Osler House

This two storied house of rendered brick was designed by Townsville architects W G Smith and Sons in an Italianate style. It was completed in April 1899 and specifically designed for rental as a doctor’s surgery and residence. The ground floor comprised consulting rooms and a dining room. A drawing room, two bedrooms and pantry were on the upper floor. The kitchen and servant’s room were in a separate brick building at the rear. Dr Sidney Spark was the first tenant and the house was occupied by doctors until 1901. The Commercial Travellers Association then established a club in the building, which operated until 1906, when it returned to medical use. Dr Gordon Ross purchased it in 1919. He was founder of the Lister Hospital, the forerunner of the present Mater Misericordia Hospital, and had been superintendent of the Townsville General Hospital. Ross sold Osler House in 1928 to another well-known northern medical practitioner, Dr H J Taylor. It is thought that the building may have been named Osler House in the 1930s in honour of Sir William Osler, a distinguished Canadian physician who developed modern methods of clinical training and was an author of the influential ‘Principles and Practice of Medicine’.