Pearn Convalescent Home

The Pearn Convalescent Home, built in 1892 for Alonzo Pearn and opened in 1895, is an unusual example of its building type, distinguished by its architecture and surviving largely as originally constructed. The building is of stucco construction with various stucco and ceramic details, featuring asbestos slate hipped roofs with sprocketed eaves to the wings, and copper octagonal domes with finials over the two entrance tower cupolas—the left-hand cupola has blind openings, while the other retains remains of its original ornate fenestration. Deep stuccoed stacks are present over the cross walls, with balustraded parapets over moulded cornices to the central block and towers, and projecting eaves to the wings, which have cast-iron verandahs to the ground floor.

The design is Italianate in style with some Free Style detailing, presenting an overall E-shaped plan with a deeper central rear wing. The front is symmetrical with a 16-window articulation, plus canted ends to the wings (4:1:2:2:2:1:4 bays). Original two-pane, mostly round-arched, horned sashes remain. The front exhibits a plinth, moulded impost strings, mid-floor and sill strings with brackets to the central bays, and moulded round arches, with hoods and entablatures over the first-floor windows in the flat bays. The central two bays feature paired canted bays with a linking segmental arch, rustication to the ground floor, a bowed balustraded balcony to a blind window above, and a segmental pediment surmounting the parapet balustrade. The entrance towers are rusticated with quoin pilasters, stone steps lead to wide round-arched doorways with panelled doors, sunburst fanlights, and pedimented first-floor windows with balustraded balconies on corbels. The glazed-roofed verandahs have elaborate ironwork featuring flat elliptical arches carried on slender turned columns with near-Ionic capitals.

Internally, where inspected, original features remain, including moulded plaster ceiling cornices, tall tiled dado panelling to the entrance halls, and open-well staircases with turned square balusters. Chimneypieces are located at either end of the large central room, which was originally divided into separate male and female halves.