Throwback to 1976 when Noel Robinson redesigned a hotel into a multi-use building.
BRISBANE ARCHITECT, NOEL ROBINSON, UNDERTOOK THE ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE SOME 18 MONTHS AGO.
He recycled one of Spring Hill’s oldest hotels, in Fortesque Street, into a complex of home, office and a shops- all in an 11.2 perch allotment.
The area is for him, an ideal place to live and work.
“The site had enough room for that size house, office and shop, as well as having space for a swimming pool and a four car garage in the back yard,” he said this week.
“Across Gregory Terrace is more than 200 acres of parkland,” Noel said.
The house the Robinsons’ paid $35,000 for was the original Spring Hill Tavern, built around 1883.
Since they bought the house, Mr. and Mrs. Robinson have carried out extensive “recycling.” “We have really restored the house,” he said. “But I prefer to think of it as recycling.”
The interior of the sandstone brick, two storey building has been renovated giving space for business and living. The outside verandas on the first floor were replaced with diagonal decking enclosed with cross railings.
Downstairs, Noel extended the house into a small lean-to shed at the side making a large, airy and well-lit office space. Up the narrow, white shag-carpeted stairs, the living area of the house has been imaginatively redecorated.
The narrow veranda rich with pot plants and decorated with squatters chairs, gives into the house through louvre doors. These can be shut in the afternoon to keep the Western sun out of the master bedroom and living area. The siting room, master bedroom and the dining room all share a common decorating idea.
The sandstone walls are covered with felt, navy in the master bed – white- a cool refuge from a hot, city day. “The veranda is really cool during summer,” Noel said. “City living has a lot of advantages,” Noel said. I can fall out of bed in the morning, walk down 10 steps and be at my office. I have no transportation costs and walk in town in less than a few minutes,” he said.
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