This property is of local significance as the remaining portion of

Sherbrooke Lodge, one of the most popular guest houses in the Dandenongs

in the 1920s and 1930s. The guest house remnants within the present

complex, substantially altered, are used as the convention centre's chapel.

Sherbrooke Lodge is located on the northern perimeter if the Sherbrooke State Forest in a large, landscaped property. The house is built on a levelled platform within the sloped site, overlooking a landscaped garden. Planting lines the retaining walls to much of the elevated house and the garden has an impressive selection of mature indigenous and imported trees and shrubs. A series of gravel paths and lawned areas delineate the garden which also includes terraced areas lined with stone in an irregular, random pattern. The stonework may date from the 1960s. Sherbrooke Lodge is currently used as a reception centre.

The former guest house has asymmetrical massing with a combination of single and double storey elements, dating from different eras. It has undergone a series of alterations and additions over time, changing both the form of the house and many of the original details. Much of the building appears to date from the post world war one era, however a small cottage to the north-west corner may be a pre-war structure. Modern additions have generally been to the east of the building and are unsympathetic to the massing, style and materials of the building.

Sherbrooke Lodge is dominated by a single storey, transverse gabled roof section which forms the main spine of the building. It terminates to the west in a two storey wing and to the east in a combination of single and double storey skillion roofed additions. The gabled roof is clad with tiles and includes a small roof overhang with exposed rafters to the eaves. The projecting wing to the west extends beyond the building line to the north and south and has an intersecting gable end roof form which extends above the ridge line of the main roof. The walls are variously constructed from a combination of rendered brick, timber and fibrous cement sheet. The gable ends are lined with horizontal timber boards with simple timber bargeboards edging the small roof overhang. The upper, south facing facade has a bank of three timber framed casement windows to the centre.

A raised verandah extends along much of the southern, main facade , including the projected western section and returns to the north to form a terrace for the main entrance. The verandah roof is separate from the main roof and has been clad with matching tiles. Verandah detail includes shallow scalloped timber edging boards, and wrought iron posts which may date from the 1960s. The verandah floor is stone lined, and matches the garden stonework. Windows are generally casements to the older sections of the house, although the cottage to the north-west has timber framed double hung windows and the skillion roofed additions have recent, rectangular timber windows.

Physical Conditions: Good

Integrity: Major Alterations