31/05/2024
a splash in history and I ersonally remember my brandmother living in a house quite like this one .
19 Thorrold Street, Wooloowin.
Today we are in Thorrold Street in Wooloowin looking at this beautiful timber home back in 1970.
This home was erected in what was once known as Thorrold Town Estate, which was subdivided in May 1882 and offered for sale on Saturday June 1st 1882.
While the estate comprised of 700 lots and intended on selling all, the auction had also offered 50 of those lots without reserve.
This estate appeared to have come about with the development of the Sandgate Railway Line, which at the time had the Sandgate Road running through it.
This road is no longer known as Sandgate Road, with the major thoroughfare being diverted on more than one occasion before the current Sandgate Road was formed.
As a result this road would have become Old Sandgate Road before being renamed Dickson Street.
While vehicular traffic no longer use this route as a major thoroughfare northbound, today due to its relatively flat gradient it has become a major bicycle route and as a result the construction of the North Brisbane Bikeway has occurred, though at present it remains incomplete.
As for the property pictured, I believe that it was erected between 1919 and 1923.
This being because I could trace No. 15 back to the 1924 Post Office Directory for certain, however between 1923 and 1924 two new properties were constructed along this stretch and one person relocated, meaning I had three new names that I could not match to this site.
As the properties were not numbered by this stage I could only watch until they cycled down to nothing in the 1920 Post Office Directory.
Now the person to move into this property in 1923 was Mr. Denis Guilfoyle, who was recorded to have been a clerk, and his wife Mrs. Alice Cecilia Guilfoyle nee Donnellan.
They moved in with their children, 9 year old Miss Ellen Margaret Norah Guilfoyle, 7 year old Miss Bridget Mary Guilfoyle and 4 year old Miss Alice Clare Guilfoyle.
In 1928 Mrs. Guilfoyle gave birth to one more child, Master Denis John Guilfoyle.
By the 1941 Electoral Roll Miss Ellen Margaret Nora Guilfoyle was listed as sales woman, who now was of voting age.
On Wednesday December 10th 1947 28 year old Miss Alice Clare Guilfoyle married Mr. Ronald Percy Thorpe Stark at St. Ann’s Church in Kalinga by Rev. Father H. Ryan.
By the 1949 Electoral Roll Mr. Denis John Guilfoyle was listed as bank clerk, while by the 1959 Electoral Roll Miss Bridget Mary Guilfoyle was listed as a nurse.
Sadly on Thursday July 23rd 1964 72 year old Mrs. Alice Cecilia Guilfoyle had passed away.
Then sadly on Sunday August 6th 1967 Mr. Denis Guilfoyle has passed away at the age of 83 years.
Now by this stage their two u***d daughters remained at the family property, which were Miss Ellen Margaret Nora Guilfoyle, a saleswomen, and Miss Bridget Mary Guilfoyle, a nursing officer.
Now this was the final mention of this property and I could not confirm when the home was sold out of the family.
I did note that Miss Ellen Margaret Nora Guilfoyle passed away on Sunday December 26th 1982 at the age of 68 years, while Mr. Denis John Guilfoyle passed away on Tuesday August 23rd 1988 at the age of 60 years.
The first record of this property having sold then occurred on Monday November 13th 1989 when it sold for $936,900.
By at least 2007 (and likely much earlier) the front veranda had been enclosed and the timber fence had been replaced with a metal chain wire fence.
The wooden railing on the front stairs had also been replaced with a steel railing, which was again replaced between 2009 and 2013.
Judging by later images of the kitchen I would assume that it was refurbished during the 2000s at least.
Fast forward to Tuesday March 9th 2021 the house was placed on the market, selling on Monday March 29th 2021 for $1,245,650.
At the time it featured four bedrooms, a sunroom, sectioned lounge, dining and kitchen spaces, bathroom and a toilet attached to the rear stairs.
The property was then being renovated by August 2022, which saw the chain wire fence replaced with a timber picket fence, the reopening of the veranda, the er****on of a new double carport and the repainting of the property in white.
A new rearward extension had also seen a new gable roof erected over the original roofline at this stage.
The property now featuring four bedrooms, two bathrooms, an open plan living, dining and kitchen space and a deck at the rear.
While I couldn’t find evidence of a property listing, I suspect that the home was either listed for sale or rent in June 2023 as a number of interior images are available of the home at this time on real estate pages.
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This photograph was found in the Frank and Eunice Corley Collection or as I like to call them, the 1970s version of Google Street View.
For those that don’t know, the Corley Collection is a collection of 61,000 photographs taken in the 1960s and 1970s which have been gifted to the State Library of Queensland in 1995.
Frank and Eunice drove around Queensland from Beenleigh to Bundaberg in their pink Cadillac taking photographs of houses and selling them to their owners as black and white prints for $0.99 or $1.50 for calendars. It is believed that they took over a quarter of a million photographs and the 61,000 (67 boxes) that weren’t sold were the ones donated.
They operated as the Pan American Home Photographic Co., which was a division of F. & E. Corley Interstate Enterprises and Co.
The State Library of Queensland have called for the public to try to help identify the pictures using what they have dubbed, “The Corley Explorer”
http://home.slq.qld.gov.au/?fbclid=IwAR2zXQKH0hBGjs_AnIKXcetK7cYthHycYt5eEeUuvIQS-7ooCqUmqFgN66Q
**These articles are researched and compiled by myself John Prpic, which is unpaid and done in my spare time around my employment. Any brands or business depicted in my postings are purely coincidental and are done without remuneration. The information supplied in my articles are sourced from a variety of locations, such as newspaper archives, State Heritage Register, Council Heritage Registers, current newspaper articles, QImagery, word of mouth and many more locations.
(Taken: 1970/2024)
(Source: SLQ/John Prpic)
(Collection: Corley Collection)
(Identifier: 6169-2015-0003)
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