Collection UQFL426 - Torbreck Home Units Records

Identity area

Reference code

UQFL426

Title

Torbreck Home Units Records

Date(s)

  • 1957-1999 (Creation)

Level of description

Collection

Extent and medium

391 drawings, 53 photographs, 13 records, 1 model, 1 oversize folder (7 drawings).

Context area

Name of creator

(1907-2002)

Biographical history

Architect Aubrey Job was born in Brisbane in 1907. In 1946 he formed a partnership with Charles Fulton as part of the practice Fulton, Job, and Collin. From 1954 until his retirement in 1974 he was in partnership with Robert Froud as Job and Froud Architects. The firm was responsible for the design of the Torbreck Apartments in Highgate Hill. Job died in 2002.

Name of creator

(1920-2001)

Biographical history

Robert Percival Froud was born in 1920 in Gravesend England. The family migrated to Australia in 1927 and eventually settled in Brisbane in 1934. In 1941 he enrolled in the Diploma of Architecture course at the University of Queensland, graduating in 1946. In 1954 Robert Froud and Aubrey Job established Job & Froud Architects.

Archival history

Collection previously titled as: Records, 1958-1960
Collection alternatively titled as: Torbreck Home Units Collection.

Immediate source of acquisition or transfer

Content and structure area

Scope and content

Architectural drawings, photographs and some associated records relating to the design and construction of the Torbreck residential complex at Highgate Hill, Brisbane. The Torbreck complex was constructed in 1958-1960, and was the first multistoreyed home unit development in Queensland. Rising prominently from the crest of Highgate Hill, Torbreck comprises 150 units spread across an eightstorey garden block and a fourteen-storey tower block, surrounded by landscaped gardens on a one and a half acre site. The complex was designed by Queensland architects A.H. Job and R.P. Froud, whose design ideas and innovative use of old and new materials were adaptations of the post-war International Style, in particular the North American model. At the time of its conception, Torbreck received support from the Queensland Government which considered high-density residential developments of this kind as one possible solution to Brisbane’s emerging suburban sprawl. After construction, the project’s developer, Torbeck Pty Ltd (later Torbreck Home Units Ltd), retained company title over the units. Unit owners became share holders in the company to the value of their unit’s purchase price, an arrangement that has persisted despite the introduction of the more popular strata title option in 1965. Torbreck remains substantially intact and continues to rank as one of Brisbane’s most prominent architectural landmarks.

Appraisal, destruction and scheduling

Accruals

System of arrangement

Conditions of access and use area

Conditions governing access

Unrestricted access; some drawings fragile.

Conditions governing reproduction

Language of material

  • English

Script of material

Language and script notes

Physical characteristics and technical requirements

Finding aids

Uploaded finding aid

Allied materials area

Existence and location of originals

Existence and location of copies

Related units of description

Related descriptions

Notes area

Alternative identifier(s)

Alma MMS ID

991006768759703131

Access points

Place access points

Name access points

Genre access points

Description control area

Description identifier

Institution identifier

Rules and/or conventions used

Status

Revised

Level of detail

Dates of creation revision deletion

Revised, Linda Justo, 24-Aug-2021. Migrated from LMS: April 2019, P.A.

Language(s)

Script(s)

Sources

Accession area