With an air of sentimentality and grace, this home works its way into your heart and mind in a way that only a solidly built antique can. Built in regal times of the 1880′s when Albany was but a young and spritely new town, the home sparkles with the high end features that were the hallmark of the day, and has matured ever so gracefully into old age retaining that intricate sense of character.
Even though the home has been completely modernised, the additions and enhancements are so seamlessly completed that it’s easy to feel like you have stepped back into the golden days.
Not only is the home breathtakingly beautiful, but completely irreplaceable, its rustic stone walled facade and veranda deck an imperial fanfare to the timeless niceties that lie inside the front door.
The yard in its entirety provides a dignified “estate” feel, with limestone and picket decorative fence and extensive cottage gardens that make you yearn for a glimpse of more.
In a design traditional form homes of this day, the three enormous character bedrooms are located in the front portion of the home, leading from a grand hallway with soaring ceilings and newly installed floating floorboards. The two front king sized rooms showcase the earthy grain of the original floorboards, heartiness of the original open fireplaces and louvered window shutters to allow privacy when desired in glorious style.
You advance through a little doorway to an all embracing mass of a lounge room which is centred around a beautiful turned wood mantle place and mirror above the open fire and where solid sash windows can introduce the afternoon breeze.
The third bedroom sits beyond the lounge, another king size heritage masterpiece with original boards and its own fireplace-and the fourth with divine gabled ceiling, meaning there is no short straw when it comes to sleeping quarters!
The homes pine clad laundry houses a modern shower and overhead cabinets, but could easily undergo a transformation to become a complete second bathroom if desired.
The rear section of the home is devoted entirely to living, relaxing, pottering and enjoying the sprays of greenery and colour which present themselves from the rear cottage garden.
The combined kitchen and dining area sit beneath a high ceiling canopy, with extensive windows peering out, and there is plenty of room to continue the heritage theme by splashing out on a breathtaking chiffonier to formalise you whole dining experience further. The cabinets are solid wood and sit beside the wall mounted oven and electric stove top.
A rear sunroom is lined with panes and panes of character French style windows and an access doorway to the paved exterior which becomes the cosy entertainers are and garden room patio. Even here, quirky additions give the home class, with a recessed glass storage cabinet allowing you to showcase your finery, the stone feature wall giving rustic warmth and the slate tiles timeless appeal.
Finally, there is the bathroom, a space that will make the character lover melt with satisfaction upon taking in the centrepiece claw footed bath with antique fixtures, gilded mirror, French windows and solid wood vanity. It’s a space that entices you to spend many a blissful hour pampering in pure relaxation.
The yard beyond is outstanding, with plenty of garaging, a shade house and workshop at the end of the paved driveway. With its sheer size, there is the potential for further extensions to link the kitchen with the al fresco and provide even more indoor-outdoor living space.
It’s easy to see why folks get sentimental about how things were made in the golden days, this preserved and restored gem bring a little romance into your day to day existence.
What you should know:
- 1067m2 historic property
- Solid stone house with fully restored interior
- Extensive cottage gardens spacious shed
- Amazing rooms with high ceilings and fireplaces
- Just minutes from town and schools