James and Sarah Scullin preferred 6 Park Ave, Richmond to The Lodge.
A young family has snapped up a Richmond residence that was home to Great Depression-era prime minister James Scullin while he was in the top job.
Scullin even held cabinet meetings from his sickbed at the four-bedroom house, which fetched an undisclosed sum just short of $1.7m a few days after passing in at auction in late June.
The 6 Park Avenue property was listed with a $1.68-$1.82m price guide.
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The site has approved plans for a rear extension.
James Scullin had been in office just days when the Great Depression was sparked.
After moving from Ballarat to Richmond in the early 1920s to take up a vacant Labor seat, Scullin went on to become Australia’s ninth prime minister.
He was elected in 1929, just days before a Wall Street stock market crash triggered the Great Depression.
Opting to remain at the 1911-built Richmond home rather than waste taxpayer money on a move to The Lodge in Canberra, Scullin and his wife, Sarah, “used the dwelling for Labor Party and parliamentary functions,” the Victorian Heritage Database notes.
A timber-topped kitchen and breakfast bar at the rear of the property.
One of four bedrooms at the 1911-built home.
Floorboards extend down the wide hallway.
Mrs Scullin also organised a number of cabinet meetings at her husband’s bedside in 1930, while he was ill with pleurisy.
Jellis Craig director Elliot Gill said Scullin’s great granddaughter had even inspected the property before its sale.
Mr Gill said the “quite unique” house had a single-fronted Edwardian facade and double-fronted rear.
Vendor George Panoussis sold the site with approved plans for a rear extension.
Leadlight windows and an open fireplace in one of the main living rooms.
A carpeted bedroom also contains a mezzanine.
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