A landmark site which housed a butcher’s shop for more than a century is set for a new lease of life under a proposal currently before the Brisbane City Council.
A development application lodged by site owner Saidar Pty Ltd seeks to construct a new retail and office space between and behind two existing heritage buildings at the corner of James and Kent Streets in New Farm.
A butcher’s shop has stood on the corner for 125 years. Currently vacant, the shop at 105 James Street was originally built in 1901 for the Baynes Brothers.
In 1917 it was bought by the Ryan State Government as part of a policy of providing greater competition and customer choice for basic foods such as meat, fish and sugar.
By 1923, the butchery was selling beef and mutton to a quarter of the area’s residents.
When the state-owned butcheries policy ended in 1929 it was sold to the Burrows family, and extensively remodelled in 1933.
The shop was then leased to various tenants during subsequent decades, of whom the Petersen family were the most famous.
Despite renovations in 1952 and 1963, the shopfront retains its classic patterned tiles, leadlights, stainless steel doors and large plate glass windows.
The other building on the site, at 109 James Street, was built around 1901 as a combined shop and dwelling for James Wilson.
It has been a local store, then Eilisha’s antiques shop. Renovated in recent years, it currently houses an insurance broker.
Both buildings were added to Council’s Register of Heritage Places in 2000.
The development application proposes that a new two-storey retail and office space will fill the current vacant space between the two buildings.
The existing buildings would also undergo minor modifications which will not impact their overall heritage values.
The development application is impact assessable and open to public comment.
The proposal, including associated plans and reports, can be accessed at developmenti.brisbane.qld.gov.au, reference ID A006928668.
