Bertholme

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Bertholme, New Farm, Brisbane

Bertholme is a heritage-listed sandstone house at 71–73 Moray Street, New Farm, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by architect Andrea Giovanni Stombuco and built in 1882–1883. It is also known as the Moreton Club.

History in brief
- The land was bought by Stombuco in 1882. The house was completed within the next few years.
- Stombuco sold the property in 1885 to Giovanni Pulle, who then sold it five months later to BD Cohen. In the 1890s, Henry Cohen owned it and named the house Bertholme after his wife, Bertha.
- After the Cohens, the house passed through several owners and in 1939 Miss Jane Ingram converted it into a nursing home.
- In 1958 the Moreton Club purchased Bertholme and much of the surrounding land, adding extensions to the rear and refurbishing the home to suit their use.

Architecture
- Bertholme is a substantial single-storey residence built of unpainted sandstone, with a hipped roof that was originally slate (now corrugated iron).
- The house is square with a projecting front bay and a long verandah with decorative cast-iron balustrades.
- It sits on a riverbank slope, so the front is low and the rear is raised above a subfloor. Some verandahs and the subfloor have been enclosed, and a long modern two-storey rear wing is connected to the house, forming a courtyard.

Heritage significance
- Bertholme is a rare surviving example of late 19th-century riverside residences in New Farm.
- It is notable for its unpainted stone walls and distinctive front fence.
- It is important as the home of the Moreton Club, Brisbane’s premier private club for women.
- The house is associated with Andrea Stombuco, a prominent Brisbane architect of the 1880s boom period.
- It demonstrates characteristics of its era and has aesthetic and social significance for the community.