Ilfracombe

This private home is one of the grand houses of Maryborough, built between 1893 and 1895, for Margaret Blair. Margaret’s sister was married to Andrew Heron Wilson, sawmill proprietor and politician. Margaret Blair and her husband lived in New Zealand. After his death in February 1893, Margaret and her four children moved to Maryborough. They lived with the Wilsons at their home ‘Doon Villa’ which Wilson had acquired in 1882. Wilson purchased an allotment south of ‘Doon Villa’ in 1890 and built a house for Margaret there, known as ‘Blairholme’; (owned by Wilson). The exact date of construction is unknown. After A H Wilson’s death in 1906, his property was transferred to Queensland Trustees limited. ‘Blairholme’ was sold after the death of Margaret Blair in 1934. It changed hands again in 1937, this time to another timber entrepreneur, James Hyne. The Hyne family had a home in Lennox Street named ‘Ilfracombe’, and that name was transferred to this property. ‘Doon Villa’ was demolished in the late 1950s, leaving ‘Ilfracombe’ and its southern neighbour ‘Struan’, the last of the grand timber private homes overlooking the river in this neighbourhood. ‘Ilfracombe’ is a private home and not publically accessible.