The Rest

The Rest

A very large building that dominates the skyline, constructed of coursed buff and red rockfaced sandstone with blue and red brick and some ashlar dressings. The roof is Welsh slate with tall octagonal stacks grouped on the ridges. The building is designed in chalet style with added wings on each side.

The main central section comprises three storeys with two wide two-bay gabled cross wings and a central two-bay recessed section beneath deep eaves. The side wings feature deep overhanging verges supported on each side by triple struts at forty-five degree angles springing from corbels flanking a central pier that rises the full height of the building and increases in depth through offsets. The overhang provides shelter for a first floor balcony accessed through large cambered-headed full-height windows with replaced glazing; similar windows appear on the ground floor. Above are two-pane square-headed casement windows, with slit lights in the apex. Roof dormers with decorative bargeboards and casement windows feature on each side, and end buttresses are stepped. The central section has similar windows and balcony. A hipped side wing to the right of two storeys has cross-frame windows to the ground floor and a bay with pitched slate roof and bracketed eaves. Behind rises an elaborate water tower ending in a steep hipped roof with metal finials, set behind a deep embattled parapet with very heavy moulded coping above a bracketed string course.

An attached three-storey gabled cross wing of 1909 to the right has overhanging eaves and tall rectangular chimneys with terracotta pots and overflying courses. The main frontage has a large second-storey Diocletian-style window under a moulded brick arch with large keystone, a four-light cross-frame window to the first floor, and a canted bay with five-light cross-frame window to the ground floor, all with heavily moulded transoms. The side elevation to the right has three storeys and seven asymmetrical bays with cambered-headed windows to the top two floors and square-headed windows to the ground floor, all with blue brick surrounds. An external stack is present, and there is a canted ground floor bay with thick mullions. The main steeply gabled entrance porch features patterned timber and brick construction with swept eaves, decorative bargeboards, and glazing. The rear elevation to the Prichard wing is a composition of gables at different heights, all with slit apex lights, and in front stands a pointed-roofed turret with glazed trefoil-headed lights; some original multi-pane casements are present.

An attached wing of 1900 to the rear left, facing the sea, is similar to the front right wing: two bays in width and eight in length, with bracketed eaves, Diocletian and multi-pane windows, ground floor cross-frame windows to canted bays, and heavy moulded transoms. Some original glazing remains to the first floor and ground floor left. An attached two-storey wing to the front left has two gabled central bays, each with triple cambered-headed windows, and side bays with hipped roofs featuring smaller square-headed windows under overhanging eaves.

The porch contains internal tiling, decorative leading to glazing, and a terrazzo floor. A corridor parallel to the frontage divides front rooms from service rooms and staircases to the rear. Positioned here is a Benefactors board dated 1878–1933 and Florence Nightingale's letter of support. Staircase N has decorative cast iron balusters. A timber ceiling in the former kitchen of the central section and a central timber staircase with sturdy moulded balusters and handrail are present. Pointed arched stone doorways with boarded doors and decorative hinges remain, along with some fireplaces in the front rooms.