Harlaxton House
| Harlaxton House | |
|---|---|
2014
|
|
| Location | 6 Munro Street, Harlaxton, Queensland, Australia |
| Coordinates | 27°31′48″S 151°57′36″E / 27.5299°S 151.96°ECoordinates: 27°31′48″S 151°57′36″E / 27.5299°S 151.96°E |
| Design period | 1840s–1860s (mid-19th century) |
| Built | 1869–1870 – 1910s circa |
| Official name: Harlaxton House | |
| Type | state heritage (built, landscape) |
| Designated | 21 October 1992 |
| Reference no. | 600839 |
| Significant period | 1860s-1910s (fabric, historical) |
| Significant components | service wing, attic, views from, residential accommodation – main house, views to, carriage way/drive, trees/plantings, terracing |
 Location of Harlaxton House in Queensland
Location of Harlaxton House in Queensland
|
|
Harlaxton House is a heritage-listed villa at 6 Munro Street, Harlaxton, Queensland, Australia. It was built from 1869 to 1870 to 1910s circa. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 October 1992.
Harlaxton House is a low-set, single-storey stone residence built for Francis Thomas Gregory, and his wife Marion Scott Gregory, née Hume, in the 1870s. A letter to the editor of the Toowoomba Chronicle dated 19 June 1979, suggests that Harlaxton House was named after Harlaxton Manor, the home of the Gregorys near Farnsfield, in Nottinghamshire. The architect of Harlaxton House is unknown.
The date of completion of Harlaxton House is uncertain but in a letter written to Katie Hume, dated 23 November 1869, Mrs Gregory refers to "The Hermitage", presumably where she was writing, as being "within a mile of the house Frank Gregory is building on the Range and which they are to occupy next March". On 28 January 1871, Mrs Gregory had a son "at Harlaxton House near Toowoomba." Mrs Gregory was the sister of Walter Hume who later became the Commissioner of Crown Lands on the Darling Downs. (Walter Hume was the husband of Katie Hume, née Fowler, who is the subject of the publication Katie Hume on the Darling Downs: A Colonial Marriage, edited by Nancy Bonnin.)
On 7 August 1862, Martin Meldon took up 53 hectares of land extending back to where Downlands College now stands (On Deed of Grant information, land area is given as 43 acres and 3 roods). On 18 December 1869, it was purchased by Frances Thomas Gregory, later Hon. F.T. Gregory, M.L.C, gold medallist of the Royal Geographical Society, explorer, geologist and botanist. He was the son of Captain Joshua Gregory of the 78th Highlanders and brother of Sir Augustus Charles Gregory, first Surveyor-General of Queensland. Gregory was born on 19 October 1821, in Farnsfield, Nottingham, England, and came to Australia in 1829 in the ship Loftus.
Gregory married Marion Scott Hume in 1864. The Register of the Queensland Parliament, 1860–1927 states that Gregory resigned as mining Commissioner for Stanthorpe in November 1872 to take over the administration on the Estate of his late friend William Beit, and the family moved to Westbrook. William Beit was the father of William Beit Jnr, the builder of Ascot House in Toowoomba. In 1874 Gregory entered the Queensland Legislative Council and the family moved back to Harlaxton. In 1874 Francis Thomas Gregory was listed in the Post Office Directory as a Justice of the Peace, Darling Downs. From information available in the Post Office Directory, 1883–84, Gregory is listed as Vice-President of Horticultural Association, Chairman of Highfields Divisional Board and Chairman and Treasurer of the Toowoomba Grammar School. Information in files of the National Trust of Queensland claim that, in 1877, Gregory was the financial agent for trustees of Beit (Westbrook) and Tooth (Clifton). He may still have been financial agent for trustees even though he may have moved back to Harlaxton. The exact dates of these occurrences remains unclear.
...
Wikipedia