Fernside, Toowoomba

[1] Fernside, a low symmetrical brick building, was built c. 1876 for John Alexander Boyce who arrived in Toowoomba from Brisbane in August 1870.

Boyce travelled further afield in later years, holding positions at Barcaldine, Roma and Cunnamulla from 1897 and was appointed Police Magistrate at Townsville in 1903.

The Brisbane Courier reports on 8 June 1886 that "three or four years after starting, Mr [George W] Griffiths took in his brother and brother-in- law to the business."

Fernside's well established garden setting incorporates a carriage drive located at the front, or western side of the house and native and exotic conifers.

[1] The house is a low, symmetrical, rendered brick building, with a hipped roof clad with colourbond sheeting and gutters.

[1] The western elevation, the facade to Fernside Street, faces the carriageway, and is accessed via a set of wide concrete steps.

Bay windows with simple timber architraves and a verandah rail with wrought iron balustrading, not originally from Fernside, are also located along the western elevation.

[1] The northern elevation is timber framed and enclosed with glass windows and French doors, and houses service facilities.

The southern elevation, extended during the 1990s, is timber framed with large windows with breezeway, French doors and a corrugated iron roof.

Fernside is significant as an example of well-to-do domestic building from the 1870s, reflecting the wealth and status of a public servant in Toowoomba, a major regional centre in colonial Queensland.

Its location and verandahed design provide spectacular views from the Great Dividing Range, demonstrating the importance of topography for early settlers when choosing a suitable site on which to build.

Fernside has special association with the community of Toowoomba and surrounding area as a well-known early residence and summer resort of Sir Arthur Kennedy, Governor of Queensland from 1877 to 1883.