User:Michelleandjill/The Nouvelle Apartments, Teneriffe



The Nouvelle Apartments, Teneriffe The Nouvelle is a residential apartment building, which is located at 38 Skyring Terrace, between Helen Street and Wyandra Street in Teneriffe. This site was the location of both the original “Primary Producers Agency” wool store. and an office building before being converted to accommodate residential living. . The conversion undertaken by the design team at Nettleton Tribe Architects as part of the Brisbane city council’s urban renewal plan began in 2001 with construction being completed in 2003.

The Nouvelle Apartments


Conversion of former office into the current residential apartment “Nouvelle” was undertaken during the period of 2001 to 2002, and completed in 2003 by the local firm, Nettleton Tribe Architects. The survived façade of the former woolstore can still be recognizable on the existing building. The 92 apartment interiors have been designed in a paired back “minimal” approach with a sophisticated level of detailing. The design brief was to capture a ‘lifestyle’ concept for Nouvelle, which meant that its residents would feel part of a modern living experience in a pleasurable setting- close to the river walk, transport and trendy bars, café and restaurants. There are 2 apartment levels and 2 car park levels in Nouvelle which provide sufficient parking space for residents. Nouvelle apartment contains studio units, and up to 3 bedroom residential apartments. Most residents are renting apartment with long contracts with relatively high rental price. The apartments are designed in a modern contemporary open plan style with unique architectural qualities related to features in former woolstore. Each apartment contains wall mounted clothes dryer; generous built-ins and cupboard space; wild retractable sliding glass doors and aluminium shutters.

Nouvelle also contains other shared resident facility features :
 * Reverse cycle air-conditioning
 * Fully equipped on-site gym
 * Recreation room with pool table, Board room
 * Under-cover car parking, intercom security, 2 lifts available
 * Resident Managers are also Rental and Sales Agents

History
The site on Skyring Terrace that now houses The Nouvelle Apartments was originally the site of one of Teneriffe’s older woolstores, the Primary Producers Agency No.1 store. The use of wool stores in the wool industry however, decreased in popularity around the 1960s resulting in the Primary Producers Agency No.1 store to become empty and derelict. The early 1990s saw an interest in woolstores such as this to be converted for into housing. This interest was significantly decreased when the Primary Producers Agency No.1 store was destroyed in a large fire in January 1990. Part of the site was than used for the construction of an office building before the Brisbane city council’s urban renewal plan prompted its conversion into residential apartments. .

The Primary Producers Agency No.1 store
The Primary Producers Agency No.1 store also known as Mactaggarts Woolstore was constructed in 1912 for John Bridge and Company Ltd. . After eight years in the possession of John Bridge the woolstore was sold to the Queensland Primary producers Co-operative Agency on the 10th of August 1930. . Becoming the first of eight woolstores accuired by the Co-operative Agency in the boom of the wool industry in Teneriffe.

The woolstore had four levels. The top floor used as the show floor for displaying wool was naturally lit by a south facing saw tooth roof, making the casting of shadows over wool bales impossible. This floor also housed telephone booths along with dining and kitchen facilities. The woolstore also housed the typical lifts and chutes used for the transportation of wool to, from and throughout the building. The most distinctive aspect of the woolstore were two turrets placed on either side of the façade, which accommodated the bathrooms and kitchen facilities as well as fire escapes. . Both the subsequent developments of the site have retained this feature visually. As the building was serviced by rail the woolstore possessed an iron truss awning spanning the railroad. .

The design of The Primary Producers Agency No.1 store draws influence from and is similar in appearance to that of the John Taylor Building in Victoria, by Architect Arthur Blackett. . The work of Blackett in the 1920’s was influenced highly by the work of Louis Sullivan whose design ideas regarding multiple story buildings pervade the appearance of both The Primary Producers Agency No.1 store and the John Taylor building, mainly in the elongation and arching of windows and lack of ornamentation.

The Fire of 1990
The 18th of January 1990 saw the destruction of The Primary Producers Agency No.1 store in a fire a result of an act of arson. Due to the buildings use as a woolstore many elements of the building were soaked in lanolin, which acted to fuel the fire. Around one hundred firefighters worked to control the blaze and nearby residents were evacuated in the fear that the fire would set off an explosion in the gas storage facility situated nearby. The fire destroyed the entire woolstore with only part of the two turrets standing after the fire was brought under control.

The Office building
During the 90s, the site of the former woolstore was redeveloped into an office building. This was done following the trend of many other woolstores which were being redeveloped into either office space or storage space due to lack of interest in their conversion into housing. The main feature of this office building was the reconstruction of the turret of The Primary Producers Agency No.1 store that marked the corner of Skyring Terrace and Wyandra Street