TWO young developers, who found themselves in the middle of a demolition storm, are working hard to respect the history of the famous old Brisbane house they knocked down.
Kevin Thomson and Ben Francis are the men behind Focus on York, a 14-apartment project which is being built on the site of the Indooroopilly house immortalised in author John Birmingham’s 1994 semi-autobiographical novel He Died With a Felafel in His Hand
“When we bought the place, we had no idea it had a history to it,” Mr Thomson said.
“It wasn’t until I was at the airport one day, on the way to Melbourne, and a mate of mine rang me up and said, ‘Do you enjoy being in the paper?’”
Birmingham’s book details the experiences of a collection of social misfits living in share houses in Brisbane and other Australian cities.
The novel was adapted into a popular stage play and, in 2001, was made into a film by Richard Lowenstein.
The York St house also featured prominently in Birmingham’s 1997 sequel The Tasmanian Babes Fiasco.
“It was a rundown old Queenslander and when you walked into it, it had that feel like I reckon I’ve been to a party here during uni,” Mr Thomson said.
“Someone local ran past and went, ‘Oh, the house is gone’ and that’s how we found out but my hope is the people who do buy in will love the story with it.”
Mr Thomson said they wanted to keep the house intact mid-last year but it wasn’t possible.
“It did have lots and lots of character and we tried our hardest to get it removed from site but because of the split road we couldn’t get it out,” he said.
“Because we couldn’t take it out and the only option was demolition I salvaged the front door, all the French doors and bits of timber for myself and put it back into my house at Coorparoo.
“The place hasn’t died completely because the front door now lives at Coorparoo.
“It had such a good feel about it and such good bones so I tried to salvage it.”
In its place stands a six-storey construction tower which is tipped for completion in April.
“What we want to do, as opposed to bulldozing the memory, is just let a little bit of that leak back into the build,” Mr Thomson said.
“Whether there are some small captions out of the books we can use in the entry foyers at every level or characters we could name every floor after.
“That’s our idea with it, to turn the negative around.”
The Focus Development Management Group pair is in talks with Mr Birmingham to get the author’s take on how he’d like to pay tribute to the significance of the site.
“As long as we get his blessing, I’m happy,” Mr Thomson said.
Both admit to not having delved completely into the books.
“My wife’s an English teacher so she’s right into it and has already read three or four of his books,” Mr Francis said.
“She’s getting us up to speed.”
Focus on York is a mix of six three-bedroom, two-bathroom and eight two-bedroom, two-bathroom apartments located 6km west of Brisbane’s CBD.
Prices start from $520,000 for a two-bedroom apartment and $710,000 for a three-bedroom.
The project is being marketed by Robin McIlwain from Belle Property Toowong.
Original Publish: http://www.couriermail.com.au/