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Rockton is a heritage-listed villa at Rockton Street, Newtown, City of Ipswich, Queensland, Australia. It was built from 1855 onwards. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 October 1992. == History == Rockton is a substantial brick house, the first section of which was built as a cottage for bank manager William Craies and his wife Sabina in 1855. The cottage was progressively extended and altered by successive owners over a long period, producing a complex but surprisingly harmonious house with great character.〔 In the 1850s, Craies was commuting between Ipswich and Brisbane as manager of the branches of the Bank of New South Wales in both towns. He then resigned and came to work full-time in Ipswich as a partner with the merchant Walter Gray and Co. To quickly provide accommodation for his family in Ipswich, he built a three room cottage in 1855 on 7ha of land he already owned on Limestone ridge overlooking the town. The cottage faced north, had two fireplaces, a boxroom at each end and a verandah back and front. Behind it to the south was a detached kitchen and bath house.〔 The cottage was extended within the year by builder William Hancock. Craies sold the house in 1862 because of financial difficulties associated with the collapse of Walter Gray and Co and it was then described as ''"a good substantial edifice built of bricks with shingled roof and containing front and side and back verandahs, entrance hall, dining room, drawing room, four bedrooms, nursery, pantry, store-room, kitchen, servants room and wash house."'' There were also several outbuildings, a lawn, garden and kitchen garden, a vineyard of 2000 vines and paddocks for horses and a cow. At this time, the house was considered to be a "country residence", although only 2km from the centre of Ipswich. The purchaser was Robert Towns who rented it. The next owner, in 1873, was Samuel Hodgson.〔 The house was occupied by the Bullmore family in 1877 and purchased by them in 1882, after which it was again extended. The Bullmores had several daughters who attended the nearby Ipswich Girls' Grammar School after it was established in 1892 and the house was extended for family accommodation and entertaining. A breezeway between two wings was enclosed to form a ballroom and an upper storey was added to the northern end with a "widow's walk" on top. About 1900, the roof was changed to corrugated galvanised iron, a verandah was built onto the upstairs section on the north side and a tower was built, possibly designed by George Brockwell Gill. Bullmore was notable for his establishment of Trelawney Dairy near Harrisville which had associated butter and cheese factories.〔 In 1918, Will and Laura Haenke bought the house which by then was in bad state of repair and some of the original land had been sold. Haenke was an architect and later became a coal-mine owner, associated with Rhondda Colliery. He relocated the kitchen which had been in the original cottage wing to a position in the "join" of the cottage and the main building, requiring changes to the adjacent verandahs. Haenke also imposed 1930s details such as doorways and a large bay window in the living area. A formal garden was continued during this time and major trees were retained. A swimming pool was built in 1953.〔 In 1945, a separate residential area was created on the northern side for Haenke's son Willis and his wife Helen who inherited the property when Will died in 1953. Willis continued the family interest in coalmining and Helen was a writer who published several books of poetry and wrote several plays which were performed in Brisbane and Ipswich. Today, Rockton is owned by their daughter Angela and her husband Wybe Geertsma.〔 Outbuildings remaining today consist of an early billiard room, a brick outbuilding which was converted into a fernery in the 1930s and new garages built to a design by Buchanan Architects . The garden contains very large mature trees including Moreton Bay figs and several limestone walls, as well as formal garden beds.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Rockton, Ipswich」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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