Gowrie House, Heritage building in East Toowoomba, Australia.

Gowrie House is a low-set brick villa on the corner of Mary and Arthur streets in East Toowoomba, designed by architect Harry Marks and built around 1901 for businessman Alexander Mayes. A central hallway opens onto four large rooms with cedar-framed windows, doors and fireplaces, and wide verandahs run along the sides.

Alexander Mayes, born at Largo in Fife, Scotland, in 1859, settled in Toowoomba as a builder in 1886 and served as mayor in 1896, 1903 and 1912. Architect Harry Marks designed this low-set brick house for him, and the family had moved in by 1902. In 1945 the Toowoomba YWCA bought it and opened it as a hostel on 10 November.

The building took its name in 1945 when the Young Women's Christian Association opened it as a women's hostel, naming it after Lady Gowrie, wife of the Australian Governor General. The name reflects both the building's new purpose and a connection to national figures.

Gowrie House stands on the corner of Arthur and Mary Street, on about an acre of ground with mature trees and a lawn. The 1945 conversion placed dormitories in the four main rooms and on the northern verandah, with the cedar-panelled dining room at the end of the central hall. The Wadley Wing followed in the late 1950s and the Margaret Hofmann Wing by 1971.

Alexander Mayes named the house Largo after his birthplace, Largo in Fifeshire, Scotland, where he was born in 1859. The name was replaced in 1945 when the YWCA renamed it Gowrie House after Lady Gowrie. Four of Mayes' sons were born in the house, including Emeritus Professor Bruce Toowoomba Mayes and Rev Charles Mayes.