Ama House

This unusual granite clad house with domed turret, hidden from the street, sits perched on one of the highest ridges in Kelvin Grove, not far from the Royal Brisbane Hospital and the Medical School.

Built in 1915 for William L’Estrange an electrical engineer who, as Secretary of the Brisbane Electric Supply Company Limited (later the City Electric Light Company) played a significant role in establishing Brisbane’s first electricity supply. In 1929 he sold the house to Dr James Duhig (nephew of the avid real estate acquirer Archbishop Duhig), also a mover and shaker who was responsible for setting up the first Red Cross Blood Bank in Queensland and who established pathology labs at both The Mater and Brisbane General (later the Royal) during the 1920’s.

He subsequently held on to Huntstanton until 1955 when he sold it to the Queensland branch of what was then the British Medical Association whereupon it was renamed BMA House and after they shook off the empire it became AMA house in 1963.