Demolition work has started on St Lucia’s notorious ‘Pink Palace’. It set us thinking about houses, their transitory existence and the emotions they stir. A couple of songs came to mind.

The life of a house

It’s hard to believe that this is the place

Where we were so happy all our lives

Now so empty inside and feelin’ no pain

Waitin’ for a hammer, and a big ball and chain

‘Love Lives Here’, Rod Stewart, Ronald Lane, Ron Wood (Faces, 1971)

Dubbed the Pink Palace for its pastel paint job and ostentatious style, the sprawling mansion at 276 Swann Road was one of Brisbane’s most glamorous. It was the denouement for second-generation builder Noel Kratzmann, a Toowong local who constructed quite a number of landmark Queensland developments.

There had been the old Chevron Hotel in Surfers Paradise, buildings at UQ, and Queensland’s very first multi- storey home unit complex, Torbreck in Dornoch Terrace, now heritage listed. Kratzmann also pioneered the establishment of suburban businesses centres, including that of Toowong.

They can tear it all down and build something new

Then only I remember what was here

Tomorrow comes easy, just another day gone

How long will I have to keep returning?

The Pink Palace was Kratzmann’s last hurrah, a 1,115sq m extravaganza across 14 blocks. The lavish hilltop estate, including a ‘winter house’ and ‘guest house’, boasted sauna, steam room, a spa encased in floor-to- ceiling marble, a black ‘cigar room’ with gold curtains, gold leaf and Versace ornamentation, and a master suite with no fewer than three walk-in wardrobes.

That was then. Cue Rod Stewart.

Now, I look back, think I’ve known all the time

I’ve been fightin’ myself for so long

All the vows that we made, gone for old rags and lumber

Disappear on the cart down the road 

Kratzmann died in 1989, just before the family’s move to their palatial new home. Later it housed failed and jailed internet porn king, Greg Lasrado, and socialite property investor, Cindy Fleming. But after Ms Fleming’s untimely death in 2014, and a subsequent court battle, it was sold to property developer Sunland for demolition and redevelopment.

Let’s face it, regardless of how lavish, a house has no life without people. Houses, like us, are only here for a limited time, some longer than others. We invest so heavily in them physically, emotionally and financially, some more than others.

But gravel-voiced Tom Waits got it right when he sang…

Once it held laughter

Once it held dreams

Did they throw it away

Did they know what it means

Did someone’s heart break

Or did someone do someone wrong?

So if you find someone

Someone to have, someone to hold

Don’t trade it for silver

Don’t trade it for gold

I have all of life’s treasures

And they are fine and they are good

They remind me that houses

Are just made of wood

What makes a house grand

Ain’t the roof or the doors

If there’s love in a house

It’s a palace for sure

Without love… It ain’t nothing but a house

A house where nobody lives

‘House Where Nobody Lives’ (Tom Waits, 1999)

Can think of any other songs dedicated to houses? We’d love to hear from you.