Lucerne on Fernberg | |
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Lucerne, 1997
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Location | 23 Fernberg Road, Paddington, City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia |
Coordinates | 27°27′55″S 153°00′04″E / 27.4653°S 153.001°ECoordinates: 27°27′55″S 153°00′04″E / 27.4653°S 153.001°E |
Design period | 1840s - 1860s (mid-19th century) |
Built | c. 1860 - 1862 by |
Official name: Lucerne | |
Type | state heritage (built, landscape) |
Designated | 21 October 1992 |
Reference no. | 600251 |
Significant period | 1860s (fabric) 1860s-1890s (historical) |
Significant components | residential accommodation - main house, tennis court, driveway, kitchen/kitchen house, attic, garden/grounds |
Lucerne on Fernberg is a heritage-listed detached house at 23 Fernberg Road, Paddington, City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It was built from 1859 to 1862 and is believed to be the oldest privately owned residence in Brisbane. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 October 1992.
James Young, a bricklayer by trade who reputedly worked as a foreman for John Petrie, acquired 6 acres 2 roods of land at Milton, adjoining what later became Bishopsbourne, by deed of grant dated 22 August 1859. The house is believed to have been built by 1862, the first of three homes which Young constructed on the property, to accommodate a family of sixteen children.
By the early 1870s, Young was renting the house to John Guthrie, a solicitor credited with naming the property "Lucerne", after the lake and town in Switzerland. A clue as to why Guthrie saw similarities is in the nature of the terrain; a steep sided watercourse would have bisected the property. To provide it with fresh water it may have been dammed, hence a lake or pond would have formed. On the western or opposite side of the property was Red Jacket Swamp, now the sports ground and park for Milton State School.
In the late 1870s the Misses Davis possibly ran a school from the premises. By 1877 the house comprised drawing, dining and sitting rooms on the ground floor, an attic space divided into four bedrooms, a bathroom and detached kitchen-house with servant's quarters, along with various outbuildings. Alexander Duncan Campbell purchased the residence on 2 acres 3 roods 33.8 perches early in 1879, and by mid-1883 Lucerne was in the possession of Agnes wife of John Scott MLA (1883-98). Scott, a pastoralist and parliamentarian, resided there until his death in 1898. The property remained in the hands of his heirs until purchased by Miss Annie Hirst in 1905. Members of the Hirst family lived at Lucerne for many years, until the former's death in 1940. Since 1947 the property has had three owners, the Wards, the Morrows and the O'Sullivans, the latter having resided at Lucerne since 1969. In that year a new kitchen and eating area were created along the enclosed rear verandah, and the old detached kitchen converted to a bedroom. A series of detached additions at the rear of the house have been erected since.