret Street boundary

·         A large, mature Canary Island date palm (Phoenix canariensis) on the eastern lawn

·         A mature bougainvillea (Bougainvillea sp.) near the northwest corner of the house

·         A mature mulberry tree (Morus sp.) near the centre of the western boundary fence

Grounds elements not of state-level cultural heritage significance include: fences along the Margaret and Clifford Street boundaries; modern signs, lights and pathways; the entrance driveway and carpark, and recent trees, plantings and structures.

Non-significant features within the road reserve include: a street tree along Margaret Street, the footpath, road surface, kerb, signs, power poles, and all other services and road infrastructure.

References

[1] Maurice French and Duncan Waterson, The Darling Downs: A Pictorial History 1850-1950, Darling Downs Institute Press, Toowoomba, 1982, p. 130.
[2] DB Waterson, Squatter, Selector, and Storekeeper: A History of the Darling Downs, 1859-93, p., Sydney University Press, Sydney, 1968, p. 81; Queensland Heritage Register (QHR) 602824 Toowoomba South SS; French and Waterson, The Darling Downs: A Pictorial History, p. 111; W Frederic Morrison, Aldine History of Queensland, Illustrated, embracing sketches and portraits of her noted people; the rise and progress of her varied enterprises, and illustrations of her boundless wealth, together with maps of latest survey, vol II, The Aldine Publishing Company, Sydney, 1888, p. 558.
[3] French and Waterson, The Darling Downs: A Pictorial History, pp. 130-1; Ivan McDonald Architects in association with Mark Baker Town Planning Consultants Pty Ltd, 2001, Toowoomba City Centre Heritage Study, pp. 13-5 cited by QHR602824 Toowoomba South SS.
[4] French and Waterson, The Darling Downs: A Pictorial History, pp. 130-1; QHR: 600854 Smithfield House; 600869 Concordia College Administration Centre; 600850 Gabbinbar; 600870 Weetwood; 600845 Bishop’s House.
[5] French and Waterson, The Darling Downs: A Pictorial History, pp. 130-1.
[6] QHR 600845 Bishop’s House.
[7] New South Wales Deed of Grant dated 5 Jan 1852 cited by Department of Natural Resources Mines and Energy (DNRME), Certificate of Title [CoT] 11415025.
[8] Maurice French, Pubs, Ploughs and ‘Peculiar People’: Towns, Farms and Social Life, University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba, 1991, p. 31.
[9] DNRME: CoT 10125205; CoT 10923020; Survey Plan 16249; and CoT 10957086.
[10] DNRME: CoT 10957086; CoT11007189.
[11] NTAQ, Harris House file, TOOW 1/120, Toowoomba Historical Society notes on Cliffordene, 1 Clifford Street, also Harris House notes by Beris Broderick from NTQ Harris House file.
[12] Evening News, [Sydney], 15 Dec 1891, p. 6; Queensland Electoral Rolls, Warrego, 1891 and 1900.
[13] Evening News, [Sydney], 15 Dec 1891, p. 6; Queensland Electoral Rolls, Warrego, 1891; Queensland Electoral Roll, Warrego, 1893; Worker, 28 Jan 1899, p. 11; Western Champion and General Advertiser for the Central-Western Districts (WC&GA), 28 Feb 1899, p. 5; Watson and McKay, A Directory of Queensland Architects to 1940, p. 114; Queensland Electoral Roll, Warrego, 1900 cited by applicant; Worker, 28 Jan 1899, p. 11.
[14] ‘Local and General News’, Toowoomba Chronicle & Darling Downs Gazette and Advertiser (TC&DDGA), 14 Sep 1901, p. 3; ‘Toowoomba & District’, Brisbane Courier (BC), 8 Mar 1906, p. 6; ‘Crawford’s Freemason’s Hotel’, Darling Downs Gazette (DDG), 24 Jul 1906, p. 5; ‘Toowoomba & District’, BC, 5 Oct 1906, p. 2; University of Queensland Fryer Library, W Hodgen collection, UQFL116, Manuscript Finding Aid: Item A583 Alterations to bath rooms and lavatories, and sewerage connections at Fire Station, Neil Street for the Toowoomba Fire Brigade Board, 19 Oct 1930, Job 587.
[15] Toowoomba & District’, BC, 6 Oct 1908, p. 2.
[16] ‘Barnes & Co’s New Trade Palace’, Warwick Examiner & Times (WE&T), 28 Jan 1911, p. 2; DDG, 27 Mar 1911, p. 8; Queensland Figaro, 6 Apr 1911, p. 17; QHR 600956 Barnes and Co. Trading Place. In 1923-24, Ivory designed the Queensland Brewery Ltd’s new four-storey brewery in Toowoomba after it took over Breheny Brewery. See: ‘Trade and Finance’, BC, 23 Feb 1923, p. 3; ‘Confidence in Toowoomba’, TC&DDG, 12 Apr 1924, p. 6; and ‘Queensland Brewery’, TC&DDG, 3 Dec 1924, p. 7.
[17] Queensland Post Office Directory (QPOD), 1913-20.
[18] DNRME, Survey Plan RP16250. 3 Clifford Street was sold in 1920 and the purchaser was listed in the QPOD as resident in the house in the same year; while 256 Margaret Street was sold in 1924 and its new owner listed as resident in the QPOD, 1924.
[19] Richard Apperley, Robert Irving and Peter Reynolds, A Pictorial Guide to Identifying Australian Architecture, Sydney: Angus & Robertson in association with Mead & Beckett, 1989, pp.132-43; Trevor Howells and Michael Nicholson, Towards the Dawn: Federation Architecture in Australia 1890-1915, Sydney: Hale & Iremonger, 1989, pp.13-20, 108-27; Ian Evans, The Federation House: a Restoration Guide, Glebe, N.S.W.: Flannel Flower Press, 1986, pp.8-15, 31, 40-44, 51-53, 131-133; QHR 600283, Normanby Hotel.
[20] Sewerage Detail Plan No.16, dated 15/9/11 (with later amendments), Toowoomba Local History Library collection, Toowoomba City Library; UQFL116 W Hodgen & Hodgen Collection, Series 116-J, Job C10, plan of Additions and Alterations Residence Margaret St, 19 May 1934; UQFL116, Series 116-A, Box 8, Item A678 ‘Specification of Alterations and Additions at Residence Corner of Margaret and Clifford Streets, Toowoomba for the Executors in the Estate of the Late J.M. Harris Esq.’.
[21] Evans, The Federation House, pp.51-130; Catalogues of Wunderlich pressed metal patterns, accessed through the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences online collection <https://collection.maas.museum/>, accessed May 2019, including ‘Abridged General Catalogue of Metal Ceilings, Wall Linings and Stamped Metal for Exterior and Interior Decoration’, Wunderlich Limited, Redfern, New South Wales, Australia, September 1912, pp.16, 53-54; Analysis of comparable features between Harris House and 3 Clifford Street, which were both built by Ivory and share a similar plan.
[22]DNRME, CoT 11415027. In 1920, Ivory also sold his property at 3 Clifford Street to Charlotte Isabella Rutledge, wife of Frank H Rutledge, Rutledge was listed as resident in this house (Carwoola) in the QPOD, 1924. Ivory resided at addresses in Margaret Street after sale of 1 Clifford Street. Ivory appears to be living at 256 Mary Street according to the QPOD, 1920, p. 427, but by 1923 he was living further west on Margaret Street at the house called ‘Ias-To-Ne’. 256 Mary Street was sold to James Brown, Medical Practitioner in February 1924.[see QPOD, 1923, p. 454 and DNRME, CoT 11415025.]– see: QPOD, 1920, p. 427; QPOD, 1921, Alpha listing, p. 715; QPOD, 1923, p. 454; QPOD, 1924, p. 474; QPOD, 1925, p. 482.
[23] 'Bennett & Co's Sales’, DDG, 31 Oct 1921, p. 7; DNRME, CoT 11415027; ‘Family Notices’, Toowoomba Chronicle (TC), 3 Jun 1920, p. 2. Harris’ first wife had died in Feb 1911 (see DDG, 1 June 1911, p. 4). Harris married Malvena Sears on 21 May 1920 (see: Queensland historical marriage index). The 1923 edition of the QPOD is the first to record the name ‘Cliffordene’ for this house.
[24] NTAQ, file TOOW 1/120, notes from interview of Malvena Harris by Beris Broderick; Queensland Electoral Roll, Cairns, 1903.
[25] Queensland Electoral Roll, Gympie, 1893, 1895, 1900.
[26] BC, 20 Sep 1895, p. 6.
[27] Queensland Electoral Roll, Gregory, 1897 cited by applicant; NTAQ file TOOW 1/120, Mary Rafferty, Toowoomba Historical Society notes, p. 1; Capricornian, 3 Sep 1898, p. 19.
[28] The Week, 25 Apr 1902, p. 9; North Queensland (NQ) Register, 5 May 1902, p. 25; NQ Register, 1 Sep 1902, p. 26; Telegraph, 29 Aug 1902, p. 8; Morning Post, 28 Aug 1903, p. 2; Morning Post, 23 Sep 1904, p. 2; NQ Register, 21 Nov 1904, p. 12; Morning Post, 30 Jan 1905, p. 2; Morning Post, 20 October 1905, p. 2; Telegraph, 9 Nov 1905, p. 8; DDG, 23 Mar 1906, p. 6.
[29] DDG, 21 Apr 1906, p. 4; Telegraph, 5 Apr 1906, p. 8; QHR 601317 Alexandra Building, Toowoomba.
[30] BC, 13 Jul 1933, p. 5; TC, 13 Jul 1933, p. 6; NTAQ File, TOOW 1/120, notes by Beris Broderick.
[31] UQFL116, Series 116-J, Job C10, plan of Additions and Alterations Residence Margaret St, 19 May 1934; UQFL116, Series 116-A, Box 8, Item A678 ‘Specification’
[32] Sewerage Detail Plan No.16, dated 15/9/11 (with later amendments), Toowoomba Local History Library collection, Toowoomba City Library;
[33] Fryer Library, UQFL116: Series 116-J, Job C10, plan of Additions and Alterations Residence Margaret St, 19 May 1934; UQFL116, Series 116-A, Box 8, Item A678 ‘Specification’; UQFL116, Series 116-B, Box 19: Letter from W Hodgen to W Brose; Letter from W Hodgen to H M Strohfeldt, 2 Nov 1934; Letter from W Hodgen to Mrs J M Harris, 12 Nov 1934; Letter from W Hodgen to the Executors in the Estate of the late J M Harris, 24 Jan 1934.
[34] UQFL116, Series 116-J, Job C10, plan of Additions and Alterations Residence Margaret St, 19 May 1934; UQFL116, Series 116-A, Box 8, Item A678 ‘Specification’.
[35] The Courier-Mail (CM), 20 April 1935, p. 18; CM, 15 November 1938, p. 2.
[36] Telegraph: 22 Jun 1938, p. 19, 28 Sep 1946, p. 4; Queensland Electoral Roll, Darling Downs Division, Toowoomba subdivision, p. 70. QPOD, 1938, p. 626; SLQ, Queensland Electoral Roll: 1954 Division Darling Downs, Subdivision Toowoomba; 1964 Division Darling Downs, Subdivision Toowoomba South; 1974 Seat of Darling Downs, Subdivision Toowoomba North; 1984 Seat of Groom, Subdivision Toowoomba.
[37] 1946 aerial photo, accessed through TR Imagery Discovery Portal <https://maps.tr.qld.gov.au/WAB/IDP/>, accessed May 2019.
[38] NTAQ, Harris House file, TOOW 1/120: Letter from Beris Broderick, Chairman, National Trust of Queensland to Leon Misfeld, Administrator, NTQ, 20 Mar 1990.
[39] Plans of ‘Proposed Extension & Alterations to ‘Cliffordene’, Anthony Kibble & Associates Architects, Toowoomba, March 1991, copies provided to DES by NTAQ.
[40] Application HRN6502327.
[41] NTAQ Toowoomba Branch e-newsletter, 30 May 2019; Stephanie Keays, architect, Pers. Comm., 4 Jun 2019.

Image gallery