Bulimba House, Heritage-listed residence in Bulimba, Queensland, Australia.
Bulimba House is a two-story sandstone residence with steep gables, terracotta tiles, and deep verandahs positioned on elevated land overlooking the Brisbane River. The property includes mature gardens and several original outbuildings that once supported farming activities.
David McConnel bought 173 acres beside the Brisbane River in 1849 and had builder Andrew Petrie erect the house in 1849–50, the first masonry Tudor-style homestead in the Brisbane region. The McConnels sold it in 1853 to pastoralist Donald Coutts for £5,000; he subdivided the estate and lived there until his death in 1869. Queensland premier Arthur Edward Moore owned it from 1935.
The property was first called Toogoolawah, from an Aboriginal word meaning "shape of heart". By 1852 the McConnels adopted Bulimba, the name of the surrounding parish, meaning place of the magpie lark or peewee. The house is also known as Toogoolawah.
Bulimba House is a private family home on a reduced 0.65-hectare site at 34 Kenbury Street and is not open to visitors; the grounds and interiors cannot be toured. The house stands on a rise in its garden, visible from the street, and the Queensland Heritage Register listing of 21 October 1992 records its protected status.
The roof tiles, added around 1919, carry small turtle emblems, and the windows have curved pressed-metal hoods with heart-shaped motifs. The house's Aboriginal name Toogoolawah means "shape of heart", and the nearby river quarry provided the sandstone.
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