Notnel

General

Classification

State Heritage

Register status

Entered

Date entered

21 October 1992

Type

Residential: Detached house

Theme

6.4 Building settlements, towns, cities and dwellings: Dwellings

Builder

McLaughlin, David

Construction periods

1863, Notnel - Main house (1863c - 1863c)

1863, Notnel - Kitchen (1863c - 1863c)

Historical period

1840s–1860s Mid-19th century

Location

Address

6 Burnett Street, West Ipswich

LGA

Ipswich City Council

Coordinates

-27.61605912, 152.75211865

Significance

Criterion AThe place is important in demonstrating the evolution or pattern of Queensland’s history.

Built c1861, Notnel is one of Ipswich's earliest brick houses and remains important in demonstrating the evolution or pattern of Queensland's history and in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a particular class of cultural places. The house was constructed in a period characterized by high unemployment and poor economic conditions, however Ipswich emerged as a centre of business and industrial activity. The house remains one of Ipswich's finest and most significant examples of early Queensland domestic architecture from a period when the growing strength of the city was reflected in the more substantial residential buildings being constructed from the mid-1860s onwards. Built originally for David McLaughlin, a contractor, is an example of a substantial early house in the Ipswich area and remains of interest for its unique features such as the attic and dormer windows.

Criterion DThe place is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a particular class of cultural places.

Built c1861, Notnel is one of Ipswich's earliest brick houses and remains important in demonstrating the evolution or pattern of Queensland's history and in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a particular class of cultural places. The house was constructed in a period characterized by high unemployment and poor economic conditions, however Ipswich emerged as a centre of business and industrial activity. The house remains one of Ipswich's finest and most significant examples of early Queensland domestic architecture from a period when the growing strength of the city was reflected in the more substantial residential buildings being constructed from the mid-1860s onwards. Built originally for David McLaughlin, a contractor, is an example of a substantial early house in the Ipswich area and remains of interest for its unique features such as the attic and dormer windows.

Criterion EThe place is important because of its aesthetic significance.

Located on Burnett Street, Notnel also assumes an important aesthetic role in the historical streetscape of Ipswich. In a precinct shared with other heritage-listed properties, the house makes a significant contribution to the character of the area and stands as a well-preserved landmark of Ipswich's past.

History

‘Notnel’, a residence at 6 Burnett Street, West Ipswich, is a brick house built c1861 for David McLaughlin. It is one of Ipswich's earliest surviving residences.

Ipswich was one of the earliest settlements in Queensland, commencing as a convict out-station known as ‘Limestone’ in 1827. Following free settlement in 1842, the township soon developed as an important regional centre because of its location at the head of navigation of the Brisbane and Bremer Rivers and at the junction of routes to the Brisbane Valley and the Darling Downs. Goods from and to these regions were channelled through Ipswich, and this trade contributed significantly to Ipswich's rapid growth and prosperity. The Ipswich community, together with the Darling Downs pastoralists agitated for Ipswich to be made the capital of the prospective Colony of Queensland. While Brisbane assumed that role after separation from New South Wales in 1859, Ipswich continued to develop as a major regional centre, declared a municipality in 1860 and then a city in 1904.

The allotment on which this residence is situated was first purchased on 11 May 1855 as allotment 97, parish of Ipswich, county Stanley [1r 32.5p], by Patrick O'Sullivan at a cost of £31. O'Sullivan was born in 1818 in Ireland and at the age of 19 he was found guilty of assault with a bayonet at Canterbury, England, and transported to Australia. By 1847, O'Sullivan had settled in Ipswich where he worked as a shopkeeper and was elected to the Queensland Legislative Assembly in 1860.

By March 1857, the title to allotment 97 was transferred to David McLaughlin, an Ipswich builder. He was born in Newtown, Limavardy, in Ireland, and it appears that it was there that McLaughlin first became acquainted with William Lackey Ferguson, a bricklayer. Following Ferguson's emigration in 1860, McLaughlin and his fellow Irishman from Newtown began a building contracting business in Ipswich known as McLaughlin & Ferguson and which successfully tendered for work on the Ipswich Grammar School. As a builder, McLaughlin was in an advantageous position to have his own house built and Ipswich Municipal Council Valuation Registers indicate that a brick cottage and workshop existed on the allotment in Burnett Street as early as 1863.

The cottage may have been built by 1861. In November 1861, a five-roomed brick cottage with detached kitchen, situated in Burnett Street, was advertised for let.[1] The property had a closed-in yard with garden and fowl house. Enquiries were directed to Mr David McLaughlin, on the premises; however, the street number was not provided. The Burnett Street property was also advertised for let in April 1862, with a servant’s bedroom added to the list of features.[2]

In 1870, McLaughlin appears to have removed from 6 Burnett Street with Council records indicating that Alfred Dann was the occupant. When sold it was described as "just the thing for a gentleman on the lookout for a town house" and intriguingly said to enjoy "sea breezes". Despite the enticements, the property remained in the ownership of David McLaughlin until June 1872, when title to the land was registered in the name of John North. At the time of purchase, the garden had reportedly been a ‘mass of trees and shrubs, with a fernery, an aviary and room to keep ponies’.[3]

North was born in Hertfordshire, England, and migrated with his sister to Australia in 1854 on board the Genghis Khan. Within 2 years North was living in Ipswich and working for the major department store, Cribb & Foote, where he remained in employment for over 40 years. By 1876, he had acquired allotment 98 adjacent to 6 Burnett Street from William Berry, the then owner of 1 Burnett Street. Ipswich Municipal Council records indicate that North demolished a timber cottage that had stood on this allotment and utilized it for the next 22 years as his garden.

North died at his Burnett Street residence in August 1898 and the property was passed to his wife, Laura Ann North, who remained there until she sold the estate on 1 February 1907 to George William Wesley Rylatt, a dentist of Brisbane Street, Ipswich. Ownership was then passed to Carl Friedrich Wilhelm Runge who was listed as the registered owner of the property in April 1920. Runge, who also owned 2 Burnett Street at the time, did not live in the house at 6 Burnett Street and continued to rent it until his death in 1923, after which time it was held in trust and eventually transferred to his son, also named Carl Friedrich Wilhelm Runge. After taking possession of the property, Carl Friedrich Wilhelm Runge junior sold allotment 98 as subdivisions.

By 1934, the title to the land had once again changed hands and George Hawley was registered as the owner of the property. The Hawley family had migrated to Australia from England and were farmers in the Fassifern Valley. The Burnett Street estate remained in the family for 56 years and it was named "Notnel" (Lenton backwards) by George Hawley in memory of Lenton Avenue where he had lived in England.[4]

Notnel was occupied by Miss Olive Hawley and her cousin Ethel Hawley until the late 1980s, and was subject to limited change during the preceding decades. An aerial photograph from 1946[5] shows the hip-roofed residence with kitchen and laundry wing, and two outbuildings to the rear – in the current locations of the sulky and poultry sheds. A third, smaller outbuilding (no longer extant) was visible to the southwest of the laundry and plantings were evident to the west of the kitchen, in the location of the mature mango and olive trees that remain.

In 1990, the title to 6 Burnett Street was transferred to the Small family. George Small and his son Alister and daughter-in-law Desley carried out substantial refurbishments and repairs. [6] Original features were preserved wherever possible and items found on the property, including a brooch, a buckle, coins, a pill box, a purse and crockery pieces have been retained. Major work was carried out by professional builders, bricklayers and joiners. The remainder of the building work was done by George and Alister Small. Works included the rewiring of the residence where previously there had only been two power points. The bathroom was rebuilt and reconfigured to accommodate a shower and the addition of a hot water system; the original bath tub has been retained.

In 1991 there was a program of works carried out to both the interior and exterior. Excavations were undertaken along the southeast side of the house and several rows of brickwork were replaced to address issues with drainage and damp, and a paved courtyard was formed in that area. This side of the residence reportedly had a path and brick retaining wall, which had collapsed during the early Hawley days. The weathered cedar louvre shutters – evident in photographs from the early 1900s – and later boarded enclosures to the northeast and southeast verandahs were removed due to their poor condition, and the cross-braced timber balustrades and valances were rebuilt to approximate original details. The double hung sash windows that enclose the northwest verandah were also installed at this time. In the gardens, brick pathways and a courtyard were added.

Works to the kitchen wing, at the rear of the house, included repairs to the small eastern verandah and larder and the installation of a new timber mezzanine over the kitchen, utilising existing joist housings in the brickwork.

The dining room (an early infill addition located between the main house and former detached kitchen with lath and plaster timber framed end walls clad in wide chamferboards) had its eastern end walls replaced with brickwork and new window openings at this time due to problems with the structural integrity of this part of the room. The chimney piece was also replaced as the original cedar piece had serious water damage, and a cast iron insert was installed.

In recent years, the timber-framed poultry shed (2011) and sulky shed (2012) were reconstructed in their existing locations, using extensive original fabric. The sulky shed, which had been extended in the past, was reduced in length and set above the ground at the northern end but retained its original width and height proportions. Sections of the northeast and southeast house verandahs were also rebuilt in 2013. The brick feature wall and the kitchen garden were added in 2009.

In 2015, Notnel remains in use as a private residence. The place retains extensive early fabric and comprises a brick dwelling with a dormered attic, brick dining and kitchen wing, and a timber framed laundry extension to the rear; set in a large garden with mature trees, a well and timber outbuildings.

Description

Notnel is located on a long, rectangular, 0.22ha allotment within the suburb of West Ipswich; approximately 1km west of the Ipswich CBD. The site faces northeast to Burnett Street and slopes to the west, bounded by residential properties. It comprises several structures including: a residence named Notnel (c1861) adjacent to Burnett Street; a sulky shed (c1861-1946), southwest of the residence; a poultry shed (c1861-1946), southeast of the sulky shed; and a well (c1861-1946), between the residence and poultry shed. Mature plantings, include a mango and an olive tree. Notnel is located in an elevated position and expansive views overlooking residential properties and Ipswich Grammar School [QHR60601] are available to the north.

Notnel (Brick Residence) (c1861)
Notnel is a single-storey, lowset brick and timber residence with corrugated metal-clad, steeply-pitched roofs and southeastern brick chimney-stacks. The building is approximately L-shaped in plan, constructed of brick in Flemish bond and surrounded by timber verandahs. It comprises a main core of four rooms with stairhall and attic, and a dining/kitchen wing with an attached skillion-roofed timber framed and clad laundry at the rear. The main house has a hipped roof and its corrugated metal-clad dormer windows retain early timber shingles under the metal sheeting. The dining room, which extends under the adjacent southeastern verandah has a gabled roof and the tall volume of the kitchen is sheltered under a hipped roof. Adjacent to the kitchen and laundry on the southern corner of the verandah is the timber framed and clad larder.

All verandahs have timber floors, rectangular timber posts and raked ceilings. The verandahs fronting Burnett Street have posts with capitals and ceiling linings of wide boards, stripped of earlier deteriorated lead paint. Lattice doors between plain, timber posts provide access from Burnett Street; flanked by rebuilt cross-braced valances and narrow cross-braced timber balustrades. Painted brickwork delineates the location of a recent addition in the northern corner (now removed). The northwestern verandah is mostly enclosed to form a sleep-out and bathroom. The L-shaped rear verandah (flanking the main house, kitchen and dining wings) has exposed roof framing. The kitchen wing’s southeastern verandah has timber floorboards and wide beaded board ceiling linings.

The interior of the main house comprises four rooms (a large bedroom and lounge room at the front, with two bedrooms, separated by a central hall with a set of steep stairs, at the rear) and an attic above the front portion. All ground floor rooms have clear-finished timber floorboards, plaster walls and ceilings clad in wide beaded-boards. The rear, southwestern bedroom and the staircase retain early floor linings of patterned linoleum. A fireplace, with a cedar mantelpiece, tiled hearth and cast iron grate, is centred on the southeastern wall of the lounge room. The attic is a large, single volume that has unpainted timber floorboards, horizontal timber wall linings and ceiling linings. The dormer windows are lined with wider boards and the northeastern dormer window recess has a painted finish. A timber fixture on the wall adjacent to the stair may be part of an independent communication system. Various names and dates have been etched into the southwestern wall, with the earliest noted dating to 1981.

The dining room, an early infill between the main house and the kitchen, is a long space extending under the verandah, with a wide beaded-board ceiling lining that changes pitch, from angled to flat in alignment with the main house wall. All walls are plastered and the northwestern wall retains its early lath and plaster construction. The brick walls projecting under the verandah with fixed windows either side of the chimney replace earlier timber framed and clad walls which had become unstable due to persistent dampness. The floors are lined with the original pine boards except for a small section in the eastern corner.

The kitchen is a tall volume with a rebuilt mezzanine (using former joist housings) creating an upper-floor bedroom accessed by a steep stair. A timber framed and clad larder adjoins the kitchen, located on, and accessed from, the southeastern verandah. The kitchen and mezzanine have painted brick walls and a coved ceiling of timber beaded-boards. The southwest wall contains a small oven and a former fireplace which houses a woodstove. The larder has beaded board ceilings and timber floors. All walls are lined with horizontal timber boards, with the exception of the northwestern wall flanking the kitchen, which is facebrick. Early built-in shelving is retained.

The laundry retains early fabric and is accessed via the northwestern side. The timber walls and roof framing, including shingle battens, are unlined. Timber floorboards are located at the northwestern end of the space and flagstones, bricks and pavers form the flooring at the southeastern end. A bricked-in sink recess (copper now removed) is located to the southeast of the kitchen chimney. Particularly intact brickwork is located on the wall northwest of the chimney showing early glazing.

Early timber joinery is retained throughout the house including: skirtings and architraves; most of the flooring; panelled French verandah doors with external timber screen doors; low-waisted timber doors with early door hardware; a multi-light double-hung timber-sash window; and a ledged door clad in vertical timber boards (to the laundry).

Sulky Shed (c1860-1946)

The timber-framed sulky shed is a lowset structure that stands on timber stumps, is rectangular in plan, and has a corrugated metal-clad, gable roof. The walls are clad on the northeastern and southeastern sides with early timber weatherboards, and on the southwestern and northwestern sides with corrugated metal sheeting. Although shorter than its original form, the reconstructed northeastern gable-end retains early fabric, ventilation holes at its apex and original doors. The shed has timber floors and the timber roof and wall framing is internally exposed.

Poultry Shed (c1860-1946)
The poultry shed is a lowset, timber structure that has a corrugated metal-clad, skillion roof. It is comprised of two sections: a timber weatherboard-clad southern end, and a partially enclosed northern end that has mesh hung between early timber posts. A timber weatherboard-clad wall separates the two sections, and access is available from the northwestern and northeastern sides. The northern end is divided into two areas by mesh and a small section of early timber slabs is retained on the northeastern wall. At the southern end, timber wall and roof framing is internally exposed.

Landscape Elements
The grounds are well established and include a large mango tree (Mangifera sp.) and a mature common olive tree (Olea europaea) at the rear of the residence. A well (c1860-1946) of an unknown depth is located between the residence and poultry shed. It is covered with a modern, steel grate (not of cultural heritage significance).
The scalloped timber fence aligned with the Burnett Street boundary is a modern reconstruction, based on historical photographs.

Other Structures
Other structures and footpaths within the cultural heritage boundary are not of cultural heritage significance.

References

[1] ‘To Let’, Queensland Times, Ipswich Herald and General Advertiser, 19 November 1861.
[2] ‘To Let’, Queensland Times, Ipswich Herald and General Advertiser, 8 April 1862.
[3] ‘Historic Notnel has old style charm’, The Queensland Times, 5 July 1985, p 7.
[4] ‘Historic Notnel has old style charm’, The Queensland Times, 5 July 1985, p 7; A neighbour to the Hawleys from the 1950s to 1980s also recalled that the name was derived from a combination of the ‘Not’ from Nottingham and ‘Len’, the name of the youngest Hawley son, spelt backwards.
[5] 1946 aerial photograph, RAAF4-35666, courtesy DNRM
[6] Notnel, 6 Burnett Street, Ipswich, 1990 – 2015, compiled by Natalie Small, August 2015.

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