‘1928 written on the walls’: A look inside renovated Aland St home

Owners of three historic Charters Towers homes are busily dusting and sweeping this week, as they prepare to open their doors for this Sunday’s Great Houses tour.

‘Audeve House’ owner Liz Bennetto. The Bennetto family now live out on Virginia Park Station and run the town house as an Airbnb.

Owners of three historic Charters Towers homes are busily dusting and sweeping this week, as they prepare to open their doors for this Sunday’s Great Houses of Charters Towers tour.

Joining the ranks of old buildings welcoming stickybeaks is ‘Audeve House’ on Aland Street – it’s first time being involved with Great Houses.

Owner and renovator Liz Bennetto bought the house with her husband in 2018 when their young family moved back to the Towers.

“It had been sitting on the market for awhile, and it had these yellow shutters over the front that hid the whole house. It didn’t look very good from the street,” Mrs Bennetto said.

“It was only once we came inside we saw it was a strong, hardwood house and it has this beautiful Silky Oak picture rail and we felt it really had potential.”

Silky Oak picture rail. 15 Aland Street, Charters Towers

Fresh from renovating a post-war home in Brisbane, the couple decided the old Queenslander deserved some love too, only, no one knew exactly how old it was.

“We looked in the council records but they didn’t go back far enough to tell us when it was built,” Mrs Bennetto said.

“When we were ripping some terrible dark panelling off the bathroom walls we found writing underneath which we think was put there by the builders. It said ‘September 1928’.”

15 Aland Street, Charters Towers

The renovation process for the Bennetto family mainly involved peeling back the layers to find the original house underneath.

“The floors were covered in vinyl and carpet, the kitchen was lime green, we had to sand back all the walls because there were layers and layers of paint over them,” Mrs Bennetto said.

“Old houses definitely are a labour of love.”

15 Aland Street, Charters Towers before the renovations. From the outside its heritage character was well-hidden behind extensions and additions from the 50s and 80s eras.

Mrs Bennetto said records show their house was one of the first to be built on the Aland Street “block” alongside Aldborough.

“The very first owner we’re aware of was a tobacconist called Ted, and the next owners were the Flowers who we purchased it off,” she said.

A full wall of casement windows. 15 Aland Street, Charters Towers

Renovations done by the Bennettos include ripping the shutters off the front to reveal the casement windows, taking down a wall to create an open living area between the lounge room and kitchen, adding a carport, gutting the kitchen and adding a deck.

“You can’t sell if you don’t have a deck in Charters Towers,” Mrs Bennetto said.

“In this climate they add a lot.”

15 Aland Street, Charters Towers

When asked what her favourite part of the house was, Mrs Bennetto said the kitchen.

“I wanted a design that suited the house and its heritage but was also practical and open,” she said.

To achieve this, Mrs Bennetto used tiles from the heritage range at Southern Cross Tiles and worked closely with Towers Custom Cabinets.

15 Aland Street, Charters Towers

“I told Towers Custom Cabinets I wanted the kitchen to be free flowing and not blocked off by a counter but the only way to do that was to give up a full pantry,” Mrs Bennetto said.

The solution by Towers Custom Cabinets was to build enough storage space for a whole pantry … into the island cabinet drawers.

“I was sceptical, but after living with it I would choose drawer storage over an upright pantry any day,” Mrs Bennetto said.

After spending so much time with the house and investing a lot, the family had to make a tough decision about Audeve House’s future when they moved out to Virginia Park Station.

“We weren’t ready to sell, we weren’t ready to have a tenant in it either because it still felt like our home,” Mrs Bennetto said.

“So we decided to take a chance and put it on Airbnb.”

15 Aland Street owner Liz Bennetto. The Bennetto family now live out on Virginia Park Station and ran the town house as an Airbnb.

Since becoming available, the house has hosted a steady stream of business travellers, workers, tourists and even a group of actors.

The possibly-96-year-old house will be taking a small break from its hectic schedule and will become a hardwood house ambassador this Sunday, August 25, for the Great Houses of Charters Towers tour.

Entry to the three houses participating in the tour (Audeve House, Doxford House, Thornburgh House) is $5 cash at the gate.

Ghost tours and a heritage tea event will also be running on the weekend.

Originally published as ‘1928 written on the walls’: A look inside renovated Aland St home