Petrie Terrace Police Depot, Former police barracks in Petrie Terrace, Brisbane, Australia
The Petrie Terrace Police Depot is a red brick building with horizontal concrete bands and terracotta tile panels set on elevated ground overlooking central Brisbane. The compound contains original stables, garages, and workshops that now serve as entertainment and retail spaces while maintaining their structural identity.
The site functioned as Brisbane's second prison from 1860 to 1883 before converting to a police barracks. It remained an officer training and residential facility until the middle of the 1980s.
The name Petrie Terrace commemorates Andrew and John Petrie, the Brisbane builders whose £25,000 tender won the 1858 gaol contract. The police barracks opened in September 1939, and since 2007–08 the site has operated as "The Barracks" commercial and retail precinct.
The depot occupies the southwest edge of a ridge above the former Roma Street railway yards, with the main frontage on Petrie Terrace. The site was redeveloped in 2007–08 as "The Barracks" retail and commercial precinct, so access follows the centre's opening hours. The surviving stone base of the Petrie Terrace fence and the retaining wall between the former defence and police reserves are built from stone of the 1862 gaol wall.
The original stone retaining walls and wrought iron fences on stone bases remain untouched along the property edges, preserving the security architecture from its earliest days. These structures were essential when the compound served as a prison and have survived despite the building's complete change in purpose.
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