Thirty-two entries were received with first prize awarded to Edwin Morton Hockings of Brisbane and second to James Flint of Rockhampton.

Delays in completion were apparently caused by repeated alterations to the building specification, including increased ventilation and the fitting of forty-four cedar venetian shutters.

[1] In 1892, a timber caretaker's cottage (£180) and playshed (£162), designed and supervised by Rockhampton architect and competition runner up, James Flint, were erected.

These included, on advice from the Curator of the Rockhampton Botanic Gardens (JS Edgar), 12 mango trees planted on the town edge of the lawn tennis court, silky oaks, jacarandas, and bunya pines.

In 1897, a new single storeyed wing, designed by EM Hockings and built by R Cousins & Co, was added to the southern side of the building.

The two storeyed wing to the south east of the building included new dormitories and bathrooms to accommodate eighteen boarders, two new classrooms, and music rooms.

also included extensions to the Assembly Hall and two of the existing classrooms, the demolition of the headmistress's office, and the excavation and completion of two new tennis courts.

It signalled the beginning of a substantial building program, as the school sought to deal with increasing enrolments and changing educational requirements.

Later buildings include the Science Laboratory and Clarice McKeague Hall (1968), Principal's residence (1971), Colin H Grant Library and Resources Centre (1972), Millicent Jackson House (1977), Music Centre (1986), Primmer House (1987) – located on the terrace on the site of one of the original tennis courts, and Centenary Arts Building (1991).

In 1987, the Trustees instituted a long range project for the continuing refurbishment of Paterson House including work to dormitories and the balcony facing Denham St.

[1] Rockhampton Girls Grammar School, situated to the southwest of the city centre, is located near the crest of the Athelstane Range on a northeasterly slope.

[1] Paterson House is a two-storeyed painted masonry building with a complex corrugated iron roof consisting of intersecting gables with turrets and hipped bays.

A second turret is located near the northern corner above the pointed arch main entry, and the building has concrete mouldings expressing floor levels and wall openings.

The eastern section has a projecting bay, and the southern corner has a reconstructed open verandah with cast aluminium balustrading.

[1] The southwest elevation, fronting Agnes Street, consists of two gable sections with the area between enclosed at ground level and housing kitchen and laundry facilities.

To the south of this, and slightly recessed, is the Assembly Hall end elevation, which has a gable parapet with a rounded apex and a series of tall casement windows, the central one of which has an arched fanlight, with timber shutters.

The Assembly Hall has arched timber trusses with a boarded ceiling at the collar-beam position and raked to the side walls.

[1] The building is accessed from the southeast via a driveway from the corner of Denham and Agnes Streets, which has a cast iron gate and brick piers.

This building, originally the open sided gymnasium, has a corrugated iron gambrel roof supported on square timber posts with a concrete floor.

A ceiling has been installed and internal partitioning has formed a series of music practice rooms and a larger central space.

[1] The recently constructed Centenary Art building forms the northeast boundary to the netball court, with a greenhouse to the southeast.

In common with a number of educational buildings of the period, Paterson House employs the Collegiate Gothic architectural vocabulary to exemplify the pedagogical culture of the school.

The school, surrounded by mature pine trees, is prominently sited on the Athelstane Range and forms a significant element in the Rockhampton townscape.