The National Trust-listed Women’s Rest Centre (known locally as the CWA Building) in Hornsby Park will be demolished to make way for an access road to a proposed aquatic centre, following a decision by the Hornsby Shire Council.
Designed by NSW architectural practice Ross Aynsley & Partners in the postwar International style, the building was erected in 1958 to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the local government in Hornsby. Its architectural significance comes from its being a representative example of rest rooms built by the CWA throughout Australia in the mid-twentieth century. It is especially significant due to its suburban location and its relatively late construction. The Tea Room, within the building, is designed to take advantage of the views through the glazed timber-framed walls to the park, and to the (now grassed) sandpit. The interior layout and the majority of the finishes are original, and include timber veneer doors, ball-shaped ceiling lights, venetian blinds, sandstone hearth, timber floors and skirtings and the toilet tiling.
The Centre is and has been the site of ongoing voluntary and community work in Hornsby for over fifty years.
