Austral Motors Building is a heritage-listed former automobile showroom at 95 Boundary Street, Fortitude Valley, City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.

The name is derived from the association of the area with early Brisbane builder Andrew Petrie, who c. 1838 established his workshop and residence at the corner of Wharf and Queen Streets.

Photographs from the 1860s and early 1870s show a tall paling fence around the perimeter of the gas works, prohibiting public access.

An 1849 decision to locate Brisbane's first purpose-built Customs House at the northern end of the Town Reach acted as the impetus for the development of wharves on this part of the river.

During the 1850s and 1860s, a number of shipping companies and private investors constructed wharves and warehouses between the Customs House and Alice Street, near the City Botanic Gardens.

[1] In the early 20th century the roads to Petrie's Bight were improved significantly by the Brisbane City Council, providing an important impetus for the construction of new warehouses in the Upper Adelaide Street area.

The 1916 Act empowered the City Council, with the approval of the Governor-in-Council, to resume land simply by passing a resolution to the effect that resumption was necessary.

The 1923 Act further facilitated this process by exempting all improvements made to a property after resumption notices had been issued, from the payment of compensation.

[1] From 1923 to 1928 the Brisbane City Council implemented its most ambitious town improvement scheme to that date: the widening of Adelaide Street by 14 feet (4.3 m) along its entire length.

In physical terms the boom was expressed in a spate of building activity that transported the central business district of Brisbane into the 20th century, shedding its late Victorian image.

The Greater Brisbane City Council meticulously monitored progress through its building approvals process, statistics for which were released monthly from October 1925 to an eager local press.

In this way, the Austral Carriage Works, established around 1907 by Uhlmann and Lane at 51 Adelaide Street, Brisbane, entered the motor trade shortly after the First World War.

Of the six Australian states, Queensland recorded the third largest number of motor vehicle registrations, 31,233, in 1923-24, behind New South Wales and Victoria.

[1] In 1923 Austral Motors Limited engaged Brisbane architects Lange Leopold Powell and George Gerald Hutton to design a showroom and service station at Petrie Bight.

The first stage, on the corner of Dodge Lane, was completed in March 1924 at a projected cost of £9,300 and occupied by Austral Motors Limited from 1 April 1924.

George Hutton, who briefly occupied the position of Queensland Government Architect in 1922 prior to joining Powell in partnership in 1922, established his own practice in 1924, and called tenders for site excavations for Austral Motors Ltd in late 1924, the contract being let by January 1925.

As warehousing activity in Upper Adelaide Street expanding during the 1920s, many buildings were occupied by firms connected with the motor vehicle trade and industry and with car hire and garaging.

In 1928, Collin House, a purpose-designed parking station and garage and a four-storey brick warehouse for the Dunlop Rubber Company of Australasia Pty Ltd were constructed in the vicinity.

Tyre sales, automotive electricians and spare parts suppliers formed a substantial proportion of tenants in buildings in upper Adelaide Street during the 1920s and 1930s.

The site is bounded by Boundary Street on the south, Dodge Lane on the west, and adjacent allotments on the east and north.

Tucked within the base of the tablet, a narrow rectangular rainwater head and downpipes drain the central box gutter of the roof.

[1] The ground floor accommodates two spacious showrooms with high ceilings clad in fibrous cement panelling with timber cover strips, which are stained dark to provide a decorative contrast in the western section.

This area is notable for a pair of steel lattice trusses, which support the concrete floor above, and has stairs to the upper storey that are no longer in use.

[1] Windows to the south, east and west light the upper storey, which also has a battened ceiling, though the central section is missing.

This level has offices and toilets and an enquiry counter near the rear entrance that opens on to a yard accessed from Antrim Street and Dodge Lane.

[1] The Dodge Lane elevation in red face brick houses banks of timber framed casement windows with fanlights to both storeys.

During this period roads were straightened, widened and levelled; motorised vehicles congested inner city roads; the 19th-century building stock was replaced by substantial brick or concrete commercial premises, many of which were designed around the motor car, such as parking stations and garages and motor show rooms; and most of the vacant land in the city centre was rapidly improved with substantial new brick buildings.

At this period the Upper Adelaide Street district at Petrie Bight was developed as an important warehousing precinct, the development being facilitated by early 20th century initiatives of the Brisbane City Council, which included: constructing a formal wide road network, graded for motorised vehicular transport; encouraging the establishment of service lanes and alleys to allow for pedestrian and vehicle access to commercial buildings; and providing extensive new wharfage nearby at Circular Quay.