10 James St, Gilberton. Photos by Jonathan Kissock
A historic Gilberton property has been stunningly restored and now offers a truly sublime family lifestyle on the edge of the city.
Dean bought the home with his wife in 1997 and says, internally, the home bears very little semblance to how it was when they bought it.
MORE NEWS
Chance to restore a piece of history to its former glory
Where you can buy a house for $80,000
Historic church’s impressive transformation
“We’d lived in the area and walked past it almost on a daily basis, and my wife and I used to say ‘someone will make a wonderful house of that place one day’, and little did we know it would be us,” he says.
“When we did buy it, the coach house and stables were in original condition and the horses had just left it – there were no walls at either end and we were looking at a complete restoration.
10 James St, Gilberton. Photos by Jonathan Kissock
“The stable was the first part built in the 1890s and as the cheques came in from the Kalgoorlie mine fields for the owner he added the coach house and then later joined the two buildings together.”
Far from simply taking advice from one person, Dean says the process of conceptualising the restoration was a true team effort.
“One of our friends was an architect who suggested we speak to Richard Falkinger in Melbourne, who was a leading heritage architect mainly working on cathedrals,” Dean says. “He actually brought a busload of final year architecture students across to examine it as a project – firstly establishing the historical aspects of the house and stables and how it was put together and then working out the ideal way to restore it and transform it in a modern sense.
10 James St, Gilberton. Photos by Jonathan Kissock
“We wanted to maximise the amount of light in the house because most old houses suffer from a lack of light, and we wanted it to retain all the nice architectural features but we also wanted it to be suitable for modern living – we didn’t want to have an old relic, we wanted something with a ‘wow’ factor and we were lucky that we were able to do things like heat the floors because there weren’t any floors here when we bought it.
10 James St, Gilberton. Photos by Jonathan Kissock.
“It’s a very easy house to live in and both my wife and I were taken by Italian architecture and how they use space to create an ambience, and that’s very evident here in the high ceilings and large central room. In winter, the walls absorb the heat from the floor after four or five days so you’ve got this enormous heat bank, and during the summer, because the walls are so thick, we very rarely use the airconditioners.”
10 James St, Gilberton. Photos by Jonathan Kissock.
The home has three bedrooms and a study, a central dining and living room, a grand reception area, a formal sitting room, garage parking for four cars and is set on a sprawling 1072sqm of landscaped gardens.
“It’s great for a family, and when we moved in we had a teenage son living with us and because the house has two separate wings he thought that was fantastic because he had his own bathroom, bedroom and study,” Dean says.
“It has a bit of a ‘wow’ factor because people aren’t expecting to see the open space and people don’t realise just how big it is until they get in it, because coach houses are usually small, but this is on two blocks and it’s quite a large house, so it is a bit deceptive from the outside.
10 James St, Gilberton. Photos by Jonathan Kissock
“We’re not a big party couple, but our son was married here and a marquee fitted nicely on the lawn, so that was very handy. We get a buzz out of what we’ve created because most people looked at it in the early days and thought it would be very hard to turn it into a house, so we are very proud.”
Now downsizing, Dean says the couple have loved the home’s convenient location.
“It’s very close to the city and very easy to walk to the Adelaide Oval,” he says. “Let’s hope the next owners have as much fun as we have.”
10 James St, Gilberton. Photos by Jonathan Kissock.
10 James St, Gilberton
Contact agent for price
Agent: Booth & Booth Real Estate, Jamie Brown 0413 000 887.
Land size: 1072sqm.
Expressions of interest: Close Thursday, August 20 at noon
The post There’s a brightness on the edge of town in leafy Gilberton appeared first on realestate.com.au.