Queen Elizabeth Higher School, South Range

The Queen Elizabeth Higher School, south range, was built in 1859 to designs by John Hayward, and opened as a school in 1860. Constructed in Flemish bond brick with Bathstone and Ham Hill stone dressings, and a slate roof, it is an example of Tudor style architecture. The building has a symmetrical E-plan comprising a central hall flanked by identical two-depth masters' houses, each with a central entrance and a rear wing.

The hall block is single-storey with a gabled roof, now lacking its central lantern, and features a plinth and coped buttresses. A coped parapet runs along the top, with stone shields in each gable. A moulded string below the parapet incorporates Tudor style carvings and projecting griffins at each corner. The hall block has five three-light windows with hollow-chamfered mullions and transoms, featuring iron casements with glazing bars. A moulded string at sill level extends around the buttresses. Gateway structures sit to either side of the hall, with chamfered Tudor arches, coped parapets, and carved shields in the centre. The rear elevation includes a secondary corridor block.

The two-storey and attic masters' houses have stone quoins and two gabled fronts with kneelers. A moulded stone string runs along the first-floor sill level. Shouldered stacks with quoins and coped caps are present on the inner returns, with the stack on the left end house having been rebuilt. Steps lead up to a centrally positioned two-centred arched doorway with a hoodmould and original plank doors with ornamental strap hinges. Original inner doorways have half-glazed doors with a finial to the frame. Ground-floor windows are stone mullioned, four-light with hoodmoulds, while the first floor features three-light stone mullioned windows and a central two-light window, with two similar attic windows above. The rear wings are gabled. The interior hall boasts a five-bay open roof with tie-beam trusses, arch braces carried on moulded corbels, two tiers of purlins, and windbraces. Three-light windows are located at each end of the hall. A framed print commemorating the school's inauguration in 1860 is also present. The school exemplifies the scholarly and restrained work of John Hayward, a leading local Gothic Revival architect of the 1840s.