About 26 or 27 years ago when I was in my late teens I bought three prints at a market here in Brisbane which I just couldn’t resist! They were about $200 which was a lot of money for me then, but I loved them so much I just had to have them.
They were hand drawings of three houses and a shop in Spring Hill, which is an inner city suburb of Brisbane and has absolutely the most gorgeous old homes. Over the last 20 or 30 years people have been buying them up and renovating them and for sure Spring Hill has some of the loveliest homes you will ever see ~ such a blast from the past and like heaven to someone like me who loves old and vintage.
Anyway, getting back to my prints, I’ve had them up on the walls of the various places I’ve lived since I bought them, and I love them just as much now as I did when I bought them so long ago. Can’t say I’m a fan of the frames, but I’ve been too scared to reframe them in case as has happened in the past where the paper has stuck to the glass and torn, so anyway, they suit my hallway just perfectly, imperfect frames and all!

One of the interesting things about them is that they have the addresses of the houses on them. Strangely enough, I’d not previously thought about going and finding the houses, but it occurred to me a few weeks ago that I should check them out. Afterall, I’ve been looking at them on my walls for nearly 30 years and I wanted to see if, first of all, they are still there, and secondly what do they look like now?
Dear One and I were invited to spend the day for a barbeque with my sister and her hubby and children, and I decided we could fit it in on the way over.
Gosh it was a fun adventure. Excited and trepidatious…will they still be there? What will they look like? I couldn’t wait…can’t believe I didn’t think to do this ages ago!
The first house we decided to track down was in Boundary Street in Spring Hill. As we were driving around looking for the house, my heart sank as the street is a main road and close to the city and most of the buildings are commercial. We hunted around and were a bit confused by the numbers, so we pulled up around the place it should be losing hope it was there at all.
I looked up and, oh, my gosh, there it was, sandwiched between a bunch of commercial buildings. Okay, I’m an idiot I know, but I screamed out, “There it is,” jumped out of the car and started jumping up and down clapping my hands. It was still there! And the most gorgeous of houses! Of course, Kev thought I was an absolute idiot, but I couldn’t believe my luck that the house is still standing and so perfect.
Not only is it there, but it’s in the process of being renovated and seems, at least from the outside to be fairly completed. There was a car out the back and I was so tempted to go in and ask what they are going to do with it, business or residential…but Kev wouldn’t have liked it I don’t think, so I restrained myself!
Here is the print taken at least 30 years ago and the photos of how it looks now…



Then we went in search of the next house, which was in Gloucester Street. As we were going down that street, as confused as ever by the tiny streets and hard to follow numbers, I said to Kev, “Wow, look at that house, isn’t it gorgeous!” and we continued looking. Anyway, after hunting up and down the street, would you believe it, it turned out to be the house I had commented on.
While I was there I actually thought the house in my print had been pulled down, but when I got home and compared the print and the picture it became clear it IS the same house. I’d never noticed before that the print house is made of some sort of bricks. If you look at the print and the picture, the side window is the same, the veranda is the same and the dormer window at the top and the stacked chimney are exactly the same. It looks like the newer version of the house has either added a section on the right or a separate residence has been built on. I’d vote for an extension.
The current renovation of the house is so pretty! It looks like it’s made out of some sort of old or old looking sandstone bricks. I would have loved to have gone in to have a look inside. I think the reason the house caught my eye in the first place, before I found it was the house I was looking for, is that Kev and I have been talking about if we ever moved from our current lovely house we would build one for ourselves out of a sandstone-type brick, exactly like this one!
Anyway, here is the print and the photos!




The last place I was looking for was in Union Street and was a corner shop with a little workers cottage next to it. I must admit, out of the three houses I was looking for, this was the one I was most thinking might have disappeared as old fashioned corner shops aren’t really in fashion anymore.
But when we found it, the shop is still there, as is the old workers cottage. It now looks like it’s a modern hairdressing salon. The little house next to it looks like it is the same home, but, well, some people just don’t deserve to own these little old workers cottages! Whoever owns it has painted the whole front in a dark grey and the veranda area has been completely encircled in what looks like some sort of industrial wire, which I assume is to keep robbers out! Very badly done. The whole front is very shabby and has some sort of sail hung on it, maybe to keep the sun out? Some people really need a good slap and a shake!




I shouldn’t complain of the workers cottage being so shabby, as I was so excited by my finds. All three of my houses are still there after nearly 30 years and two of them are certainly two of the prettiest houses I’ve ever seen. I feel so satisfied with the outcome. Dear One took all the photos since I still can’t see very well with my eye infection, but it’s definitely on the mend and I can actually read my computer now, which I haven’t been able to for a week or so now!
I suppose going back and having a peak will be a fabulous exercise to repeat in another 30 years, by then I'll be 75 and hopefully I will be able to see better then!
I might just go back to the Spring Hill area (such a hardship, LOL!!) and take some photos of some of the houses typical of the area that are just so beautiful! Queensland doesn’t have a very good history of preserving its old buildings, but there are quite a few suburbs here which are just filled with lovely old Queenslanders and workers cottages. I should have been a real estate agent, I love houses so much! Well, old ones anyway!
I’m all inspired to get going with my house painting again! Tomorrow I hope to paint my dining room and hallway. I will put up some pictures when I’m finished.
We had a perfectly lovely Good Friday with my family and, all in all, one of the most enjoyable of days! I hope you are all having a great Easter too!
