The Flickr Aldboroughhouse Image Generatr

Some have speculated that this house may have inspired the creation of Castle Dracula.

Originally a private dwelling before conversion into an army barracks, Aldborough House now stands derelict.

Aldborough house, Yorkshire

Aldborough House on the junction of North Circular Road and Amiens Street is the largest Georgian era building in north county Dublin, and second largest in the county (Leinster House being number 1)

I see that Aldborough House is associated with the GPO and all things posts and telegraph in this photo. Doubtless though that was not the original purpose for this beautiful Georgian building. For some unknown reason the following comes to mind "The Minister for gate posts and telegraph poles"?

Thanks to today's contributors, including guliolopez, beachcomberaustralia, Niall McAuley, Wendy: and turgidson we learned a lot about Aldborough House. The related Wikipedia article has some detail, but in short the house was built by the Earl of Aldborough in the 1790s. He died soon afterwards however, and the house was unoccupied for some years. During the 19th century it became a school, military barracks and later (as we find it in our image) by the late 1890s was the office of the Controller of Stores for the Dept of Post and Telegraphs. It remained a depot for the Post and Telegraphs for a further century, before being sold in the early 21st century. Since then, unfortunately, it has remained unused, derelict, and its condition sadly deteriorated....


Photographer: Robert French

Collection: Lawrence Photograph Collection

Date: c.1880-1900 (likely closer to latter end of range)

NLI Ref: L_ROY_10309

You can also view this image, and many thousands of others, on the NLI’s catalogue at catalogue.nli.ie

Rear view from Killarney Street.

From Killarney Street.

From Killarney Street.

Note the central chimney which had four fireplaces in four different rooms.

Overview of Charters Towers History.
Until around 1900 this was the second largest city in QLD! It called itself “The World” and with good reason. The gold finds here lasted a good 40 years. The town had a long period of wealth and growth. And the town took itself to the world which was a first for any mining centre in Australia and for any city apart from the state capital cities. Because of the wealth in the town share brokers started businesses there in the early 1880s. They agreed in 1885 to form a group and establish a stock exchange – the only one in Australia that has ever existed outside of a capital city. Then in 1886 they took the city to the world- at the 1886 Colonial and Indian Exhibition in London. The set up a display of mining and ore crushing and they accepted £1 shares in various mining companies that operated in the town. It was a great success. One company is an example- Day Dawn Block and Wyndham- they received almost £500,000 in paid up shares to finance their future mining work! This exhibition put Charters Towers on the world map and was the first time London investors invested directly in Australian mines rather than through a London based share broking company or finance company. Some of the companies were duds but most were not. The peak gold yields from Charters Towers did not come until 1899 but these yields would not have occurred without the London finance for the deep shafts that were needed to reach to gold. The influx of money into the town transformed the place. The wooden structures, many dating from 1872 the time of the original gold finds were replaced with lavish and imposing stone and brick structures. The main street was rebuilt. Grand houses were built by the successful miners and the period from 1886-1893 was a boom building period. Prosperity was assisted by the development of the new cyanide gold processing works which produced even more gold for the miners and investors. The new cyanide works opened in Charters Towers in 1892. Fortunately we can still see some of this faded glory in Charters Towers today. But in the 1890s it was the best place to live in QLD outside of Brisbane. Thus it was not surprising that the Northern Mining Register newspaper wrote in 1897 that:


Most mining in Charters Towers ceased around 1912.

Discovery and Early Establishment of Charters Towers.
Hugh Mosman, whom we have heard of before on this tour, George Clarke, John Fraser and their Aboriginal horse boy called Jupiter Mosman were prospecting near Ravenswood in December 1871 when they found the first gold in the region. They registered their find as Charters Towers after Mr Charters the Gold Commissioner of the day and Towers because of the conical shaped stone hills (tors) near the site which looked like towers. A gold rushed quickly followed in 1872 with the birth of the town. Mosman and his mates discovered 10 gold reefs. Early finds were of alluvial gold but soon deep shafts were needed to extract the ore and companies were formed with money and capital to undertake this work. British investment led to the transformation of the canvas and wooden town into a fine stone metropolis occurred after 1886 as explained above. The gold at Charters Towers was the major find in QLD and an important find for Australia. By the end of 1878 there were 12 mills processing ore in the town. The Venus Battery works which started operations in 1872 operated right through until 1972. For most of the period from the mid 1870s up to 1906 gold exports from QLD exceeded those of the other major QLD export - wool. QLD certainly had much more gold than NSW but much less than Victoria although not all QLD gold came from Charters Towers. During its peak years over 200,000 ounces of gold a year were mined in Charters Towers. Although the mining companies closed down operations in 1912 individual miners continued working the field right up to World War Two and the old cyanide ore dumps from the battery works have been reworked since then.

To recognise the importance of his find the main street of Charters Towers was named Mosman Street. In 1882 the town was linked to Townsville by rail improving communication with the outside world. The two day trip to Townsville now took a few hours. In the boom period of the 1890s Charters Towers saw the erection of some of its major structures such as:
•the Stock Exchange Arcade ( 76 Mosman street)
•the amazing classical structure for the former Australian Bank of Commerce (86 Mosman Street)
•Ayot House that we visit ( 63 Hodgkinson Street)
•the Court House ( 32 Hodgkinson Street)
•the former School of Mines building ( 24 Hodgkinson Street)
•the classical revival Post Office with tower ( 17 Gill street) built in 1892
•the historic Civic Club for the well-to-do miners ( 117 Gill Street)
•the old Police Station and barracks ( 51 Gill Street)
•the wooden tower bell of the former Anglican church and rectory ( 134 Gill Street).
•the impressive Masonic Temple ( 18 Ryan Street)
•the Thornburgh House and later college buildings ( 57 King street) - this was originally a grand home for a wealthy town businessman, later becoming a college after 1919.
All of the above buildings and more are on the Register of the National Estate and others are on the QLD register. Most survived because when the gold did peter out the town remained a major agricultural service centre and education centre. It never lost the bulk of its town population. Lissner Park with its charming rotunda and bandstand complex at Deane Street (on corner with Bridge Street) is one of many reminders of the heyday of the town. The structure opened in 1910 as a memorial to those who served in the Boer War. The wrought iron was forged in Charter Towers itself in a local foundry. The original marble benches have been vandalised or broken but the bandstand is still charming and picturesque with some good historical details. Quite a few hectares around Mosman and Gill streets are on the Register of the National Estate as the area contains so many 19th century buildings, many with original features and details despite their current commercial usage.

Charters Towers Today.
The city has 8,000 inhabitants down from the 19th century 20,000 and then 1915 population of the 15,000. But some gold mining was re-activated in the 1980s and again after 2001. Mining is still a significant employer of townspeople and Citigold Corporation Ltd announced in 2006 that they would work four mines beneath the current township. They are excavating 250,000 ounces of gold a year. Tourism is not a major employer but education is still important. The city still has private boarding schools for the children of the outback pastoralists and a total of four secondary schools. There are still 8 hotels in the town and tourist attractions do employ some locals in some of the old restored building such as the former Stock Exchange which is now a museum and the Venus Gold Battery.

Aldborough House - the last great town house built in Dublin in the late 18th century is of both architectural and cultural importance. It sits empty and abandoned and is urgently in need of protection and restoration.

Link to my website - But Is It Art?