It was designed by William Hodgen junior and was built in 1908 for Dr Freidrich Hinrichsen and his wife, Dori, in 1908, as a large two-story building combining a residence and medical suite.
It was thereafter sold to two other Toowoomba doctors: Thomas Connolly in 1910, who renamed the property Drynane, and John Hulme in 1948.
[1] Wislet is a large, two storey, rendered masonry building designed by architect William Hodgen jnr.
This parcel of land of twenty three acres, two roods and thirty six perches was purchased by James Taylor in 1868 from William Horton who held the original deed of grant from 1852.
[1] Hodgen's original drawings show that the house was carefully designed to accommodate both Dr Hinrichsen's medical practice and the family's residence.
...In what was once the drawing room of the old home is still to be found a coat of arms depicting a hunting party scene with lean hounds on leashes.
The Medical Board of Queensland's registration records show that he passed the Staats Examen in Germany in 1897 and obtained his MD from the University of Rostock, Mecklenburg in 1899.
He is listed as Honorary Surgeon to the Toowoomba General Hospital and presented a paper at the Australian Medical Congress in Melbourne in 1908.
In November 1914, he was struck off the roll by order of the Medical Board, which lends credibility to local stories that he had been forced out of Toowoomba as a result of anti-German feeling during the time of the First World War.
An unrealised design of 1897 for a theatre in Toowoomba has typical Arts and Crafts elements such as asymmetrical planning and massing, "green slate" roof, centrally located roof lantern and facade treatments such as stone dressing and carved stone decoration at first level.
Wislet is a two storeyed rendered masonry building originally designed as a residence and surgery, located on Russell Street to the north of the rail line through Toowoomba.
The house stands on a large allotment of about half an acre and is set back from Russell Street with an established garden.
[1] The house is an imposing and stark addition to the Russell Street precinct which, in this area to the north of the business district, is characterised by more ornate residences.
To the rear of the ground floor of the original footprint of the building, additions have been made over time and this wing is now an amalgam of differently aged and constructed sections.
The openings of the building are generally timber framed casement windows, occasionally filled with leadlight or coloured glass.
The hipped and gabled roof of the two storeyed part of the building is clad with red terracotta tiles and is punctuated by a number of chimney stacks.
[1] The principal facade of the former Hospital, facing southward to Russell Street, is unusual in the asymmetry and loose control of the fenestration and projecting features.
The facade addresses Clifford House on the opposite side of Russell Street and is similar in massing.
[1] The eastern, side facade of the building is dominated by a projecting oriel window of German influence at the northern end.
The rear, northern facade of the building has a hipped projection at the western end and is lined on the first floor with variously sized casement window openings.
The design of the fireplaces is clearly influenced by Art Nouveau, with elongated vertical proportions, simple detailing and oversized bracket elements.
A large pine tree dominates the front garden and partially conceals the house from the street.
The western garden comprises a large flat lawned area, possibly the remnants of an early tennis court.
[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.