Rancho Del Rio

Rancho del Rio is a building originally constructed as a school in 1854 for W. Beaumont, Member of Parliament, with support from his agents, miners, and others for the education of all religious denominations, as noted on a resited inscription stone. It is now a restaurant and public house. The structure is made of coursed squared sandstone with a chamfered plinth, pecked quoins, and ashlar dressings, topped with a Welsh slate roof featuring stone gable copings.

The building has a symmetrical design, consisting of a main block that is one storey high with 11 bays. The central section projects slightly and is quoined and gabled, featuring a lower gabled porch. There are slightly set-back one-storey, one-bay wings on either side. The central door is diagonally boarded and has elaborate hinges, set beneath a 2-centred arch with voussoirs. The porch gable is adorned with trefoil-pierced bargeboards.

The flanking sections each have five large 16-pane sash windows, some of which have been altered with ventilators replacing some panes. These windows are fitted with flat stone lintels and projecting stone sills. The roof gable copings on the main block are chamfered and rest on moulded kneelers, although one kneeler is missing. The wings feature flat copings. The building is also topped with four corniced ashlar ridge chimneys, which have tall red pots, except for the right chimney, which is truncated.