Plans to refurbish the heritage house at 31 Linda Street in Sherwood to make way for a family home have been given the go-ahead despite opposition from locals living nearby. One couple living close to the subject site is planning to take legal action against the renovation.
The development application lodged by Steffan Town Planning on behalf of new owners Genevieve and William Prowse stated that they purchased the property with the intention to to create a family house. While it would undergo refurbishment and renovation, they wanted to keep its original integrity and features.
In the plans submitted to the Council, it was stated that the Prowse family is planning to have a bathroom, ensuite and kitchen, repair walls, and reconstruct the internal layout of the home, as well as refurbish “traditional features” of the home, and demolish a recently-added carport. Also part of the plan is to add a single-storey garage and studio at the lot’s southeast corner, next to the railway line at the building’s “front.”
A report by Steffan Town Planning stated that “the proposed development is consistent with the Assessment Benchmarks of the applicable zone, neighbourhood plan and overlay codes” and “is compatible in scale with the adjoining dwelling houses and will maintain a suitable level of amenity and privacy to adjoining dwellings.”
Issues Raised
Scott Moorhead and Catherine Moorhead of 27 Linda Street appealed to the Planning and Environment Court at Brisbane against the respondent’s decision to approve the development application.
The Moorheads, whose house share a common boundary with the heritage house said that the plan will severely impact the comfort and amenity of the adjoining residence, contrary to Character residential zone code, Sherwood-Graceville District Neighbourhood Plan, and Dwelling house code.
“We implore Council to thoughtfully consider our opposition to the current proposal, including the attachment, which includes substantial support material, to come and personally view the site from Linda Street, and allow the applicants to pursue their first proposal (with garage and studio sited to the south east) or another of suitable position and scale,” the Moorheads stated in their submission.
Heritage House
According to the Brisbane City Council Heritage Register, this former farmhouse is believed to have been built some time before 1890 for George Jimmieson, who had worked land in the district 1866. The house later passed to two other local farming families, the Martindales and the Nosworthys. The house still sits on its original 1890 subdivision and survives as a good example of a late nineteenth century farmhouse.
In 1946 the house transferred to William Albert Brandes. When William Brandes passed away in 1980, the title was transferred to his wife Jean Allison Brandes. The place is understood to be owned by the Brandes family until 2018, when the current owners purchased the property.