Tozer's Building

Adjacent to Crawford and Co, Tozer’s building is also related to the lucrative gold mining days of Gympie and highlights its importance as the third largest gold field in Queensland. Brisbane architect Richard Gailey designed the neo-classical masonry building which was completed in 1896. Gailey also designed the nearby Bank of New South Wales, now occupied by the Gympie Regional Council, and the Commercial Hotel on the corner. Tozer’s building at 218 Mary Street was the office of solicitor and politician Sir Horace Tozer. He was a leading authority on mining law during the late nineteenth century and had established a legal practice in Gympie in 1868. He was leasing a building in upper Mary Street when he went into partnership with Anthony Conwell in 1886. When these premises were destroyed by fire in 1891, along with the rest of the block, Tozer and Conwell were forced to move before commissioning Gailey to design their new premises in 1895. The firm established by Horace Tozer in 1868 was continued by his descendants for another 94 years, and the building remains in use as a solicitor’s office today.