South Brisbane Town Hall

Late in the nineteenth century, South Brisbane was a separate borough from (North) Brisbane, and for a time was jockeying for the prime position in commerce, having plenty of both retail and industry. A town hall was constructed in 1891-2 on Vulture St, not far from the Stanley St intersection. Below is a photograph of the town hall from 1948.(Photo: State Library of Queensland and John Oxley Library; #33647)

There is interesting history to this building. Built in 1891-2 at a final price of £11,000 (from the initial contract of £7,000 - the original tenderer went broke) to a design by Mr John S Murdoch from the architecural firm of John Hall & Son. He subsequently became the Chief Architect for the Commonwealth. In 1904, Australia's first electrically-driven clock was installed in the tower. In 1925, the Brisbane City Council was formed and the South Brisbane Municipal Council was no more. The Brisbane City Council assumed ownership of this building, and it became the office for the city engineer. During the war years, the building was occupied firstly by the Australian Army, and then by the American Military Police.
(Photo: © 2010 the foto fanatic)

After the war, the building served as a number of flats until purchased in 1955 by the State government for use by the Queensland Conservatorium of Music. It was subsequently an adult education office, and was then purchased in 1999 by Somerville House, a leading Brisbane girls' school. It now forms part of the school's campus, which also contains the heritage listed house, Cumbooquepa.

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