Teneriffe Woolstores

Introduction

Brisbane in the past 20 years has seen a number of urban renewal projects which have transformed near city areas including Fortitude Valley's James Street, the Gasworks area in Newstead and the redevelopment of the Teneriffe Woolstores.

Two of the major Teneriffe woolstore redevelopments included the Mactaggarts Woolstore and the London Woolstore Apartments critically retaining the original façades and with other strict heritage controls.

Reason to Be Selected

Mactaggarts Woolstore is a heritage-listed wool warehouse at 53 Vernon Terrace, Teneriffe, City of Brisbane, Queensland,Australia. It was built in 1926 by Stuart Brothers (Sydney). It was added to theQueensland Heritage Register on 21 October 1992.

It was built in 1926 for the New Zealand Loan & Mercantile Agencies Company, one of some sixteen woolstores erected in the first half of the twentieth century along the Brisbane River at Teneriffe. From the mid 1960s the woolstores and their associated wharves were in decline, and many of the woolstores were sold as development sites.

Details

The warehouse is a large building on the edge of the Brisbane River, on the corner of Vernon Terrace and Commercial Rd, within the Woolstores group. It is rectangular, three-storeyed and built of brick, with regularly-spaced windows. The interior was the most intact of any of the woolstores, with wide areas of unpartitioned space and intact fittings. It was converted into apartments in 1995.

Redeveloped into residential apartments, some of the building's original wool baling equipment is displayed throughout the apartment's corridors as a reminder of the building's history. This new use conserves this familiar Brisbane River landmark while allowing residents to enjoy a little bit of Queensland's Heritage.

Sited along the river's edge, on the corner of Vernon Terrace and Commercial Rd, Mactaggarts is a prominent building within the Woolstores group. The building is a substantial, rectangular three-storeyed parapeted brick building with uniform fenestration. Externally Mactaggarts contributes to the Woolstores townscape. Internally, it is the most intact building in the woolstores group, retaining expansive areas of unpartitioned space, and intact fittings. The upper floor has impressive spatial qualities.

Clarke Constructions were appointed builder with works beginning with major demolition of the structural roof frame and asbestos removal. A new structural building frame was completed and new roofing system to the upper levels creating two additional levels to the building.

Architect Scott Peabody who has significant heritage architecture experience including at historic Yungaba House at Kangaroo Point and Winchcombe Carson Woolstore also in Teneriffe said, “To embrace and hold on to the woolstores and transform them into a residential concept has really opened up the Brisbane River again.SignificanceThe place is important in demonstrating the evolution or pattern of Queensland's history. 

Mactaggarts Woolstore forms part of the Teneriffe Woolstore group, one of the most cohesive groupings of mercantile buildings in Queensland. 

The woolstores are powerful evidence of both the importance of the wool industry to the state and the development of its marketing from the turn of the century. The supporting transport infrastructure played an important role in the development of Teneriffe as the woolstore centre; the rail and river links providing evidence of the role of Brisbane as a port for the state's industries.

The place is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a particular class of cultural places. 

Mactaggarts is one of several woolstores built during the 1920s,  The place is important because of its aesthetic significance. It contains an impressive skylit upper floor and its interior is the most intact of the woolstores group.

It is the last remaining woolstore situated directly on the riverbank.The place has a strong or special association with a particular community or cultural group for social, cultural or spiritual reasons.The place has a special association with the life or work of a particular person, group or organisation of importance in Queensland's history.

 



Lat: -19.556
Lng: 145.773
Type:
Region: Oceania
Scale: District
Field: Residence
City: Brisbane