THE SECRET LIFE OF 100-YEAR OLD TIMBER
April 2021
In March 2021 Thor’s Hammer received a large delivery of timber from the demolition of a 1900’s warehouse building located on Albert Street, Brisbane, in the heart of the old city.
The timber was in sizes rarely found today including 300 x 75 mm dense hardwood floor joists, as well as massive 300 x 300mm and 375 x 375mm posts and rustic 85 x 25mm extra thick floorboards.
Buildings this historic are rarely demolished these days, so Thor approached Maria Larkins, a historian and writer, to see if she could find out more.
From fruit shop to farming supplies to the Brewhouse, read on to learn more about the historic timbers now in Thor’s Hammer workshop.
The timber from 142 Albert Street, Brisbane has a rich history with links to maritime, commercial, hospitality and entertainment ventures.
The timbers are from the remnants of an impressive c1900s brick warehouse building which was situated in the historic Frog’s Hollow precinct of the Brisbane CBD. The area was the city’s main warehouse and light industrial sector and prone to flooding. An image of the 1893 flood shows a glimpse of the first building on the site. [1]
The original building appears to have been tenanted by at least two businesses. In 1895 there was an advertisement for door-to-door salespeople to sell tea on behalf of the Economic Tea Company at 142 Albert Street, Brisbane. There are also records of a fruiterer, Gaetano Russo, being on the site from January 1896 to at least 1899. [2]
The history of the timber now obtained by Thor’s Hammer begins in 1910 after a series of takeovers and mergers of local hardware and machinery companies.
The importation and distribution of farm and other machinery was big business at this time. A. Overend & Co. who occupied a building on the corner of Albert and Alice Street (also seen in the 1893 flood photograph) were taken over by McLennan & Co. in January 1897. [3]
1893 Floods in Albert Street: Showing 142 Albert Street indicated by arrow and A. Overend & Co. behind the Oriental Hotel building. From the John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland, https://hdl.handle.net/10462/deriv/8664
An advertisement of the time announced the takeover and also promoted their wares: Skandia Plough Co. steel beam ploughs, Iron Age cultivators, Alexandra cream separators, Halliday windmills and pumps, Pooley’s weighbridges and weighing machines, Marshalls’ portable engines and threshing machines, Worthington duplex pumps, plus large stocks of iron and steel bars and other hardware. [4]
McLennan & Co. engaged architects, Atkinson & McLay, to design a new warehouse for them at 142 Albert Street. Tenders to construct it were called in August and September 1907. Interesting to note that the architects also designed two hotels that year, one at Esk and the other at Dulacca. [5]
Main image of building: Employees in front of The Queensland Machinery Company Limited, c1913. From the John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland, https://hdl.handle.net/10462/deriv/208195
“Messrs. McLennan and Co.’s fine large brick warehouse in Albert Street has given a decidedly improved appearance to the thoroughfare…” [6]
The new building featured prominent arched window fenestration and was constructed with an abundance of timber beams and rafters. Some structural elements, notably the hardwood central colonnade, were actually recycled from early British boats. [7]
McLennan & Co. merged with The Queensland Machinery Company Pty Ltd In early 1912 and occupied the site for several decades.
Architectural drawing courtesy of The Brewhouse.
In the 1930s they sold Kohler electric plants to power “farms, country homes, stores, garages, hospitals, theatres, and other places beyond the reach of electric lines.” [8]
By the 1950s they expanded the line of machinery on offer to include: “high grade tools” such as Herbert capstan and turret lathes; Swift, Nuttall and Qualos general purposes lathes; and Wadkin woodworking machines. [9]
In 1963 the company was the successful tenderer in supplying a woodworking machine to the value of £255 to Royal General Hospital at Greenslopes. [10]
By 1974 The Queensland Machinery Company Ltd had moved on and the building became home of the Festival Discount Store which sold a variety of modern “machinery” including typewriters, tape recorders, photographic equipment, and domestic electrical appliances as well as manchester and other household items. [11]
From 1999 to 2005 the site was the Aurora’s nightclub, bar and restaurant. Then it was home of microbrewery, bar and restaurant, The Brewhouse. Grant and Michelle Clark celebrated the building’s massive beams and historic character in their renovation and even featured the building on the Brewhouse logo. They held the site from 2005 to 2008 and had lodged plans to construct a deck for patrons on the first floor but withdrew their application after the building’s owners released them from their nine-year lease and proceeded to modernise the building. [12]
Prior to its recent demolition to make way for a new railway station as part of the Cross River Rail Development, 142 Albert Street comprised the 8 Ball Pool Club upstairs and various food tenancies downstairs including the Mexican Taqueria Guzman Y Gomez, Pick Cup Bubble Tea, iPlay gaming and Baskin-Robbins.
142 Albert Street had been placed on the Brisbane Council Heritage Register but was de-registered as a result of building work which had removed much of the building’s significant heritage features.
Perfect for making extra thick feature stair treads and table tops, these recycled timbers are now awaiting the next chapter.
Timber species include mostly Ironbark, with some Blackbutt, Tallowwood and Spotted Gum.
Researched and written by Maria Larkins, History Researcher & Writer.
Article edited by Irina Agaronyan.
Photography slideshow: Rohan Thomson
References:
[1] https://apps.des.qld.gov.au/heritage-register/detail/?id=600097; View of 1893 Brisbane Floods, Brisbane John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland, https://hdl.handle.net/10462/deriv/8664.
[2] Advertisement for House-to-House travellers to sell tea, Brisbane Telegraph, 8 February 1895, p7; Electoral Lists, Brisbane Telegraph, 11 January 1896, p6; Family Notices, Brisbane Telegraph, 24 June, 1899, p7.
[3] Advertisement, Queensland Times, 26 January 1897, p2.
[4] Advertisement, Queensland Times, p2.
[5] Advertisements, Brisbane Telegraph, 3 August 1907, p7; Brisbane Courier, 28 August 1907, p.1; Brisbane Telegraph, 7 September 1907, p7.
[6] McLennan and Co., Brisbane Courier, 23 December 1910, p8.
[7] Email from Brewhouse to Maria Larkins, 10 March, 2021.
[8] Company Registration, Australian Securities and Investment Commission; Advertisement, Brisbane Truth, 14 November, 1937, p43.
[9] Advertisement, Brisbane Telegraph, 31 July 1950, p18.
[10] Repatriation Department Tenders Accepted, Commonwealth Government Gazette, 5 Dec 1962, p4468.
[11] Photograph of Albert Street, 1974 Floods, Brisbane John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland, https://hdl.handle.net/10462/deriv/108884.
[12] Material Change of Use TPA, 142 Albert Street, Brisbane City Council, Jan 2007, page 6, https://developmenti.brisbane.qld.gov.au/DocumentSearch/GetAllDocument?applicationId=A001646574.https://www.brewsnews.com.au/2010/06/25/brewhouse-brisbane.