House hunting in Launceston
Do you recognise these historic houses from your neighbourhood?
We have recently digitised a series of photographs of houses around Launceston. They were taken by Stephen Spurling III in the early twentieth century, but not all of them have been identified.
If you know the locations of these houses (or happen to find them while exploring Google streetview), you can let us know by adding your comments in our catalogue – see instructions below.
- Search just the unidentified photos or browse the whole series of Spurling’s house photos.
- Click on the item in the catalogue. More details will pop up.
- At the top of the window is a user comments tab.
- You can make comments by logging in via Facebook, Twitter or Google+by creating your own Disqus account – Choose “SIGN UP WITH DISQUS” below the comments box.
You can use the comment box to share any information about our collections. Search for more unidentified buildings in our catalogue, review a book, tell us about a person in the Names Index, or share the history of a place in a picture. Happy house hunting!
Invermay house is where Websters are now
Photograph – Launceston – unidentified location – shop, TAHO: NS3484/1/2
This building is 94-96 Wellington Street. My parents, Bon and Kath Harper bought this bakery in approx. 1944. On their retirement the business was bought by a cousin (not sure of their names) who in turn eventually sold the building to Ken Davies. I was born in 1945. It was known as Harper’s Bakery and I believe the signage was Central Bakery. The building was double frontage and two stories high with the family living quarters being behind and above the shop. The bakery and other outbuildings were to the rear with a laneway leading to Canning Street. My father used a horse and cart initially to do deliveries. The interior walls and ceilings were lath and plaster and I recall a ceiling would occasionally collapse in the middle of the night. The nails were square from recollection. The walls were covered in many layers of wall paper. The oven was wood fired until Dad had it converted to oil. They are both now passed away. Dad’s father had a bakery in Charles Street.
I’m not sure if this is the correct place to leave this message or not….sorry in advance. I’m doing our family tree and in 2015 I visited Launceston and Carr Villa Cemetery to ‘catch-up’ with some rellies. My paternal Grandmother (Teresa Columba CLAY) was born in Launceston on 5 November 1910 and lived at 69 Fredrick St. which I now believe has a Pathologist on that Lot (??) I would be most appreciative if in your Archives, you may have a photo of that residence as it was back then.
Hi Janice. The best place to send us a question is through our research request form: http://sltas.altarama.com/reft100.aspx?key=Research
You can find this, and other ways to contact our research team at https://libraries.tas.gov.au/get-help/help-with-research-and-finding-information/
The invermay house could very well be Herbert st. 72….we rented it for awhile and it was on the corner of Herbert and another that I can’t remember!
https://geo2.ggpht.com/cbk?panoid=o4bS9hTGIcxSRaROQh6JOg&output=thumbnail&cb_client=search.TACTILE.gps&thumb=2&w=408&h=200&yaw=69.08586&pitch=0&thumbfov=100
I think you’re right Lel! Thanks, we will add that to the record.
Hi Jess, Do you have a list of the houses in numerical order? I notice 2 shops in Wellington St are numbered 60-something, and there is another unidentified shop numbered 60-something.
Hi Sue. No, we don’t have a numbered list. So far we don’t know what those numbers refer to.