[1] Located on a spacious corner block facing Cabbage Tree Creek, Musgrave House is a low set timber building with a high pitched, hipped roof designed by renowned Brisbane architect Richard Gailey.

[1] In its inception, the Lady Musgrave Sanatorium for Sick Children reflects prominent nineteenth-century ideas about health and childhood.

Providing health facilities was not a main concern for the colonial government of Queensland, caring for the sick was considered a task for voluntary groups and charitable organisations.

At the same time, there was growing recognition of childhood as a distinct stage of life and less acceptance of the moralistic view that providing facilities for children encouraged mothers to abdicate their maternal responsibilities.

The widespread acceptance of the miasmic theory of disease meant that fresh air and well ventilated, well lit buildings were considered essential for recuperation and recovery from illness.

Bayside suburbs which offered sea bathing and outdoor enjoyment in addition to fresh air, were considered ideal for therapeutic purposes.

Elements of the pavilion plan as it was adapted for the Queensland context are plainly evident in the design of the Lady Musgrave Sanatorium.

With its centrally located entrance hall and wards to either side shaded by a deep verandah, the planning of the sanatorium has strong similarities to timber hospitals constructed throughout Queensland, albeit on a smaller scale.

Kitchen and other service areas are located in a separate wing at the back of the building, enabling the wards to be ventilated with windows along two sides.

The verandah, which has wide projecting eaves, formed to give the greatest possible protection from wind and rain, while at the same time affording splendid ventilation, will be used in the summertime as a residence and recreation ground for the children.

"[1] The 1888 Annual Report of the Children's Hospital stated "The rapid improvement of the patients sent down is very marked, showing the institution to be salubrious; and the work being put in hand by the Sandgate Council - viz., forming the Esplanade (now Allpass Parade) in front and perfecting the drainage and levelling the sports ground at the back - will, when completed - make the sanatorium all that can be desired.

"The committee intends to lay out the legacy, which with the Government subsidy totals 450 pounds, in something of a permanent character, such as a memorial to the donor, who was well known to old Sandgate residents."

Her daughter, Mrs Win Jackman remembers that during this time there was an enclosed bathing area and shed across the road where her mother took children to swim on a daily basis during the summer months.

Over the years these events included concerts, fish luncheons, dances and euchre parties and several of these were organised by local children.

The children's sanatorium enjoyed a special relationship with members of the Toowong branch of the Ministering Children's League who organised a Christmas party at the sanatorium for over twenty years providing toys, Santa Claus and decorations which included the tradition of transforming one of the trees in the garden into a gift-laden Christmas tree.

Children were then transferred to Brisbane Hospital's convalescent home located nearby in Flinders Parade which by this stage accommodated women only.

[1] Sandgate District Historical Society's journal By the Seaside tells that James Brown started an old men's home and rental was five shillings per week, meals not included.

Mrs Norma Turbet took over the lease in September 1960, eventually purchased the land at a cost of $3000 in 1980 and then sold the property in August 1999.

[1] Musgrave House is a low set timber building with a hipped, painted corrugated iron roof located on a corner block overlooking Cabbage Tree Creek and the foreshore reserve.

These rooms are lined with tongue-and-groove, have remnants of original ventilators and fretwork fanlights over blocked-in doorways that formerly led into the wards.

The raked ceiling is lined with tongue-and-groove with two horizontal bracing members running across the room at the same level as the top of the walls.

The northern face of the ceiling has a centrally located, timber framed, fixed glass skylight whilst on the western and eastern walls respectively, there are small corrugated fibreglass panels that also let in light.

The kitchen building is single skin timber with exposed cross bracing, a hipped corrugated iron roof and a brick chimney on the western wall.

The building demonstrates the growth of the Sandgate-Shorncliffe area as a popular nineteenth-century watering place and the custom of going to the seaside for recuperation following illness.

As a convalescent home for the children's hospital, Musgrave House is significant in demonstrating the establishment and development of health services by volunteer effort in early Queensland.

The building's aesthetic qualities are exemplified by the high pitched roof, exposed cross bracing and carefully detailed verandah.

For fifty years local people undertook fund-raising activities in aid of the sanatorium and visiting children and their families were welcomed as part of the wider community of the district.

There is also a close association with Mary McConnel, founder and chair of the Committee of the Hospital Sick Children, who was prominent in many aspects of life in early Queensland.