Boothville House

Boothville is a heritage-listed villa and former maternity hospital at 43 Seventh Avenue, Windsor, City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.

[1] This two-storeyed brick residence, formerly known as Monte Video, was erected in 1887 for Henry Wallis Glenny, head office manager of the Queensland National Bank from 1884 to 1892.

Usually, the Queensland National Bank provided residential accommodation for their managers, but in Glenny's case the directors granted him a loan of £6,500 on 23 March 1887, to build his own residence.

It was rented briefly but mostly remained unoccupied until Walter Vardon Ralston, the new general manager of the bank, and his family occupied the residence in 1896.

During the Ralstons' occupancy a single-storeyed timber extension, which housed a large billiard room and beyond that an L-shaped sunroom opening to an eastern porch, aviary and fernery, was added at the rear c. 1900.

He purchased the property on behalf of the organisation, and in May 1924 the Salvation Army Mothers Hospital moved from Breakfast Creek to Monte Video, which was renamed Boothville.

[4] Located on over 0.8 hectares (2.0 acres) of hilltop land, Boothville is a complex of double and single-storeyed timber and masonry buildings.

The original rendered masonry and timber house remains as the main focal building, sited in a commanding position at the crest of the hill.

[1] The entrance door which connected the southern portico to the entry vestibule has been replaced, but its cedar surrounds with stained glass remain.

The office to the west has elaborate and finely carved timber cupboards, side board, mirrors and overmantel framing a mosaic tiled fireplace built into the northern wall.

Narrow back stairs also lead from the service wing to this bedroom and from the half-landing level to an upper floor room, which was probably the nursery.

[1] Despite modification for its function as a maternity hospital, the essential form of the main building remains intact, as do major internal decorative features.

The picturesque quality of the siting and remaining external features of the main building at Boothville, and its grounds, make an important contribution to the Windsor townscape.

Entrance, 2015