Buyers click-happy for historic Darwin home

A Darwin elevated that survived both Cyclone Tracey and the Bombing of Darwin was the most viewed Territory property on realestate.com.au this week.

A photo of the Noonamah home in September 1944 taken for the War Damage Commission and captioned “war damaged dwelling of N.G. and T. Macrides, Lot 567, Mitchell Street, Darwin”. Picture: Australian War Memorial

A historic Darwin home that survived both Cyclone Tracy and the Bombing of Darwin was the most viewed Territory property on realestate.com.au this week.

The classic Top End residence was believed to have been built in the 1930s and sat at 86 Mitchell St in Darwin City for about 60 years.

It was relocated to 8.3ha block at 30 Horsnell Road, Noonamah, in the early 1990s and retained much of it character, including scars from war and weather events.

The old Darwin home at 30 Horsnell Rd, Noonamah. Picture: realestate.com.au

Seller Jolene said the home had original cypress pine floors, cyclone shutters and green glass windows as well as shrapnel marks from the Bombing of Darwin.

“There’s a lot of Darwin history here,” she said.

“It can’t be proven, but it’s thought to be the oldest privately owned home in Darwin and surrounds.

“The builder of the house George Kafcoloudis – he built Burnett House and Magistrates House.

“The flooring business that did the cypress floors in Burnett House installed the floorboards in this house as well.”

Inside the home at 30 Horsnell Rd, Noonamah. Picture: realestate.com.au

Jolene said the house was originally built for the Macrides family and became the family home of Rex and Nancy Eddy after WWII.

The Eddys were living in the home when Cyclone Tracy hit.

“To the best of what I’ve been able to find out, my family is only the fourth family to live in the home since 1938,” Jolene said.

“We were in it during Cyclone Marcus and the house didn’t shift at all – it was as solid as a rock.”

The property was listed for sale last week and attracted more than 3500 clicks on realestate.com.au, making it the most viewed Territory home on the property website for the week.

Inside the home at 30 Horsnell Rd, Noonamah. Picture: realestate.com.au

In addition to one of Darwin’s historic elevated homes, the block also has two one-bedroom demountables, a huge container dome shelter/workshop with three phase power, container storage, above ground pool, wet season dam and double-bay dog kennels.

Selling agents Ethan Lay and Daniel Harris of Real Estate Central received strong interest from buyers and the property went under offer within days of hitting the market.

“We had one open house on Saturday and it was very busy,” Mr Harris said.

“Interest was driven by a mixture of affordability, the infrastructure on the block and the historic nature of the home.”