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Tozer's Building is a heritage-listed shopping centre at 218 Mary Street, Gympie, Gympie Region, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by Richard Gailey and built in 1896. It is also known as Jeffery & Cuddihy Building. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 15 July 2011. == History == Tozer's Building was designed in 1895 by noted Brisbane architect Richard Gailey as solicitors' offices for Horace Tozer (later knighted) and his partner Anthony Conwell. Practising as a solicitor in Gympie from 1868 until 1898, Tozer was noted as an authority on mining law and as a Member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly, minister and Agent-General. These two storey purpose-built offices with basement, designed in a classical style have been used as solicitors' offices from 1896 until the present day.〔 Gympie was established after the discovery of gold in the Mary River district in October 1867. The new goldfield established Queensland as a significant gold producer, contributing much needed finances to the young colony. Thousands of people arrived at the Gympie goldfield in the months after the discovery and a fledgling settlement emerged. In a year the alluvial gold had been exhausted and shallow reef mining commenced. During 1881, mines began yielding large amounts of gold, marking a new era of wealth and prosperity for Gympie as an intensive phase of underground reef mining began, facilitated by the injection of capital into mining companies for machinery and employees.〔 As Gympie evolved from a hastily established mining settlement, the early makeshift structures of the 1860s gradually gave way to more permanent and substantial public and private buildings from the mid 1870s. With the change to deep reef mining during the 1880s came the need for extensive capital investment. Gympie was Queensland's second and then third biggest gold producer during the 1880s and 1890s (after Mt Morgan gold production overtook it in 1887). In this period gold production contributed between 21.61 and 35.53 percent of Queensland export income. Gympie's part in the production was reflected in the redevelopment of upper Mary Street during the 1880s and 1890s with substantial commercial buildings such as banks and mining secretaries' and brokers' offices. Several fires - in 1877, 1881 and 1891 - razed the earlier timber buildings and accelerated this transformation.〔 A fire in August 1881 destroyed all of the buildings between Patterson's brick store and the Bank of New South Wales (242 Mary Street) on the south-western side of Mary Street, Gympie. This included the earlier building that had stood on the site of the present-day Tozer's Building (originally Allotment 10, Section A). Horace Tozer established a legal practice in Gympie in 1868 following his admission as a solicitor of the Supreme Court of Queensland on 7 December 1867. In 1871 he purchased, under the Goldfields Town Land Act 1869, the town lot on the north-eastern side of upper Mary Street on which he had built his business premises in the early days of the town. The Brisbane Courier reported in February 1881 that Gympie property had increased in value as a consequence of a very marked improvement in mining. Subsequently in August 1881 Horace Tozer sold his upper Mary Street property and moved to leased premises on the same side of upper Mary Street. In 1886 he went into partnership with Anthony Conwell (d 1897) as Tozer and Conwell, solicitors.〔 In 1891 the premises leased by Tozer and Conwell were burnt down when the north-eastern side of Mary Street, between the Gympie Times office and the Mining Exchange Hotel was razed, and the partnership suffered a loss of £5,000 in uninsured property. The solicitors moved temporarily into a building next to the Australian Joint Stock Bank (236 Mary Street) on the opposite side of upper Mary Street from January to March 1891. They then moved to offices next to Caston and Davidson, Mining Secretaries, (Crawford and Co Building, 216 Mary Street), possibly in a building that occupied the site of the current Tozer's Building (218 Mary Street).〔 At the time, this property was owned by Charles Campion Bunworth, a Gympie businessman, who owned a number of Mary Street properties. The property had been mortgaged to Gympie MLA and community leader, William Smyth, for £3,200 in February 1890. By April 1894 Bunworth was insolvent and the property passed to Robert Jones who sold it to Ellen Jane Smyth, the wife of William Smyth, in August 1894.〔 In October 1895 tenders for contractors to erect offices and strongrooms in Mary Street, Gympie were invited by architect Richard Gailey with plans available for inspection at the offices of Tozer and Conwell, Gympie. Upon its completion, the building formed part of the gold era streetscape of upper Mary Street created in the 1880s and 1890s.〔 Richard Gailey (1834-1924) was a Londonderry architect who had settled in Brisbane in 1864. He established his own practice here in 1865, and over the next 60 years built up a thriving business, working until his death in 1924. He designed Baptist churches including the Baptist City Tabernacle in Brisbane, the former Baptist Church in Ipswich; commercial buildings such as banks including the Westpac Bank Building, Normanton (formerly the Bank of New South Wales); and many hotels including the Jubilee Hotel, Orient Hotell, Regatta Hotel, Wickham Hotel, all in Brisbane. Many commercial buildings in Brisbane designed by Gailey during the 1880s were characterised by classical idioms and details. He designed the Commercial Hotel and the Bank of New South Wales Building located in Mary Street, Gympie.〔 Building owner Ellen Smyth was the second wife of self-made man, William Smyth, who rose from gold miner to mining speculator, making his fortune through investment in mine shares, particularly from the highly profitable Phoenix No 1 Mine. He became the largest mine owner on the Gympie field. Elected as an alderman for Borough of Gympie in 1883, Smyth was mayor of Gympie from 1883 to 1884 when he resigned after election as the Member for Gympie in the Queensland Legislative Assembly, in which he served from 7 September 1883 to 11 March 1899. He was a Director of the Royal Bank of Queensland, Gympie Gas Company and One Mile Sawmill. Smyth died in 1899. His widow was involved in a number of community organisations including the National Council of Women of Queensland (NCWQ), first as a delegate and later as Honorary Vice-President.〔 Her lessee, Sir Horace Tozer, born on 23 April 1844 at Port Macquarie, New South Wales, was both solicitor and politician. Practising law in Gympie from 1868 and as a joint owner of mining leases, Tozer became an authority on mining law, was a member of the Gympie Mining Court and conducted two mining appeals before the Privy Council in London. He was elected as member for Wide Bay in 1871 but stood down a few months later for Henry Edward King to contest the seat in a by-election. He served as an alderman in the first Gympie Municipal Council from 1880. In 1888 Tozer again nominated for Wide Bay and won the seat, which he held until 5 March 1898. From 12 August 1890 until his retirement from parliament Tozer held ministerial offices. He served as Colonial Secretary and Secretary for Public Works until March 1893, Colonial Secretary from March 1893 to August 1896 and as Home Secretary from 1896 until 2 March 1898. From March to November 1897 he acted as Queensland Premier in the absence of Sir Hugh Nelson and in that year was appointed K.C.M.G. In London, Tozer acted as Queensland's Agent-General from 1898 to 1909 when he retired because of ill-health. During his public life he introduced significant legislation including the Public Service Act 1896, the Factories and Shops Act 1896 to regulate hours and conditions, the Election Act 1897 and the controversial Aboriginals Protection and Restriction of the Sale of Opium Act 1897. In his ministerial capacity Tozer was responsible for establishing the Free Public Library in 1895 and the National Art Gallery of Queensland . He died on 20 August 1916.〔 The solicitors firm established by Horace Tozer in 1868 was continued in Tozer's Building by his descendants for another 94 years, perpetuating his name, his connection with the site and his community involvement. Sir Horace Tozer's son, Vivian Hoyles Tozer, who had entered the firm, leased the building until he purchased the property in 1949 after the death of its owner, Ellen Jane Smyth. Vivian Tozer qualified as a solicitor in 1892, later was elected MLA, and served as a citizen soldier in the Queensland Defence Force. Following his death, Tozer's Building passed to descendents, Seymour Darvall Tozer and Horace Vivian Tozer in 1959, quickly passing to Horace Vivian Tozer solely in October 1959. In 1990 the property transferred to the firm of solicitors, Jeffery Cuddihy and Joyce, which currently occupies the building.〔 Some changes have been made to the original building. The rear upper storey verandah has been altered, a fireplace on the rear, right-hand- side wall of the ground floor has been boarded up and wall partitions have been added to create office space at the rear of the original building on the ground floor. The interior staircase to the basement, which was accessed from behind the staircase to the upper floor, has been closed off from access from the ground floor. The original strongrooms on the ground floor and in the basement are extant. In 2009 the upper floor offices were unchanged as was the staircase leading to the first floor from the foyer. The original counter in the foyer is in place but the clerk's grill with writing slope has been removed, although it remains stored in the building. An extension has been added to the rear of the original building for offices on the ground floor, with a new opening through the rear wall of the 1896 building, and staff facilities in the basement area are accessed by a new staircase. The basement retains its strongrooms, fireplace, staircase and windows, including their security bars.〔 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「Tozer's Building」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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