Adelaide man evicted from dilapidated home insists he won’t leave his valuable collection

THE house has no running water, toilet, bathroom or kitchen and possums fight in what’s left of the roof. But Royce Wells insists he won’t be evicted from his valuable collection, even as authorities call it “unsafe for human habitation”.

Royce Wells, 75, outside his distinctive Eastwood house.

FRIENDS are rallying around a 75-year-old Eastwood man who has been ordered by the State Government to leave the house he has lived in since he was born.

Royce Wells has been given until March 7 to vacate his house on Fullarton Rd after the Housing Safety Authority on January 15 found the property “unsafe or unsuitable for human habitation”.

He was initially ordered to leave last Saturday, but friend Colin Beaton secured a 30-day extension.

Royce Wells, 75, at the front fence of his Eastwood house.

But Mr Wells says he is not going anywhere – and reckons his collections of records, books, posters and newspapers are valued into the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The oldest book is more than 300 years old and the oldest record 100 years old.

“I’m not vacating the place,” Mr Wells said on Monday.

“I’ve got the largest historical collection in the state (that’s) privately owned.”

His grandparents bought the 1881-built house opposite Glenside Hospital in 1915.

Mr Wells has lived in it alone since 1973, when his mother died.

Mr Wells with part of his collection which takes up the house. Picture: Naomi Jellicoe

It was a youth drop-in centre called Almanda Club from 1966 to 1990 and is known by some as the House of Psychedelia because of the colourful paintwork on its front fence.

Safety inspectors found no evidence of a toilet, bathroom, kitchen or laundry – and no running water.

The ceiling was missing in parts. Mr Wells said possums moved in during the late 1990s after fruit trees at Glenside Hospital were cut down.

“They chewed through the rafters and then the rafters collapsed,” he said. “They have fights in the ceiling.”

Although the back part of the house is unsalvageable, Mr Wells said the front five rooms could be returned to good ­condition.

The “unsalvageable” back of the house.

He has been offered a Housing Trust unit on Fullarton Rd.

Mr Beaton organised a meeting last week with Burnside Council, which offered to have a heritage architect look at the house.

Mr Beaton is trying to work out a way that Mr Wells can get a bank loan to pay for the repairs and live in a portable cabin while work is carried out.

“That’s about the only framework that’s possible,” Mr Beaton said.

“What he desperately wants is an undisturbed environment, which is not going to exist even if he does the minimal amount possible.”

Part of the “unsuitable” house.

Burnside councillor and Eastwood resident Di Wilkins said the house was “recoverable” and Mr Wells should not be “pushed out”.

“All they need to do is put a new front fence on and develop some living space at the back and then he could get on with documenting the history of Burnside and Eastwood,” Cr Wilkins said.

A picture taken of Royce Wells by photographic artist Alex Frayne last week.

Mr Wells’ case was publicised this week by another friend, photographic artist Alex Frayne, who shared his picture on Facebook, asking if anyone could help him.

He has taken photos of him every year for seven years.

One of them was a finalist in last year’s National Photographic Portrait Prize.

“Over the years he has aged,” Mr Frayne said.

“That recent photo shows a different Royce.

“It’s quite a dark image of a man who’s not in a great space.”