page_title: Craigston
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Craigston / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Apartments under construction, Wickham Terrace, ca. 1928. Craigston Apartments under construction at Wickham Terrace, 1927. Designed by architect Arnold Conrad, Brisbane's first high rise apartment block rose seven stories. The apartment block towers over the adjacent house. The building is unfinished and some wooden scaffolding can be seen. The verandah, bay window, gable and gate of the house are visible.
context_page_description: Craigston is a heritage-listed apartment block at 217 Wickham Terrace, Spring Hill, City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by Atkinson & Conrad and built in 1927. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 October 1992.
context_section_description: This eight-storeyed building was constructed in 1927 for a group of Brisbane medical practitioners.
  In the mid-1920s Dr Sydney Fancourt McDonald introduced to Brisbane the concept of a multi-function office/residential block, comprising professional suites on the ground floor and residential apartments on the levels above. Craigston Ltd was formed with McDonald as chairman, and Brisbane architects Atkinson & Conrad (1918-1927) were commissioned to design the structure.
  Arnold Conrad and David Wales (draftsman) worked on the design in 1926, incorporating possibly the first reinforced concrete frame in a multi-storeyed building in Brisbane. The design also demonstrated Atkinson & Conrad's interest in the Spanish Mission style, which they used in a variety of local buildings, including the Tristram Factory at West End.
  The building was erected in 1927 by builder and engineer Walter Taylor, under the supervision of architect Thomas Brennan Femister Gargett. Taylor's later work included the Walter Taylor Bridge (1932–36).
  Craigston was built during the interwar redevelopment of the medical precinct along Wickham Terrace, which included Ballow Chambers, Inchcolm, Brisbane Clinic (Lister House) and Wickham House. Their construction constituted the second phase (the first being in the 1880s) of the Terrace's growth as a medical precinct.
caption: Craigston under construction, circa 1928
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