[6] Palm trees at the building's exterior were digitally removed in post-production to be faithful to the East Coast, United States, where The Great Gatsby is set.

[9] An early student was Patrick Joseph Hartigan, author of the "John O'Brien" poems on Australian Catholic rural life.

The following outline history has been reproduced from the Conservation Management Plan for St Patrick's Estate, Manly prepared by Tanner & Associates Pty Ltd:[2] To aid in understanding, the history of the site was divided into a number of periods:[2] The first land grants in Manly were made to Richard Cheers (100 acres) and Gilbert Baker (30 acres) on 1 January 1810.

Monastic and diocesan troubles, as McGovern has noted, along with Archbishop Polding's retirement from Sydney, caused the matter to lapse until 1856 but in that year, a request for 6 allotments at Coogee was obstructed by Surveyor General G.W.

Apparently the splendid isolation of the site, yet its general proximity to the city of Sydney was thought appropriate by the Church, given the need for access to a major urban centre which was a focus to the region, and a locale which enabled serious study and retreat from the pressures of normal society.

[2] Ironically, as Henry Parkes pushed through the secular Public Instruction Bill, the grant on which the largest Catholic seminary in the southern hemisphere was to be built was consolidated.

The driving force behind its construction was Cardinal Patrick Moran whose strength of personality is indelibly manifest in various architectural and other details, notably the use of his initials and regalia in various carved and cast panels.

Despite delays in building and the loss of the life of a labourer, the hill became 'the scene of great activity':[2] `Three hundred and twenty five men were on the pay-sheet.

Labourers' tents and workmen's sheds sprang up with lightning like rapidity, so that the once desolate hill was now a veritable calico-town by day, and resembled a bivouacked army by night.'

The material from that quarter proving inferior, and smallpox barring entrance into the quarantine reserve, recourse had finally to be made to the quarry on the site of the Grotto of our Lady of Lourdes'.

[2] Just as work on the College was beginning, however, Manly Council made application to the Minister of Lands for the resumption of 100 feet from the high water mark fronting Cabbage Tree Bay.

Later, on 23 August 1904, Cardinal Moran was to arrange for the purchase of an allotment of 3 rods and 11 perches connected to the south eastern end of the exchanged land.

[2] The only other modification to the property's physical dimensions resulted from the dedication of a strip of land 66 feet wide through the grounds for the extension of Darley Road.

In return for the land lost, the Army - which used St Patrick's tower for military observations during the war - built the stone walls which still flank Darley Road.

Their design and construction appears to have been based on the stone walls previously built as a barrier between the College grounds and the Quarantine Station: they are a striking and important visual element in the landscape.

[2] In terms of building development on the site up until World War I, a recreation room which housed 2 billiard tables and a gymnasium was constructed c. 1910.

[2] Given that the condition of the grant forbade any on site development other than the erection of an Episcopal residence and buildings for the purpose of education, a special Bill had to be passed through the Parliament of New South Wales.

The St. Patrick's College (Manly) Bill, enacted in 1914, allowed for the sub-division of approximately 21 acres "running down to and overlooking Shelly Beach and Fairy Bower".

Kelly House was built in 1954 for residential purposes; a swimming pool made of reinforced concrete was begun at the end of 1956 (after the old baths behind the Archbishop's Residence were ruined in a violent storm) and opened on 17 November 1957;[14] Gilroy House was opened in 1961 a brick addition was made to the convent in c. 1961; and St. Paul's High School was built in c. 1967 with further buildings added in the late 1970s.

[2] In 1986 Manly Council commissioned comprehensive Environmental Investigation and Heritage Studies of the St Patrick's Estate in preparation for the new LEP.

[2] During this period the derelict concrete swimming pool and handball courts were demolished, and the landscaped setting in the immediate vicinity of the college buildings was repaired and its plantings enhanced.

Pugin (1812-1852) in England, the cast iron verandahs are a 19th-century response to the colonial climate, while other elements such as the central flèche and convenient planning presage Edwardian architectural trends.

[2] The immediate landscape setting comprises chiefly cast iron gates with stone piers to Darley Road, the driveway, a carriage loop and a vista to the harbour and related plantings to all the above.

The simplicity of the planning and the effective use of good materials - sandstone, slate, selected timbers, marble and leaded glazing show an architectural initiative designed to last well over time.

[2] The entrance vestibule and "cloisters" with cedar and kauri pine ceilings, stained glass windows and marble tiled floor lead to a monumental stone staircase.

[2] The Library (former chapel), Refectory, Aula Maxima, Lecture Rooms and private oratory on the ground and first floors are impressive in scale and detailing and designed to form a sequence of grand interiors, on occasion with large interconnecting doors.

[2] While some parallels can be made between this building and Sacred Heart Convent, Rose Bay and St Joseph's College at Hunters Hill, its special role and planning set it apart.

The nave is column-free, and features an uninterrupted vaulted ceiling with silky oak joinery, jarrah parquetry flooring and decorative plaster.

(John Hardman & Co, Birmingham)[2] Conservation works completed in 1996 include repairs to slate roof, gutters and downpipes and stonework.

Built in 1934, it is two storeys high with rendered walls and stone trims with its main elevation accented by a copper turret denoting the Chapel and a major archway framing the outlook from a verandah.