In 1856, Thomas Grenier of Brisbane purchased two lots of crown land in June of that year. He paid 18 pounds, 12 shillings and 5 pence for an area of land that totalled seven acres, one rood and thirty-two perches (allotment 158) and a further 38 pounds and 4 shillings for 9 acres of land described as allotment 160. The land was purchased from the Colonial Government of New South Wales, which controlled all of the land sales around Brisbane. Thomas Grenier was an important figure in South Brisbanes history and was the alderman for the South Ward in the Brisbane Municipal Council from 1867 to 1868. He was also a prominent Hotelier. (This property continued to be owned from 1856 through to 1924 by the Grenier Family, who were significant South Brisbane land holders and business operators.)

In the 1850s, Queensland had a population measured in the hundreds, and the first major settlement at Kangaroo Point was competing for supremacy with the only other settlement which was situated in Queen St. (now the C.B.D.)South Brisbane and Highgatehill consisted of bush and scrubland, and was populated by the local indigenous tribes. Thomas Grenier was one of the first residents of Brisbane to construct a house in South Brisbane. It was situated in Russell St. South Brisbane.

By the 1870s Brisbane became more populated and housing development started to spread south of the river. In January 1875 Thomas Grenier sub-divided the vacant LAND that he had purchased nearly 20 years earlier, into 15 Suburban allotments, comprising subdivisions 50 to 57, 60 and 91 to 97. (a U shaped development)

Thomas Grenier died in November 1878, before he had the opportunity to sell the subdivided land. He bequeathed the vacant land to his brother, Franklin Grenier.

In October 1883,Franklin Grenier began selling off selected lots by public land sales auction to the early settlers of Brisbane, and was eventually left with only subdivisions 60, 96 and 97.

In January 1885,Franklin Grenier transferred the title deed to lot 60 (comprising 1 rood)to his wife Ellen Henrietta Grenier.In the following month, he transferred the other 2 lots into his wifes name. Financial need forced Ellen and Franklin Grenier to take out a 400 pound mortgage through the City and Suburban Permanent Building and Investment Society over Lot 60. A second mortgage for 40 pounds was then taken out on the same lot in April 1887.

In November of 1888, Ellen and Franklin Grenier sold subdivision 96 to Jane Thaw and this reduced their land holdings to 1 rood and 36.8 perches. Franklin Grenier died on the 5th of January 1889, but Ellen did not remain a widow for very long. On the 20th of June 1889, she married another member of the Grenier family- Thomas Leichard Grenier. Six days later, Ellen Grenier took out a further mortgage on subdivision 60 for 200 pounds, possibly to cover her wedding expenses.

In 1890, the newly weds decided to build a house on the vacant land at 35 Brighton Rd.Highgate Hill. The construction costs were covered by a fourth mortgage on lot 60 for 1500 pounds(July 1890) a first mortgage for 100 pounds on Lot 97(December 1890) and on the same day , a fifth Mortgage for 100 pounds on Lot 60.

The house took 2 years to build. Construction of the house began in 1891 and was completed in 1892.

Ellen Grenier built the house in 1891 as upmarket rental accommodation for people of means and high ranking Government Officials and she named it Franklin Villa in honour of her deceased husband. (One of the side streets of Brighton Rd. is called Franklin St.)The house has continued to be known by this name to this day. Retaining its original purpose as a rental property, the history of Franklin Villa has mirrored the ebb and flow of Highgate Hill's economic circumstances.

In the 1890s, it was common practice to rent out substantial investment properties to wealthy tenants, as was the case with "Hillside" in Gray Rd. The first tenant moved into the new house in 1892 and stayed until 1893. He was a government official called Archibald Meston, the official protector of the Aborigines, a Justice of the Peace and a journalist. When the house was first built, it contained a Ball Room, and it was common practice for Balls and official Government functions and soirees to be regularly held at Franklin Villa.

From 1893 to 1902, the house remained vacant as there was a recession in Australia and there was little demand for expensive rental property. In 1902, the second tenant took up residence. He was a Postal Inspector by the name of Samuel Marshall. He stayed for only one year. In1903, Robert S.Neville, a Tobacco exporter working for the Department of Agriculture, moved into Franklin Villa and stayed until 1911.

In 1911, John C. Wildharbour became a tenant for 2 years. At this time, Ellen Grenier sold 29.5 perches to John Joseph Barry (part of subdivision 60) There was now only one rood, 9.5 perches of land (from the original land holding of approximately 17 acres.) This is the existing size of the land that Franklinvilla now sits on. (49.5 perches).

Then in 1913, a storekeeper called Henry Neylan became the lessee of the property. He later purchased Franklin Villa in December 1924 and owned the property until World War 2. It was registered in the name of his wife, Mary Jane Neylan.

In December 1924, Ellen Grenier passed Franklin Villa onto Mary Jane Neylan, but as Mary Neylan was deceased, the property passed into the hands of two Trustees, Henry Neylan and John Francis Neylan. When John Neylan died on the 12th of July, Maurice Burke was appointed as a new joint Trustee of the property. Having rented Franklin Villa since 1911, the other Trustee, Henry Neylan, continued to reside in the house until 1942, thus making him Franklin Villa's longest resident (31 years).

After World War 2 there was a shortage of accommodation for the returning war veterans and as was the custom during this era the verandas were enclosed to increase the indoor living areas of the house. Virtually all colonial houses throughout Brisbane followed suit and enclosed their verandas. In 1946, the landlord, an Eastern European migrant, converted the house into six modest flats. During the 1980's the verandas were reopened to reveal the original iron lace week on the verandas and the beautiful timber mouldings on the windows and doors, restoring the house to all its former glory.

Amy Edwina Muriel Andrews purchased Franklin Villa in May 1942. At the time of purchase, she took out a mortgage on the property through Henry Neylan and Maurice Burke. In 1944 she married Ernest Duminski, and the two of them owned the property until 1951. This was an indicator of some of the Eastern European influence that occurred in the South Brisbane area after the Second World War. In January 1948 the Duminski's converted the house into two upstairs flats (which were then divided into four flats) and two more flats were added underneath the house, in April 1950. Franklin Villa has remained a multiple dwelling ever since.

In January 1951, George Raymond Goldsmith obtained the deed to Franklin Villa and he held it until 1976, when the property passed into the hands of Marie Elysia Dennis. Thereafter, the property had numerous owners, reflecting the South Brisbane areas poor property values at that time. Mavis and Robert Graham Matheson became the owners of Franlin Villa in May 1980 to be followed by Milgrave Pty Ltd. in January 1986. In July 1986, subdivision 97 and resubdivision 2 of subdivision 60 were converted into a single allotment, lot 2. Phil Hasid Properties Pty Ltd. obtained the title to Lot 2 in August 1989, and the current owner Frederick Nicholas Proctor, a world renowned heritage consultant took control of Franklin Villa in August 1993. The original house and its colonial features had remained intact throughout the decades and restoration work revealed the house in all its former glory.

DESCRIPTION FRANKLIN VILLA

A very large, late nineteenth century, timber residence. This house is of two stories out the front, with a third floor below at the rear. There are verandas on 3 sides of the house. There are 4 dorma windows in the roof and an attic. It is an imposing Victorian residence situated on the river along Brighton Road, thereby allowing it expansive views. The original timber fretwork and iron filigree have been maintained or replaced with the exception of the second story where the veranda is partially enclosed and the decorative features removed. It has been within the last 2 decades that the house has been partially restored to its former appearance. As all the veranda spaces were previously enclosed with chamfer boards and glass louvres and the decorative battening left to deteriorate.

The residence has a pyramid room of corrugated iron, with two street facing gables and a small dormer roof vent between. Each gable has a decoratively shaped bargeboard with a finial pendant and a diamond of battening providing further decoration. The gutter and fascia edge of the roof raps around to enclose the ends of the barge boards at the sides of the front elevation and between the two gables. These are decorated with acroteria's at each corner and timber bracketing under. A decorative chimney stack rises from the right side of the main roof.

The veranda roof is a separate corrugated iron roof. The veranda raps around the front and left side of the house but, as mentioned above, is no longer as it was originally built on the upper floor. Previously, the posts were moulded and corniced with decorative brackets. A skirt of moulded dowels runs along the lower edge of the veranda roof. The veranda balustrade consisted of cast iron filigree.

The lower level veranda remains similar to the original, with solid panelling along the upper portion, which is decorated with a square patterning across the exterior surface. The decorative timber valances line the lower edge of the panelling. The posts are corniced and moulded with an iron filigree balustrade and lattice infill within the middle portion. A gable roof with a battened gable end expresses the lattice entry doors to the veranda. Pairs of moulded posts support the sides of the gable with iron filigree and lattice work as per the rest of the veranda, between them. The eastern side windows, which are not shaded by a veranda, have corrugated iron skillion sun hoods with iron filigree brackets. A picket fence with moulded posts formerly ran along the front alignment of the property. A new tall fence with metal gates now takes the former fences place. The large metal gates were originally the gates to the Mess Hall in Boggo Road Jail (now closed).

Statements of significance

This is a place of local heritage significance and meets one or more of the local heritage criterion unit. It is significant as it is important in demonstrating the evolution or pattern of the city and Highgate hill's history of urban development, as it was an 1890's investment property that was built for the top end of the rental market, and has remained a rental property for over 100 years; it is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a particular class of cultural places, for it is a surviving example of the elegant homes that were built specifically for the rental market in the south Brisbane area in the late nineteenth century; and it is important because of its aesthetic significance as a late Victorian two-storey timber house; and it has a special association with the life or work of particular persons of importance in the city's and Highgate hill's history, having built for the grenier family who were prominent members of the south Brisbane community and it was the residence of, among others, the protector of aborigines, Archibald meston and storekeeper henry neylan.