Construction on the Merton Hall classrooms began in 1902. Over the following century a series of additions and renovations were undertaken to meet the developing needs of the school community. Frances Appleby, a student from 1913 to 1919, took Photograph 1 in 1916. It shows, from left to right, the entry porch (demolished in 1935) and the first classroom block in the main Merton Hall wing, constructed in 1906, with the old Gymnasium in the foreground. 

Later in 1919 Frances Appleby captured Photograph 2 of the demolition of the old Gymnasium to make way for an eastern extension to the classrooms, creating the familiar L-shaped building.   

As there were no balconies, classrooms were accessed by doors at the front and back of each room, and girls filed through interconnecting doors to reach their classrooms. Valentine Leeper, a student from 1912-17, wrote to her mother in 1914 of an incident involving these interconnecting doors. She was in an English class when Miss Tunnicliffe, the new Headmistress, entered unannounced through the interconnecting door at the back of the room and proceeded to take over the lesson from Miss Hardie and turn it into a Latin lesson. 

In 1939, student Jessica Lemon, photographed the Diamond Throwing on the Oval on Sports Day (Photograph 3). This image shows the Merton Hall classrooms with the L-shaped eastern extension and the addition of iron balconies. The porch and entrance have been abolished and the tower stairs have been built, with additional classrooms to the south. Pat Gwillim, a student from 1933 to 1944, remembers the classrooms as having “a very strong smell of the Rosella tomato sauce being prepared in the factory across the Yarra”.  

In 1966, student Pip Farrer captured this close-up image of the classroom doors and the balconies (Photograph 4). These balconies were constructed in the late 1950s and replaced the iron railings of the first balconies. In the days before occupational health and safety, girls were often seen hanging over the edge of the balconies talking to friends in the quad below, with some even sitting on the edge with legs over the top balconies, and many an object found its way from top floor to the ground below.  

In 2007, a much-needed renovation of the Merton Hall wing took place. It was fully up-dated, the balconies were enlarged and enclosed, and it was equipped with the latest technological equipment. To everyone’s relief, it was climate controlled removing the recurring, and totally justified, complaints of extreme heat in summer and the freezing cold in winter. Many a student remembers huddling around the little metal wall heater in a vain attempt to get warm. 

This was the first classroom building in the School and it remains a vital learning space in the heart of the campus, home to teachers and students for more than a century.