From a sign on one of the ground floor windows:
"FORMER CBC BANK
"Year: 1888; Style: Victorian
"The grand Commercial Banking Company building represents Maitland's role as the premier city in the Hunter Valley during the late 1800's. Now know as Mansfield House, its name recognises the original designer George Allen Mansfield who was amongst the colony's most important late 19th century architects. This building was completed using 1,000 tones of Pyrmont sandstone."
From the CBC website: (
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"Named after its celebrated architect George Allen Mansfield, it's one of the grandest of the 53 buildings he designed for the Commercial Banking of Sydney Ltd.
"Richly modelled in masonry, it is a magnificent example of the Victorian Academic Classical Style, influenced by the grandeur of the Italian renaissance Period. Its perfectly symmetrical facade displays sandstone-arched windows and commanding columned portico, each with ornamentation popular in Europe at the time."
It goes on to enumerate the features and facilities:
** The ground floor offers cedar rich function rooms with:
- 18 to 22 foot ceilings,
- a commercial kitchen,
- Bar, (using the original tellers bench)
- Bathrooms,
- and an office, then
- 2 floors of quality living areas.
** The First Floor has:
- Drawing Room,
- 3 Grand Bedrooms,
- Family Kitchen with modern amenities,
- Entertainment Room,
- 2 Luxury bathrooms, and
- 2 Balconies with views of city and country scape.
** Second floor: has
- 4 Bedrooms,
- 2 Luxury Bathrooms, and
- a Billiard Room.
- Original marble and wooden fireplaces abound.
- There are compelling views of countryside to mountains from this level.
- All floors are wrapped around a beautifully crafted cedar staircase.
Mansfield has a landscaped courtyard garden with spacious grounds at the rear of the building, suitable for pool, court or family entertainment. Land size is 1909 m² as per title plan with space for further development.
Currently operating for functions, fine dining and family living, its extensive wing accommodation complies with B&B standards. Would suit boutique hotel, professional offices, B&B or special function Centre with accommodation.
Mansfield's powerful architecture and flexible spaciousness presents a range of commercial possibilities together with congenial, family living areas, This property offers a unique opportunity in Hunter River Country, which is burgeoning in value as a business, tourism and good lifestyle location, only 2 hours from Sydney, 30 minutes from sandy beaches and minutes from wineries. [CBC Officers Club Inc.]
An article in the "Maitland Mercury", of November, 2016 details some more of the recent and not so recent history of this building: (
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"The building was one of the most opulent built in the Hunter in the late 19th century. At the time of its building Maitland was a prosperous busy town and considered to be of equal if not greater importance than Newcastle. As such a bank building of the proportions and grandeur of the CBC Bank was seen to be highly appropriate and the suitable premises for a bank manager and his family.
"The ornate facade of the three-storey building is sandstone brought from Pyrmont in Sydney and believed to be carved in Maitland. It is carved with masks, fruit, flowers, pillars and pediments. There is a side tiled colonnade with a balcony constructed above. There are marble fireplaces in all rooms most with ornate tiled hearths, cedar joinery of massive proportions, a cedar internal staircase winding up three levels, marble tiled floor in the main bank chamber and a secure vault.
"The top floor was used for the live-in domestics, the second was the manager’s residence and the lower floor was used for offices and a dining room.
"Holly McNamee of Friends of Grossmann House said architect George Mansfield was the official designer for the CBC. She said this imposing and massively engineered building has a main bank chamber with heavily decorated ceiling held up by two large iron pillars with plaster sculptured render supported by a steel girder. Two urns which were a feature on the top of the building fell off during the 1989 earthquake. They have been moved to the rear of the property."
Currently: Palm Court Tea Salon (FaceBook page: (
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Address: 315 High Street, Maitland, NSW, 2320
Originally visited: 1523, Sunday, 31 January, 2016
With a Re-Visit when I was able to be shown through by Huckleberry Campbell, Project Manager (yes, that is his name): 1055, Sunday, 22 January, 2017.
FYI: A picture of Huckleberry Campbell is in the following article: (
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