|
Wislet is a heritage-listed detached house and former hospital at 127 Russell Street, Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia. It was built for Dr Freidrich Hinrichsen and his wife, Dori, in 1908, as a large two-story building combining a residence and medical suite. It was thereafter sold to two other Toowoomba doctors: Thomas Connolly in 1910, who renamed the property Drynane, and John Hulme in 1948. In 1963, the property was sold to the Methodist Church, who established the Wesley Hospital in the building. The ownership of the hospital passed to the Uniting Church in Australia in 1980, and it operated until 1998, when the church deemed it no longer viable. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 30 May 2003. == History == Wislet is a large, two storey, rendered masonry building designed by architect William Hodgen jnr. and located in Russell Street, Toowoomba. It is situated on a large block, originally part of suburban allotment 9 "at the swamp near Drayton". This parcel of land of twenty three acres, two roods and thirty six perches was purchased by James Taylor in 1868 from William Horton who held the original deed of grant from 1852. James Taylor began to subdivide the land and the blocks passed through the hands of several owners.〔 In April 1908, the Certificate of Title was transferred to Dori Helene Hinrichsen, wife of Dr Freidrich Hinrichsen. At the same time, the Hinrichsens purchased an adjoining easement of 3.3 perches. At the beginning of 1908, the Hinrichsens commissioned Toowoomba architect William Hodgen jnr. to design a combined residence and surgery. The tender amount was £2125 and the building contractor was Henry Andrews. The house was adjacent to a house known as "The Rosery" which was owned by Dr Freshney, medical superintendent of Toowoomba Hospital 1892-1927, and it appears that the Hinrichsens built their house on the rose garden of this house.〔 Hodgen's original drawings show that the house was carefully designed to accommodate both Dr Hinrichsen's medical practice and the family's residence. The medical suite comprised three rooms - a waiting room, consulting room and operating room and had its own entrance on the western side of the front elevation. A large, arched porch on the eastern side marked the entrance to the residence. This lead into a vestibule that linked together the medical suite and residence. A grand, central "hall dominated the ground floor of the residence. The hall measured 22 by 16 feet with a raised platform of 14 by 6 feet at one end. This platform was enclosed with leadlight windows to the east. Extensive servants quarters and service areas were also located on the ground floor, including a servant's hall, bedroom and bathroom as well as kitchen, laundry, pantry and store. A stable building and wood-house to the back of the block were part of the original design.〔 The upper floor accommodated the family's living spaces. The southern side was occupied by a large bedroom, dressing room and bathroom. The northern side had another bedroom and night and day nurseries. The night nursery had a small balcony perched over the roof of the ground floor and the day nursery is connected to a large north-east facing porch. Both these spaces demonstrate the emphasis that was then placed on fresh air for good health.〔 The Toowoomba Chronicle reported in 1973 that the Hinrichsens had designed their home to resemble their former home in Germany and that the Toowoomba residence was ''"a stately 22 room house... ...In what was once the drawing room of the old home is still to be found a coat of arms depicting a hunting party scene with lean hounds on leashes. The crest of blue-green mosaic tiles stands above a marble fireplace and includes the initials F.J.H. The marble for the fireplace was quarried from Dr Henrickson's (sic) family estate in Germany... ...Dr and Mrs Henrickson were reputed to be very talented musically and were devotees of the arts."''〔 It is not known when Dr Hinrichsen arrived in Australia, however, it appears that he was first registered as a doctor in Queensland in 1904. He was a well qualified man. The Medical Board of Queensland's registration records show that he passed the Staats Examen in Germany in 1897 and obtained his MD from the University of Rostock, Mecklenburg in 1899. He was formerly known by the name of Cohen. He worked as a surgeon in Munich, Leipzig, Rostock and Berlin. He is listed as Honorary Surgeon to the Toowoomba General Hospital and presented a paper at the Australian Medical Congress in Melbourne in 1908. In 1911, Loxton's Medical Directory listed Dr Hinrichsen in practice in Roma. In November 1914, he was struck off the roll by order of the Medical Board, which lends credibility to local stories that he had been forced out of Toowoomba as a result of anti-German feeling during the time of the First World War.〔 William Hodgen jnr had a long and prolific architectural career in Toowoomba. The son of a building contractor, Hodgen became a cadet in the Colonial Architect's Office in 1886. In 1891, he resigned and travelled to London to broaden his experience. He enrolled at the Architectural Association and worked for a variety of architects in London, becoming an Associate of the Royal Institute of British Architects in 1895. He returned to Queensland in December 1896 and opened his practice in February 1897, remaining in practice with his sons until his death in 1943. Hodgen's time in London coincided with a period of intense creativity and originality in English architecture, with the likes of Charles Voysey, William Lethaby and Edward Schroeder Prior designing key works of Arts and Crafts architecture. Although Hodgen's work reflects more fully the influence of his Queensland training and the local timber tradition, he does integrate up-to-date Arts and Crafts features and details into his work, some of which can be seen in the house in Russell Street. His unbuilt work is more strident in its application of English styles of the 1890s. An unrealised design of 1897 for a theatre in Toowoomba has typical Arts and Crafts elements such as asymmetrical planning and massing, "green slate" roof, centrally located roof lantern and facade treatments such as stone dressing and carved stone decoration at first level.〔 In January 1910 the house was purchased by Thomas Connolly, also a medical practitioner. He named it "Drynane" after his birthplace in County Armagh in Ireland. The Connolly family held the title until 1948 when the house was sold to Dr John Hulme, a colleague of Dr Connolly's, who resided and operated his medical practice there until 1963. In 1963, the property was sold to the Methodist Church who initially established an acute care hospital. The title transferred to the Uniting Church in Australia in 1980. From 1979-1984, the Uniting Church purchased many of the properties around the site of the hospital. The Wesley Hospital operated until July 1998 when the Uniting Church announced that they could no longer operate the hospital as ''"there is little chance that the hospital could be viable in today's market"''. The Toowoomba Chronicle reported that some staff members had been at the hospital for more than 25 years.〔 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「Wislet」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|