[1] Hellesvere, a timber cottage on Upper Roma Street, was constructed in about 1877 for Francis Curnow who became Queensland's third Railway Commissioner.

Curnow arrived in Queensland in March 1860 from Cornwall in Britain and by 1866 settled in Ipswich as a railway storekeeper, a position made necessary by the opening of the Ipswich-Grandchester line.

Hellesvere was a timber cottage with a steeply pitched corrugated iron roof containing an attic with dormer windows on the northern and southern sides.

[4] He was soon after appointed Chairman of the Metropolitan Transit Commission, a position he held until shortly before his death from typhoid fever induced heart failure at Hellesvere, on 24 April 1901.

Now, however, Upper Roma Street retains almost no small residences like Hellesvere, these houses have been replaced with large office and temporary accommodation boarding facilities.

[8] Hellesvere is a single storeyed timber residence with attic and partial basement situated on Upper Roma Street, overlooking, to the north, a railway cutting and beyond this Red Hill.

The pyramidal corrugated iron roof of Hellesvere is penetrated on the north and south elevations with dormer windows.

[1] The principal entrance facade, facing Roma Street to the south, is symmetrically arranged with a central doorway flanked by vertical sash windows.

[1] The windows on the east and west sides of the building are shaded with corrugated iron clad timber framed hoods with vertical battened returns.

The attic which comprises two rooms, separated by a half glazed door, has a raked ceiling following the roof line, projecting through which are the dormer windows.

Though much internal re-arrangement is obvious on the lower floor an early brick oven recess is evident in what is now the boardroom.

Hellesvere is one of the very few extant nineteenth century buildings on or near Roma Street and provides evidence of the early residential nature of this area.

Hellesvere is one of the very few extant nineteenth century buildings on or near Roma Street and provides evidence of the early residential nature of this area.

[1] The place has a special association with the life or work of a particular person, group or organisation of importance in Queensland's history.