Lingrove: keeping history alive
The Kingsford Terrace Corinda retirement community is continuing its tradition of honouring the area’s landmarks and pioneers when naming its new buildings. It’s latest stage will be known as “Lingrove’’.
The stage five building is named after the grand home, Lingrove, built by Corinda area settler Robert Francis Hassall. The home was built around 1883 on five acres that ran down to Oxley Creek. Tragically, Robert Hassell died in June 1888 at the age of 33 and his wife, Helena, 34, died six months later. They left behind two daughters and a son. Nearby Hassall Street remembers the first occupants of Lingrove.
After the deaths of the Hassalls, the house was sold in 1889 to Thomas Murray Hall and its name was changed to Lynne Grove. Hall was a successful merchant, served as an alderman on the Brisbane City Council and as a Member of the Queensland Parliament.
The Hall family lived in the home until 1914 when it was purchased by widowed pastoralist Laura Duncan who, after her husband’s death in 1907, ran the huge cattle station “Mooraberrie'' near Windorah in Queensland's far west. Mrs Duncan bought Lynne Grove as her city residence when she and her daughters visited Brisbane.
A generous supporter of good causes, in 1915 she offered Lynne Grove rent-free as a care home for the orphaned and destitute children of World War I soldiers. The house became The Corinda Infants’ Home (pictured above). In September 1916, The Brisbane Courier newspaper described it as a “beautiful home kindly lent by Mrs Duncan as a home for infants’’, “21 little inmates are in cots on wide balconies, which they occupy except in stormy weather, when two large airy dormitories are utilised.’’ In November 1919, the house was returned to Mrs Duncan.
Subdivision of the Lynne Grove site began in the late 1960s. The home, beautifully restored, still stands at 151 Lynne Grove Avenue, Corinda, and is listed on the Brisbane City Council Heritage Register.
Due to overwhelming demand for apartments, Aura Holdings made the decision in mid-2021 to fast-track construction of the Lingrove building (pictured above). It is now under construction in conjunction with the stage four Francis building that honours the contribution of Angela Francis, a Corinda district pioneer who was dedicated to improving maternal outcomes for mothers and their babies in Queensland.
Lingrove will have 30 independent living apartments in one-bedroom, two-bedroom with study and three-bedroom options. Construction is due for completion in August 2022. For more information, to view floorplans or inquire about pricing, please call (07) 3716 0804 or email live@kingsfordterrace.com.au
Compiled by Jo Cranstoun
Historic photos: The House Detective