Oak Lodge and Spreydon, Heritage-listed residential buildings in Newtown, Toowoomba, Australia.
Oak Lodge and Spreydon are two Victorian timber residences built in the 1890s, located in the Newtown area of Toowoomba. Both structures display fine carpentry work and decorative timber details characteristic of homes from that era.
The house was built in the 1890s for plumber and timber merchant Robert Walker Filshie, probably to designs by James Marks and Son. In the early 1920s it was divided: the southern gabled section and hallway were moved around the corner to face Rome Street and extended west, creating the two villas.
From 4 February 1908 the Thomson sisters of Melbourne ran Spreydon Girls' College here, a boarding and day school teaching kindergarten to "Sydney Senior Standard". Elizabeth and Jessie Thomson were joint principals and Margaret supervised boarders; a schoolroom, kindergarten and tennis court faced Rome Street.
The buildings can be viewed from the street to see their original Victorian architecture clearly. They are located in a residential area of Toowoomba and are private homes, so visitors can only appreciate their exterior design.
The timber for the house likely came from Filshie, Broadfoot & Co., the sawmill firm Robert Filshie ran with James Broadfoot and architect James Marks from 1884; by 1912 it was one of Queensland's largest. The Filshie family's timber trade only ended in 1987, when grandsons Earle and Ian Filshie closed a 41-year-old cabinet-making business.
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