FINANCIER’S “ DREAM HOME ”

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24400, 11 September 1940, Page 8

FINANCIER’S “ DREAM HOME ”

PURCHASED FOR RED CROSS HOSPITAL LUXURY FOR SOLDIER PATIENTS (From Our Own Correspondent) SYDNEY. Sept. 5. The palatial "dream home” built at Gordon, a select Sydney suburb, by John Woolcott Forbes, the Sydney financier, in the days when he 'did not have to hide from the police, has been bought by the Red Cross for a military convalescent hospital. The home cost Forbes at least £60,000; the Red Cross Society paid only a third of that amount to the liquidator of one of the Forbes companies. A request by, the Defence Department that 300 beds should be provided for convalescent soldiers caused the society to buy the home, which will at first accommodate 110 patients. Extensions will enable it to accommodate from 220 to 250 patients later. Set in five acres of gardens, the three-storeyed house has 30 rooms. There are five luxurious bathrooms in black onyx and silver, oink, blue, green and white tiles. Other fittings include: Green tiled swimming pool 66 feet by 24 feet, with purifying plant and under-water lighting: ballroom with orchestral dais and bar; gymnasium: summer tea-house, bird sanctuary; fish ponds, turf tennis court: and nursery. Soldiers who prefer nature to luxury may descend from the loggia by broad, curved terraces to a stream crossed by rustic bridges and flanked by giant tree ferns and native flowers The superintendent of the Red Cross Society. Mr H. L. Pitt, said that the mansion was ideal for the purpose, ana little alteration would be needed to turn it into a convalescent home. At present the house was unoccupied and unfurnished, and was in the charge of 5 caretaker. The furnishings for its new purpose would be a simple matter