GSA Guide - Former Government Printery Office (1874) Claimed

Located at William Street

Former Government Printery

The Queensland Government Printing Office operated in a complex of buildings on this site from 1862 until 1986.

History

This building was constructed in 1874 and designed by Colonial Architect F.D.G. Stanley in quasi-Victorian gothic revival style (something of a stylistic curiosity in that it combines Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance and French elements). The design shows Stanley's knowledge of French Renaissance Revival architecture and Gothic Revival detailing.

The architect F.D.G. Stanley wanted machine pressed bricks for this building instead of the hand made bricks used since Convict days. The tender of John Petrie of £4751 plus £170 for the machine made bricks and £50 for internal dressings was accepted with a construction time of six months. Completion was delayed because of a shortage of bricklayers.

This building was used for activities including publishing, composing, ruling, binding, storage and dispatch.

Building stones

The main building structure comprises a well-proportioned three-story brick structure with a roof of Welsh slate. The footings on the Eastern side of the building are porphyry (Formation: Brisbane Tuff). Along the William Street frontage sandstone was obtained from Breakfast Creek (Formation: Brisbane Tuff) and some from Jones Siding, Grantham (Formation is either Woogaroo Subgroup or Gatton Sandstone).

The bricks for this building were the first machine made bricks in Brisbane; the source of the clay for these bricks has not been determined.

It appears that the slate was replaced intermittently before the 1980s since a photograph from 1983 shows the roof decked with galvanised tin sheets and also including some additional roof windows; the slate roof was restored in later years, but origin of the slate is unknown.

Construction F.D.G Stanley (architect), John Petrie (builder).

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