Event - Great Houses of Ipswich

Great Houses of Ipswich is a not-for-profit community partnership promoting Ipswich, its unique vernacular architecture and heritage homes. On September 12, three privately owned, heritage-listed houses will open their doors to the public.

The three heritage homes are:

Claremont - 1A Milford Street, Ipswich

Claremont. John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland. Neg 35313

Designed in 1857 as a home for John Panton, a prominent Ipswich merchant. From 1862 it was owned by George Thorn, the original superintendent of convicts at Limestone Hill, later a politician. Over time and with new owners the amount of land surrounding this stone villa was reduced. Claremont became a boarding house, then flats and later a hostel before it was purchased by the National Trust in 1975. Now in private ownership, the restored and well maintained Claremont today is both grand villa and family home.

Rhossilli - 4 Glebe Road, Newtown

Rhossilli. John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland. Neg 95911

Designed by Samuel Shenton and constructed in the 1880s for Richard Gill, a former Ipswich Post Master, Rhossilli was owned from 1904 by William Henry Summerville, a solicitor and politician, the Mayor of Ipswich in 1903. Its next owner was another solicitor, Henry Grosvenor Simpson. Prior to restoration to its current state, Rhossilli had also been a convalescent home and a home for the intellectually impaired.

Ballachulish - 4 Blackstone Road, Eastern Heights

Built around 1910 for Joseph and Elizabeth Ann Rice, it was known initially as Beaufort Villa. Since its purchase and naming as Ballachulish by its current owners in 2000, the home and its gardens have been restored, renovated and extended.

For more information on this event please visit the National Trust website or the Great Houses of Ipswich Facebook page.