The Port Office

The Petries are responsible for the construction of The Port Office (also known as The Harbours and Marine Building) located on the corner of Margaret and Edward Streets in the Brisbane CBD.

The Colonial Architect Francis Drummond Greville Stanley designed the building and eight tenders for the construction of a new 'Harbors, Rivers, and Ports Office' were opened at the office of the Under Secretary for Works on the 3rd January 1879 and were:

∘ John Petrie, £8,811, back verandah, £727, eighteen months;
∘ R. Porter, £9,000, and back verandah £660 additional, nine months;
∘ S. Rogers and Son, £9,781 15s., eighteen months, and 2s. 3d. per yard for excavation;
∘ S. Rogers, junior, £9,860 10s., nineteen months;
∘ W. Macfarlane, £9,781, back verandah, £597;
∘ W. Hall, £10,877, without verandah, £9,983;
∘ Thomas Watson, £14,592 19s., twenty-one months; and
∘ C. G. Skinner, £15,000, twenty months.

Petrie's tender of £8,811 was accepted by the 'Harbors and Rivers Department' of the Queensland Government and construction was finished in November 1880. This new Port Office replaced the first Port Office building located on land adjoining in Edward Street near the ferry which subsequently became the Naval Staff Office of the Queensland Marine Defence Force, and later Water Police Headquarters until it was demolished in the early 1970's.

The Port Office was described upon completion in 1880 as "generally pronounced to be very handsome buildings. The style of architecture is the Italian-Doric, except the first floor-front, which is pure Doric. There are twelve rooms on the ground and nine on the upper floor, all spacious and well-ventilated. All the walls are of brick, cemented externally."

Client: Queensland Government Location: Edward Street, Brisbane City Year: 1880