Home - Chermside & District History

Low Set to High Rise

Location of Playfield Street.

Playfield Street is in the centre of Chermside which is why so many of the residents did not want to sell their homes. It is such a good location within walking distance of many regularly used places. This feature attracts many retirees or people with jobs in Chermside.

Playfield Street had no opening on to Hamilton Road and entrance is from Kittyhawke Drive through the very short Way Street. Exit can be the reverse or simply driving north and joining Kittyhawke Drive. Or a short walk takes one to the Bus Interchange and one can catch a bus to anywhere.

Playfield Street North - Kittyhawke Drive to Way Street.

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All the houses on the top side of the photo were gone by mid 2009. On the bottom of the photo and counting from the left, houses 3,4&5 were demolished for Chermside Central, 9,10 & 11 were removed for the offices of Westfield Builders and No. 14, with the green roof was removed to make a walkway into the Shoppingtown.

This northern part of Playfield Street used to connect with Banfield Street but it went under the Shoppingtown in the 2006 expansion of the centre and joins Kittyhawk Drive. Playfield Street also joins Kittyhawke Drive.

Playfield Street South - Way St to Hamilton Road.

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The first three houses on the top side have gone and been replaced with hq Apartments. There are five houses remaining on the top level of the photo and they are all owned by a developer who will remove them for a development which will reach to Hamilton Road. On the bottom side the first three houses have been replaced with the Equinox Apartment building.

Playfield Street is 410m long and had 27 houses on each side built in the early 1950s. They were low level weatherboard with a tile roof and many were financed with War Service Loans, the occupants intending to stay there for the rest of their lives.

The street is in the area classified as the Chermside Major Centre under the Brisbane City Plan 2000 which allows up to 10 levels of unit development in the immediate vicinity of the Shoppingtown. The general method is to have two levels for parking underground and eight levels for accommodation above ground. This a new scheme to develop high rise residential around suburban shopping centres with easy access to public transport.

Three Low Set Houses are Missing.

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The cleared site for Chermside's first high rise residental, Chermside Central. Three houses, just like those still standing, were erased in a couple of days and the rubble carted off to the dump.

The first change in the street was closing off access to Hamilton Road and the instillation of new traffic lights. Then in late 2004 three houses at the northern end were demolished to make way for the high rise building Chermside Central, No. 46 Playfield Street.

Chermside Central 2005 - the First Tower.

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Chermside Central was the first high rise residental block in Chermside and constituted a major change with the tradition of a house on its own block of land.

This was followed by the digging of a very large hole in the ground for the basement which was to constitute the lock up garage for the occupants' sixty cars.

The next level or ground floor is an open area for temporary parking and, at the northern end there are three living units. Another six floors rise above all of which are for units of 3, 2 and 1 bedrooms. All up there are 41 units in the building, allowing an average of 2 persons per unit there will be 82 living in Chermside Central replacing about 15 people in the houses when families lived in them.

Looking Northwards from Way Street 2008.

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Looking northward along Playfield Street from Way Street the buildings seem to get smaller but a large one is rising at the other end.

Towards the end of 2008 the last vacant space on the North-East portion of Playfield Street was being prepared for another high rise block. However the Financial Crisis held up the building schedule and it wasn't till the end 2009 that the Edge was underway on the northern tip of the section.

There are no houses left on this section of Playfield Street.

Playfield Street is Growing Up and Up.

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The table shows the expected growth in the population of Playfield Street caused by the current buildings. A least one more block is scheduled on the east side of the street. It will take out the remaining houses on that side.

More people are moving into units because they do not have a yard to maintain, they are growing older and the children have left home so they do not need a large house. Like Chermside Central, the units are generally near to shopping, entertainment, public transport, parks, sporting venues, they have off street parking for tenants and visitors, and they are easy to air condition. Some people living in units are not driving anymore but rely on public transport, bicycles and taxis; what a radical move!