Queenslander - Circa. 1800s

Today I present to you my attempt at a historic Australian Queenslander . I learnt a lot about the architectural history of one very amazing country when making this lot and thought I should share the final product instead of just keeping it for myself.

Crowfield was built in the Queenslander form during the early 1800s as a 4-room centre-hall Station House. The home had remarkable view of the stunning landscape around it. Some of its best views were from the veranda at sunset during the dry season; looking out across the land to the cattle being driven in and leaving clouds of dust behind them as they approached the station house and its cattle enclosures. The wet season had just as many beautiful moments and views, but the threat of torrential downpours washing away the very stilts the home stood on was a bit of a downer to the beautiful sights.
However, it wasn't the wet season that would bring the first major damage to the quaint little home, a fire broke out in the home during a particularly pertinent dry season in the mid 1800s. The prosperity of the station during this era meant that the funds needed to repair the home were available and the home was also extended to the rear creating a new kitchen wing.

In the late 1800s the family who owned Crowfield were rather well of; having the daughter of an English nobleman marrying in to the family. And so with some of the newly available funds the home was moved to the most picturesque spot on the land within reasonable distance of the nearest town and expanded further, this time it was expanded upwards in to the roof, the unsightly corrugated iron roof that had adorned the home for so many years was replaced with more dignified tiles imported all the way from the daughter's family estate in England. The veranda was also rebuilt to be made more ornate and in keeping with the rest of the home which had evolved from the Colonial style in to the Federal or Victorian style, both inside and out.
However the allusions of grandeur marked the end of the era for both the house and the family that lived in it. The downfall of the country house in England brought about an end to any extra wealth the family had and the cattle business at the station wasn't nearly as profitable as it used to be and so the family had to start selling off their land. They started with small parcels of land being sold to neighbouring stations but eventually they succumbed to the post-war suburban sprawl of the neighbouring town and so other Queenslanders were built on the land near and around Crowfield. Soon the long dust drive was gone; replaced by tarmac and ghastly modern housing that wasn't nearly as dignified as the Queenslander that first called the land home. Now, with the suburban sprawl practically on the doorstep of Crowfield, the aged owners of the home like to sit out on the veranda and reminisce of their childhoods in the home and of how the cattle used to come right past the front steps, now a different kind of cattle drives past the front steps.

Crowfield House has survived many storms and even witnessed the birth of the great state of Queensland itself. And now it awaits new owner to live in and love it and its many period features and charms that have survived in the historic home almost untouched by time itself.

The house is built on a 40 by 30 lot costing 115,550 Simoleons furnished and 77,229 Simoleons unfurnished.
I hope you will all appreciate this little taste of historic Australia, I know I certainly have enjoyed creating, playing and even photographing it in one of my favourite worlds; the Wild Wild West.
P.S. If you like this Queenslander, then check out Beefysim1's Quintessential Queenslander, Quintessential Queenslander II and also their Melbourne Terrace.

Notes:
-The MoveObjects cheat was used when placing the porch columns, the fireplaces and the oven and adjoining columns. So make sure you have the MoveObjects cheat turned on if you want to touch/move said objects in build/buy mode.
-When sims make multiple servings of food in the kitchen, they will often place the main portion at a counter and then sit at the chair directly in front of the counter, thus blocking access for other sims to the food, so it's a good idea to move the main portion to one of the other counters if you have more than one sim in the house.
Lot Size: 40x30
Lot Price: 115,550 Simoleons