SOME of WA's most beautiful historic buildings are dotted in and around the Goldfields and along the Perth to Albany railway line, but few have a benefactor to preserve their grandeur like the old Wagin Convent.
Owner Alan Lord is proving a good match for the building's first 100 years of colourful history and his recounting of the 16 years of toil he's poured into the renovations are a worthy chapter in the history of the enigmatic building.
Enigmatic, because surprisingly few locals have been inside until Mr Lord opened the doors to show visitors for two local charity events.
Today the doors are unofficially closed again to allow him and partner Karen Poole to continue their work with fewer interruptions, although there are ideas for another open day in the near future.
Wagin is renowned for turn of the century brick and stone buildings along its main streets, but most passers-by would not have deviated by the convent on the eastern side of town.
Recent progress on the building's surrounds has brought the project into the public eye again with a new front entrance taking shape and the 19 big sugar gums, that sprouted as saplings in the front tennis court now felled, making way for the next stage of works.
Significantly, the laborious transformation was interrupted by a fire that would have wiped out the enthusiasm of a lesser person and still continues to divide his era of ownership into the before and after years.
Built in 1913, it was both a boarding house and school to about 20 young girls (numbers peaked at about 40 when population was booming) who were taught by a dozen or so nuns.
Mr Lord was a farmer's son from Lake Varley who worked as a Perth businessman and in 2003 thought he'd like to return to his country roots for his eventual retirement and considered buying a small hobby farm, but his eye was caught by a real estate advertisement for the convent.
He bought it but, still working at the time he and his family used it as a weekender, and not much happened in the early years.
Mr Lord said it was clearly run down but in good, solid original shape.
He counts it as a blessing that it was not massively renovated in the years after it ceased to serve its purpose.
Apart from the beauty of the old building there was a family connection in that his aunty Valerie Cornwall (nee Lord) was a student boarder there.
Typically, the catchment for the convent was to the east and most of the old students came from the Lake Grace and Newdegate areas.
In about 1959 a new three-room primary school was built separately to the convent which remained as the boarding house.
Today the new school houses the extensive community Care and Share group.
The school closed suddenly 50 years ago in 1969.
The nuns continued to live there during 1970s, using it as the base for their community work in the region.
At some point in time the property, belonging to the Bunbury diocese, was made available to a community group but increasing maintenance issues prompted its sale to a couple who had it for 20 years from the early 80s until bought by Mr Lord.
It was well built structurally and, in keeping with the contemporary style of the time, it was plain and his aim was to renovate keeping it as original as reasonably could be expected.
The two-storey building was designed in two halves with one side allocated to the boarding girls and the other to the nuns.
Mr Lord's renovation has uncovered the tell-tale signs of just how extensively the building was remodelled to accommodate increasing student numbers and ever-changing household requirements as sleepouts were added, bedrooms were divided into dormitories, bathroom facilities moved in from outdoors, living areas were turned into multiple class rooms and exterior doors were added and moved to protect the sanctity of the nuns and girls.
Doors and windows were bricked up or installed, passages added and removed in a seemingly constant stream of renovations.
As each was discovered, so too, were the stories of convent life.
The grand front entrance had an intriguing tiny side room with a tiny window where someone operated a pulley to open the front door, allowing the visitor into a foyer where they could state the reasons for their visit before the mother superior was informed and made her way to the office to receive her visitor.
In 2008 many of the renovations were ruined after an intruder, intent on covering up their crime, lit a fire near the back door that took hold with devastating ferocity.
Incredibly quick action by local fire volunteers saved the building, but not before the main staircase and the lower part of the staircase to the girls' wing was completely destroyed, along with many old lathes and plaster ceilings.
The complete roof was destroyed along with much of the jarrah roof timbers and floors and it burnt out doors.
It even burnt plaster off the walls and melted leadlight windows.
The entire building was blackened by smoke damage and water stains and needed to be repainted.
Sadly, it also destroyed one of two lovely old timber vanity tops set with six enamel and cast-iron hand basins, along with all the intricate timber bathroom fittings.
The other was so badly damaged that Mr Lord is still undecided how or even whether he will preserve it.
The heat gradient traced a pattern of damage that is still visible 12 years later and areas are still awaiting repairs, yet in other unaffected areas, one can only marvel they were spared by the fire.
The damage was so extensive the insurer declared it a total write-off.
Mr Lord thanks his upbringing as a farm lad for being pretty handy with the tools and much of the work he does himself.
One exception was the repairs to the staircase used by the boarders, a job requiring specialised skills.
By a stroke of luck a retired New Zealander living just down the street had the old carpentry skills to rebuild the girl's staircase.
The main staircase was sadly completely destroyed and instead of replacing it, a small lift has been installed.
The hallway from the front door, without the staircase is now wide and uninterrupted, allowing new double doors going into the nuns' big living room (at one time divided into two classrooms).
And there was space to put in a lift that has conveniently made it easier to move equipment and materials to the top floor.
For his repairs Mr Lord trawled salvage yards relentlessly to find matching jarrah flooring and items to use in restoration, but one piece of trivia he couldn't resist was a Methodist church timber pulpit and his sense of humour prevailed.
It will find a permanent position as a bar in the living room.
Today there are five bedrooms upstairs - each now renovated with their own new ensuites and each has a different style.
The owners are clearly having fun designing, renovating and furnishing each room in bold colours, period items and contemporary soft furnishings.
The Japan room is in tribute to the country where Mr Lord worked for a time and collected some lovely pieces now on display - there is the Paris room, with its original pressed tin walls and ceiling and other rooms furnished with the special people of his life in mind.
Downstairs there are another two bedrooms including the master suite in what was the main office, complete with dressing room.
Of particular beauty are the Turkish and Persian rugs that grace most of the timber floors or wait in patient rolls to see the light of day as renovations are completed.
There are two modernised kitchens side by side.
One has a big woodfired baker's oven that also serves as room heating and sits in the old fireplace alcove that has three flues - testament there was once an enormous fire box fuelling an equally large cooking space, but the monstrous stove had gone by the time Mr Lord got there, as had all the building's original furniture.
There are also two dining rooms, the larger one now finished with cornices and ceiling roses in keeping with the grander houses of the time but not original.
The smaller dining area was blitzed with heat and a bay window now replaces the traditional casement window that was originally there.
A large extension during the nuns' time more than tripled the size of the original chapel.
One of the two large living areas has been completed but the downstairs one suffered a large amount of damage and is awaiting a new ceiling and is used as a cool work space in summer where Mr Lord restores some of the 37 interior and exterior doors.
Each one is taken off its hinges, filled, sanded and painted and the door frames are painted before each door is rehung.
There are also 40 double-hung sash windows throughout the building that are an even greater challenge and there is a large leadlight window and door surround in the foyer that represents a major undertaking.
Parts of the garden that have survived despite years of complete neglect, such as the area under the big Port Jackson fig, have been tidied and are part of future plans.
The new entrance will be guarded by four Canary Island date palms that are reminiscent of an old-time garden and a tennis court - more for weed suppression than playing purposes - will be laid where the original one was located.
Years of work still lay ahead but that pleases Mr Lord who said he was prepared for a lifetime of commitment, knowing realistically, none of his four city children would want to take it on.