Sir Samuel Griffith’s Brisbane home was a grand riverfront estate in the Brisbane suburb of New Farm. It was lavishly furnished with Chippendale furniture and Italian objets d’art and even included a high-ceilinged ballroom at its centre in which Sir Samuel and Lady Julia Griffith held their many official and social engagements. 

Brisbane architect Richard Kirk explores Griffith’s life through the lens of his New Farm home, and tells Merthyr House’s story—emblematic of the evolution of Brisbane, from colonial outpost to its emergence today as a future Olympic city.  

Richard Kirk is an architect and masterplanner, born in 1967 in Roma, Queensland. He founded his practice Kirk architects in 1995, which has since grown to multiple studios across Australia and South-East Asia. His practice primarily works within the institutional and community sector, focusing on advancing sustainable design through each project.

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