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The five-bedroom house at 1 Stephen St, Newtown, is selling via an expressions of interest campaign closing on March 27. Price hopes are $4.8m to $5.1m.
A couple who spent 10 years restoring and renovating one of Newtown’s most substantial historic homes hope new owners will continue where they left off looking after the property.
The owners are selling the five-bedroom Edwardian house originally built for Geelong confectioner and philanthropist James Hugh McPhillimy at 1 Stephen St, Newtown.
The 16-room old circa 1914 brick house was designed by architects Laird and Buchan with a spacious hall, drawing room, a sunroom and lounge and even had maid’s quarters.
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Jellis Craig Geelong agent Marcus Falconer has set price hopes from $4.8m to $5.1m for the 1800sq m property, calling for expressions of interest closing on March 27.
Owner Phil McMahon said he feared the house could be bulldozed when they were searching for a historic Geelong base to be close to family.
Mr McMahon said he and wife Alma tackled the renovation themselves, undertaking repairs to the roof and solid brick internal walls and adjusting the floorplan.
“In a number of rooms we had to replace the ceilings because the slate was leaking on the roof,” he said.
“Then we went through the house room by room. We put better quality cornicing up, we put centre roses in, we made a lot of plumbing adjustments.”
A brick arch portico forms the main entrance to the home.
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The front door sports striking leadlight windows.
But relocating the kitchen was perhaps the most significant change, given the house faces the deep, north-facing back yard.
“Originally the house had a maid’s quarters down the back. It had buttons in the rooms up the front which someone could push and the indicator panel down the back had four rooms on it and a number would come up for someone to respond,” Mr McMahon said.
“But the kitchen was still down the back, so we moved the kitchen up to the front where you can look out the front window, which actually looks north.
“Originally they would have been able to see a lot of the bay and the You Yangs. There’s some trees now which block a lot of that view.”
The kitchen occupies a space overlooking the back garden.
A dining room occupies a living room overlooking the back garden.
The couple hopes new owners can continue to look after the home, which offers further scope for renovation.
“Someone might decide they want to put a swimming pool in the front and a gym down the back or whatever,” Mr McMahon said.
“We’d like to think that whoever comes along will keep the old lady going because it’s more than 110 years since it was built and we’re only the third family to own it.”
James McPhillimy was a proprietor of McPhillimy Brothers Confectionery, and a philanthropist who supported, among other things, the expansion of the Geelong Gallery (the McPhillimy Gallery is named in his honour) and St George’s Presbyterian Church on Latrobe Terrace.
The bathroom is one of the rooms the owners tackled during their renovation.
There are plenty of original features on show throughout the house.
The house was sold to Ewart Hughes, a finance director at Ford Motor Company, in 1941, and remained in the Hughes family until 2014.
Mr Falconer said it was a generational property and the owners had created a rare opportunity for new owners.
“They’ve lived in it for 10 years to make it an amazing family home but there’s also an opportunity to further expand on it for the right people,” he said.
“It’s a once in a generation home and an amazing opportunity for someone to move in and do nothing, but alternatively certainly make your own personalised touches.”
Mr Falconer said the second street frontage also provided the potential for people to consider building a house, or a multi-townhouse development on the northern side of the property.
