[1] The earliest section of Mountview House, a two-storeyed stone residence, is believed to have been erected in the 1860s for Brisbane foreman carpenter Daniel McNaught.
A two-storeyed brick wing designed by architect Andrea Stombuco was added in 1882, when the house was converted into a preparatory school for boys.
This part of Spring Hill was surveyed officially into suburban allotments in 1856, but was soon subdivided for closer residential settlement by speculative landowners.
[1] In January 1863, Daniel McNaught of Brisbane purchased from Kingsford subdivisions 1 & 2 of suburban portion 178 (37.3 perches (940 m2)), at the corner of Leichhardt and Downing streets, located on the highest ground in Spring Hill.
Like many of the early Scottish immigrants, Daniel McNaught was active in local politics in the 1850s, opposing the re-introduction of convict labour and working for the separation of Queensland from New South Wales.
He was a prominent and long-term member of the Wharf Street Congregational Church, a director of the City and Suburban Building Society from its inception, and a Magistrate of the colony.
[1] In 1880 Daniel McNaught took out two mortgages on his Spring Hill property, totalling £1850, and from 1 August 1881 Sarah Cargill held a five-year lease on Mountview House, which she ran as a boys' preparatory school.
In January 1882, title to the property [which included both Mountview House and 8 Downing Street] was transferred from McNaught to Mrs Rebecca Thorn, who honoured the lease with Sarah Cargill.
It is likely Mrs Thorn commissioned the 1882 additions to Mountview House, designed by Brisbane architect Andrea Stombuco, for Sarah Cargill's Boys' Preparatory School.
It consists of two major parts, the original rectangular planned stone core on the east, abutting a brick extension on the west.
Due to the angle at which the building faces the Leichardt Street alignment, the front facade steps back at the junction between the stone and brick sections.
[1] The stone core and western brick extension have separately framed hip roofs clad in painted corrugated iron.
The stairs terminate in a small entry porch, a timber framed, flat roofed structure with a timber-battened valence that is attached to the western end of the enclosed verandah.
A single storey extension with a brick parapet wall and shallow pitched roof has been built on the southwestern corner of the building.
Mountview House, a c. 1860s two-storeyed stone residence with 1882 additions, is important in illustrating the evolution of Queensland's history, in particular the pattern of residential settlement in the capital city, Brisbane, in the mid-19th century.
It is also important historically for its association with the first wave of Scottish immigrants to Queensland, including the McNaught and Petrie families, and their contribution to the expansion of the colony.
Located high on one of the principal ridges through Spring Hill, the place has landmark value and maintains an important contribution to the streetscape of Leichhardt Street.
Additions to the original 1860s core, including the brick wing added by Andrea Stombuco and the entry porch, have been well designed and enhance the aesthetic appeal of Mountview house.