71 Elizabeth Street, Castlemaine, Vic 3450 - More Details
$1,340,000
Built circa 1953, "Rose Hill" is a stunning double-brick mid-century, post-war home with curved lines. Cream brick sweeps around the front windows in the Waterfall style, a design rarely seen in Castlemaine. Crazy stone walling and a terraced ornamental garden lead up to the front steps. What stays with you is the attention to detail. Every room and every corner of the garden has been restored and cared for with patience.
Double front doors with etched, frosted glass open to a wide hallway of polished hardwood. To the front, the lounge room curves with the architecture. Shuttered bay windows face north, and a wood heater sits in a period surround with a timber mantle. Folding glazed doors with etched deco glass open to the dining room, where a fireplace with a mosaic-tiled surround holds the centre of the room. Art Deco cornices and ceiling roses run through the home, and the pattern changes from room to room. In the dining room it is a sunburst.
The kitchen shows the care best. It has been restored to the style of the house, down to the chequerboard floor in grey and off-white with its red edge line. Curved cupboards in buttermilk yellow and red sit against yellow tiles, with chrome edging to match. There is a freestanding gas cooktop and oven, and a Rayburn slow combustion stove connected to the gas hydronic heating. A dedicated 2000 litre tank keeps the Rayburn supplied. The same chequerboard floor carries into the south sunroom, a bright room with an office space beside it.
There are four bedrooms, each with built-in robes. Two have curved windows with shutters, and the deco cornices follow the curve of the walls. The bathroom is contemporary in its fittings and dressed to look 1950s Art Deco. Lime green tiles are edged with a black deco border, and a freestanding bath sits below the window. The walk-in shower has a deco-style etched screen, and the toilet is separate. Hydronic heating and ducted evaporative cooling keep the seasons comfortable.
Then there is the garage. The driveway runs past the house to the rear of the block, and the rear garage is approximately 12 metres long. It has evaporative cooling, a pot belly stove and a concrete floor, and it opens to a studio or office. Together the garage and studio total approximately 132sqm. The front of the building carries a 1953 Motor Garage sign, with corrugated iron, weathered timber and a vintage petrol bowser completing the picture. A wisteria-covered verandah runs alongside, with a brick pizza oven built into one end. This is a space for restoring a car, hosting friends, or a bit of both. It suits car enthusiasts, collectors and anyone drawn to the mid-century post-war style. There is also a carport, a shed, a second garage, a wood shed and a workshop, with parking for up to eight vehicles. Rear access makes it an easy working-from-home set-up.
The gardens carry the same care. The block is approximately 1986sqm. Clipped hedges, roses, peonies, Japanese maples and rhododendrons fill the front and side gardens, and brick paths cross the lawns. Apple, plum and apricot trees grow beside a raised veggie garden. A covered verandah and alfresco eating area at the back of the home look over it all.
The rear boundary backs onto the historic steam train line. Castlemaine is approximately four minutes away by car.
Step through the etched glass doors and the years fall away. This is 1953, kept with care, and ready for its next chapter.
- Type
- House
- Bedrooms
- 4
- Bathrooms
- 1
- Parkings
- 8
- Area
- 1,986 m²
- House Size
- 185 m²
