Rookesbury

Rookesbury is a mansion that has been converted into a school, originally built in 1824. The building features stucco walls adorned with Greek classical details, including a plinth, a moulded cornice beneath a blocking course (which forms a shallow parapet), wide pilasters with a small projection, and architraves around the window openings, complemented by a frieze and cornice on the ground floor. It has a hipped slate roof and presents a symmetrical design across its three main two-storey facades.

The west front elevation includes a porch with a window on each side, flanked by pilasters. The sashes are set in reveals. The porch itself projects forward and features a window on each side, with the front part made of Portland stone that includes four smooth columns, coupled pilasters on the return elevation, and a pediment with Ionic details. The area in front of the porch has stone flags and three steps leading up between flanking walls. Inside the porch, there is a doorway with an architrave, a plain frieze, and a cornice supported by console brackets, along with half-glazed doors.

The wider south elevation boasts a central full-height bay that is elliptical in shape, with a window arrangement of 1.1.3.1.1. The sashes on the ground floor of the outer bays are triple, with a French window in the center. The east elevation features a window arrangement of 2.1.2, and extending from it to the north side is a lower two-storey service wing with the same window arrangement, which connects to a taller crosswing. Rising from the center of this wing is a clock tower that has a square shape with corner pilasters and a pyramid leaded roof. In front of the wing, there is a curving verandah with six bays, flat roof, and trellis columns that masks the lower part of the service wing. There are also neat 20th-century extensions built within the L-shape of the complete service block and beyond the verandah.

Inside the main block, many original features remain, including a large entrance hall with niches and a stone floor.