Every few months we talk a client out of a house in Grange. Not because the house is bad, but because the plan they have for it is not legally available.
Grange is one of Brisbane's most concentrated pockets of pre war housing. That is exactly why people love it, and it is also the thing that most often derails a buyer who has done their sums on a knock down and rebuild.
What the character overlay actually does
Houses in Brisbane built in or before 1946 commonly sit under the traditional building character overlay. In practical terms it controls demolition. You generally cannot remove the house and start again, and you cannot substantially alter the street facing form.
What you can usually do is raise it, build in underneath, and extend to the rear. Done properly that produces a very good family home, and it is the reason so many Grange houses have a period front and a modern back.
What it means for you as a buyer is that the price you pay has to reflect the house you are allowed to build, not the one you imagined. Check the overlay for the specific address on the council's planning tools before you offer, not after.
Where Grange sits
Grange is around five kilometres north of the city. It has no station of its own, but Wilston and Windsor are close, and the run into town by car or bus is short. Kedron Brook forms the northern edge of the area, which brings the bikeway and the parkland, and also brings a flood question that varies street by street.