One of the more interesting historic houses of New Farm still extant is situated on the north-east corner of Moray and Sydney Street. In 1888, the two allotments on this corner, formally part of the Kinellan Estate of Sir Robert Ramsay McKenzie, were combined into one title by Leopold Solomon Benjamin, a prominent businessman and financial manager of Benjamin Brothers Ltd, general merchants and importers. Here the architect John Jacob Cohen built a fine home for Benjamin.
The house was given the name “Inglenook”, and this location was conveniently near the river with easy access to the Valley and the City by means of the horse-drawn tram, the terminus of which was at the corner of Brunswick and Barker Streets.
Cohen was a forward-looking architect and included gables, exposed polychromatic brickwork on the verandah walls, and multipaned sash windows. The appearance is of the two story boom style of the 1880s. The financial crisis of the early 1890s saw the house sold, and it was occupied by various families until, in 1919, Henry William Byran bought it and renamed it “Allawah”. In 1925, Leslie Arthur Wilkinson bought the property and changed the name to “Risdon”, and kept the home until 1942.
Wartime Brisbane needed accommodation for the multitude of single girls whose service brought them to the city. In 1942, The Girls Friendly Society of the Anglican Church bought the house to be converted to a hostel for young service women.
After the war, it became opened to non-service women, particularly young ladies who had come to Brisbane to study. As times changed, the use to which the hostel was put has evolved. It is still owned by the Anglican Church and used as a hostel.
Further information is also available at the office of the Historical Society, next to the New Farm Library, open Thursdays from 2.00pm to 4 pm or by appointment.
It is lovely to see a photo of GFS House as I knew it in 1969 when I lived in the hostel with other trainee teachers.
I shared the top bay windowed room with 4 others; teachers from the Torres Strait were in the closed-in side verandah on the left – and about 20 other students filled the other upper rooms and verandahs.
I understood that the House had been the Governor’s Aide’s mansion prior to being used as a hostel.
Recent restoration works have opened up the verandahs and returned decorative details – it is looking wonderful.
19/11/23