The land upon which Beresford Hall now stands was part of the first Crown grant by Governor Macquarie to Captain Piper in 1821. After an inquiry was held into the activities and duties of Naval Officers within the colony, a deficiency of £12,000 was uncovered in the books of Piper and he was forced to sell. Piper’s estate in Rose Bay and Bellevue Hill was sold to the firm Cooper & Levey. At the turn of the nineteenth century the subject site was referred to as the Beresford Estate and contained a house, grounds, swamp and unimproved land. This land was soon subdivided into a number of residential lots.

In 1912, the land was sold to Mrs Louisa Rebecca Muston who sought approval for the construction of a dwelling house designed by local architect, AEA Goldman. A photo from circa 1910, right, taken looking north from Cranbrook Road, shows the unimproved subject site (behind the centre tree) immediately prior to construction. Dinner Time, Rose Bay Job, right, shows the construction team from Sydney based builders Goldman Mossop and Pickersgill congregated outside the building having their ‘dinner’ during construction of the building in 1912. The sign on the left-hand bottom corner of the photograph reads: ‘Mrs Louisa Muston constructed a block of flats at 601 New South Head Road, Rose Bay’. By 1914, the building was named the ‘Rose Bay Flats’.

Up until the 1930s, the building operated as a boarding house and, until 1960, as apartments. From 1961, the site became known as The Cranbrook International Hotel. Many well-known, and sometimes infamous, identities from across the globe stayed at The Cranbrook International Hotel. It was the scene for many celebrations for several decades.

The land upon which The Cranbrook International Hotel stood was purchased by Dr Shane Moran in 2004 for the development of Beresford Hall as part of Dr Moran’s vision for a luxury residential aged care facility and day spa in Rose Bay. In 2011, exactly 100 years after Dinner Time, Rose Bay Job was taken, the construction team from Sydney based builders PBS Property Group was photographed having lunch during the final stages of construction of Beresford Hall (see image on the right). Beresford Hall derives its name from the original Beresford Estate of which the land formed an integral part.