Russell and Jan Lines put the finishing touches on the circa 1837 residence yesterday, that started life as the Queen Victoria Hotel, by opening the servants’ quarters as a bed and breakfast.

“Before it was Roseneath House it was an inn, so it’s fitting it has been restored as accommodation,” Mr Lines said.

The brick and rough-hewn timber servants’ quarters adjoin the original kitchen, that together as an outbuilding predate the old hotel on Day Street.

The original hardwood timber shingles are preserved beneath the corrugated iron roof and visible in the servants’ kitchen which has survived the building’s numerous owners.

The original inn, built by the Clift family, was converted to Roseneath House when it was sold in the 1930s. 

Mr and Mrs Lines have used the proceeds from Anouskas Cafe, in the front of the residence, to help fund the laborious resurrection of the historic building.

The cafe section was built during the Victorian era as sympathetic addition to the 1837 symmetrical, Georgian design.

“With rubble everywhere for months on end it gets to you,” Mrs Lines said.

 “But to see the results is worth it.” 

The restoration of Roseneath, which has been completed a little longer, held its own surprise.

“When we first started I got excited about the horse hair in the plaster, but then I found the marbling,” Mr Lines said.

Beneath five layers of wall paper at the top of the internal stairs, they found the Georgian marble-effect wall finishing, that was typically applied with brush and feathers.

“It would have to be one of the few remaining examples of this in Maitland, if not the only,” Mr Lines said.