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Royal Bank of Queensland is a heritage-listed bank at 297 Kent Street, Maryborough, Fraser Coast Region, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by Victor Emmanuel Carandini and built from 1888 to 1889. It is also known as Queensland International Heritage College and Windsor House. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 October 1992. == History == The former Royal Bank of Queensland was constructed in 1888-9 to the design of Brisbane architect, Victor Carandini. The building was the first branch of the Royal Bank of Queensland opened in Maryborough.〔 The original township of Maryborough was situated, not in its current place, but on the north of the Mary River, after wharves were established in 1847-8 providing transport for wool from sheep stations on the Burnett River. In 1850 Surveyor, HR Labatt arrived in Maryborough with instructions to suggest the best sites for the towns and wharves. The site recommended by Labatt was not where settlement was established but further east to allow for the development of deeper wharves and from the early 1850s this is where the town developed. During the 1860s and 1870s Maryborough flourished as the principal port of the nearby Gympie goldfield and as an outlet for timber and sugar. The establishment of manufacturing plants and primary industries sustained its growth as a major regional centre. .〔 Many banks opened branches in Maryborough during the nineteenth century, and the Royal Bank opened a branch in 1888 after many of the other banks were established. The Royal Bank was established in about 1886, and their head office was opened in February of 1886, with shareholders concentrating on business, mining and agricultural interests near the eastern coast. The architect chosen to design the Royal Bank was Brisbane architect, Victor Carandini who practised from 1885 in partnership with Alfred Banks and from mid-1887 in private practice. He won several competitions and designed a number of fine buildings throughout Queensland, including a fire station in Townsville; St Thomas' Church of England, Beaudesert; a School of Arts in Redland Bay and the Post Office Hotel in Maryborough. The new bank building was designed to incorporate the banking chamber and offices on the ground floor and a residence for the manager on the upper floor, a common practice in regional banks at the time.〔 The Royal Bank merged with the Bank of North Queensland in about 1917 to form the Bank of Queensland. In 1921 this in turn merged with the Queensland National Bank and became part of the National Bank of Australasia Limited in the late 1940s. This merging meant that many banks in Maryborough were surplus to requirements and the former Royal Bank was one of these, being sold in 1973. It became known as Windsor House and was leased as private tenancies, including some residential use and as a restaurant. In 1983 it was purchased as a group medical practice and also contained pathology laboratories until 1995, when it changed hands again. It was then opened as the Queensland International Heritage College. At this time some of the internal partitions erected for previous tenants were removed and the building was painted.〔 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「Royal Bank of Queensland, Maryborough」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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