[5] However, the raising of the funding made little progress after the initial enthusiasm and in February 1876 the land reserve was cancelled by the Queensland Government.

[7] These remarks led to a renewed effort by leading citizens to establish a grammar school resulting in over £900 being subscribed by April 1878 and £1340 by July 1878.

Stanley declined both plans and advised the trustees to request Brisbane architect John Hall to prepare a design.

[16][17] Previously, John Hall was appointed as a foreman of works in the Queensland Colonial Architect's Office and began in private practice in by 1864.

In 1868 he was appointed a licensed surveyor and took over superintending the outstanding work of Benjamin Backhouse, in particular the Brisbane Boys Grammar School.

As a private architect, Hall designed fine buildings throughout Queensland including buildings for the Queensland National Bank for which he was architect; residences including "Greylands" (Indooroopilly, Brisbane), "Langlands" (East Brisbane) and "Pahroombin" (Bowen Hills), commercial projects, churches and hotels.

[20] In November 1879, concerns were raised that the proposed location near the Ululah Lagoon was too far from the town and close to a pub with a site in Kent Street near the original land reserve being preferred.

[26][27] However a subsequent meeting on 22 March 1880 carried the motion in favour of the "Kent Street site" as it had become known; this was also communicated to the Queensland Minister for Education.

[35] On 10 July 1880 the ten-acre site on Kent Street (adjacent to the Maryborough Central State School) was gazetted by the Queensland Government.

[43] The lady principal, Miss Budget, travelled from Melbourne via Sydney to Maryborough arriving in early August, followed by head master Prof Murdoch and family.

[47] As announced, the school opened on 5 September 1881 with little ceremony, with only a short speech by the chairman of the trustees and a few words from Prof Murdoch to some assembled citizens and the 50 initial students (24 boys and 26 girls).

In October 1881, the Queensland Government gave its approval of the plans so building work could commence and two new "lady teachers" recruited.

[1] The building is a well-composed example of high Victorian Gothic, with architectural language of pointed arched windows, steeply pitched gabled roofs, decorative brickwork and picturesque massing and siting.

Penetrating the eaves of the roofs of the end bays are large central gabled projections shading openings surmounted by pointed arched decorative panels.

The local newspaper, the Maryborough Chronicle, praised the spacious dimensions of the classrooms and large lecture room, but criticised the overly small windows describing them as "jail windows" and disliked almost all aspects of the external appearance (using words such as "freak", "ponderous", "excrescences", "ugliness", "lopsided" and "promiscuousness") and suggested the overall architectural style was "Modern Chaotic", which the newspaper attributed to the amount of interference in the design process.

[51] The former Maryborough Boys Grammar School Building was listed on the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 October 1992 having satisfied the following criteria.

The building is of architectural merit as a well-composed and interesting example of a Gothic Revival structure, adapted to the sub tropical Maryborough climate and well sited.