Case studies
We’re surrounded by cultural heritage places. We live, work and relax in them.Heritage places need to be used to stop them from falling into disrepair. You can adapt a heritage place for a new use providing you don’t harm its original fabric and character.
Here are two examples of heritage-listed places from our past that have been transformed for the present and future.
Mactaggarts Woolstore
Through sensitive design, Brisbane’s heritage-listed Mactaggart’s Woolstore has been transformed into a trendy apartment block.
Built in 1926, Mactaggarts Woolstore was one of several stores at Teneriffe on the Brisbane River’s Bulimba Reach. The building’s lower floors were used for storing, loading, and unloading wool while the top floor was used for displaying it.
Wool was sent to Mactaggarts Woolstore by rail to be safely stored for prospective buyers. After it was sold, the wool was pressed and baled, trolleyed to the wharves, and loaded onto ships.
With the introduction of container shipping in the 1960s, this method of wool handling was phased out and the stores were no longer used.
Mactaggarts Woolstore’s current owners decided to find a new use for the old store. They obtained approval from the Queensland Heritage Council to transform the store into an apartment building. Some of the building’s original wool baling equipment is displayed throughout the apartment’s corridors as a reminder of the building’s history.
This new use conserves this familiar Brisbane River landmark while allowing residents to enjoy a little bit of Queensland’s heritage.
People’s Palace
With only minor alterations, Brisbane’s People’s Palace continues to provide accommodation for weary travellers.
Built near Brisbane’s Central Railway Station in 1910, the building was used as a Salvation Army temperance hotel, the first of its kind in Queensland.
The hotel’s furnishings were simple but of ‘good character’. As a temperance hotel, the moral fibre of its patrons was safeguarded. Guests were not allowed to drink alcohol or gamble.
The hotel contained 130 rooms and provided inexpensive, simple accommodation for visitors to the capital city.
After offering many years of cheap accommodation, People’s Palace’s doors closed in 1979, and it became the Salvation Army’s central office.
In 1996, People’s Palace reverted to its original use as a place for budget accommodation when it opened its doors to backpackers. But to keep the building’s history alive, its important elements have been conserved.
With sensitive design, the People’s Palace has once again become a home away from home.
Last updated: 03 April 2006
