Melbourne real estate: the oddball listings of 2019
From a WWII bunker-turned-house to an Egyptian-style hall to ‘Barbie’s house’, the Melbourne market produced some weird and wonderful listings this year. Check some of the quirkiest ones here.
The Melbourne market produced some seriously weird and wonderful listings this year.
Check out some of the quirky property listings the Herald Sun featured in 2019.
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WWII BUNKER
Address: 2 Nemstas Lane, Yelta
Status: sold for $250,000
Easily one of the quirkiest homes to hit the Victorian market this year, this converted World War II bunker in the state’s northwest sold to a young couple at auction in November.
The Yelta property was built in 1941 by the Royal Australian Air Force to store fuel for its nearby Mildura base.
It was then closed in 1945 and privatised, and ultimately converted into a four-bedroom house by vendor Stephen Gooding.
The 8mm-thick steel bunker on 5000sq m of land at 2 Nemstas Lane was classified during the war due to the threat from Japan — making it the ideal home for the buyers from nearby Merbein, who Professionals Mildura selling agent Tony Graham said liked “their own space”.
READ MORE: World War II bunker conversion sold at auction
World War II bunker conversion for sale as a house
EGYPTIAN HALL
Address: 3 Rochester Rd, Canterbury
Status: for sale with price hopes of more than $3 million
Gold-winged scarab beetles, sacred serpents, astrological symbols, lotus flowers, winged discs and “the eye of Horus” adorn Canterbury’s Emulation Hall — a former Masonic temple-turned-events venue.
The 1927-28 building resembling Egypt’s ancient Philae and Edfu temples hit the market in October with price hopes of more than $3 million.
Co-owners Nicole Fraser, Sally Mill and Noel Crombie — a former member of rock group Split Enz — are still waiting for a buyer to walk like an Egyptian through their door.
Ms Fraser said the heritage-listed building’s “eccentricity” appealed to her and her business partners, who found “something kind of odd about a secretive society (the Freemasons) being housed in this audacious building”.
The creatives painstakingly restored it over two years and have since hosted weddings, school galas, film and TV shoots, conferences, and even a Radio National live broadcast there.
READ MORE: Egypt style for sale in Canterbury at old Masonic hall
BARBIE’S HOUSE? OR A GENIE’S BOTTLE?
Address: 30 Norval Cres, Coolaroo
Status: taken off the market
This Coolaroo home was likened to Barbie’s house, the inside of Jeannie’s bottle in I Dream of Jeannie, and something straight out of Disney.
Houseproud grandma Jamalate Saleh’s home of 18 years unsurprisingly went vital after hitting the market for $450,000, notching almost 55,000 views on realestate.com.au.
But she ultimately couldn’t part with it, First National Meadow Heights director Jalal Abdallah said: “She said, ‘I’ve done all this work, I don’t want to do it again in a new house’.”
Ms Saleh told the Herald Sun she spent “many years” crafting the home’s interior of bold colours, blingy chandeliers and regal furnishings, some of which she imported from Dubai.
She even had decorative marble floors specially made to fulfil her vision.
“I’ve got passion for colours and design. It was all from my imagination,” Ms Saleh said
READ MORE: Inside the Coolaroo home that’s the talk of the internet
HOME ON VOLCANO’S EDGE
Address: 57 Lowery Rd, Crossley
Status: sold for $730,000
This house on the edge of the extinct Tower Hill volcano in Victoria’s west had all the makings of a Bond villain’s lair.
But it was ultimately snapped up by artist Anne Middleton, whose portrait of actor Guy Pearce won her the People’s Choice gong at last year’s Archibald Prize.
Her future home is one of just seven in the state with a view of the volcano which, due to its last eruption being some 25,000 years ago, is now better known for its lake and wildlife.
Roberston Port Fairy director Di MacKirdy said Ms Middleton and her husband planned to make a tree change to the five-bedroom house, which had most recently operated as a farm stay.
“It was really the view that won them over,” Ms MacKirdy said.
READ MORE: Artist goes from Guy Pearce Archibald gong to volcano’s edge
Live on the edge of a volcano in regional Victoria
STEAMPUNK LAIR
Address: 114/63 Acland St, St Kilda
Status: for private sale asking $900,000
If steampunk style floats your boat, you can still snare this St Kilda apartment and its contents, including a glass-topped table with an Alien theme, futuristic silver armchairs, and light fittings crafted from industrial pipes and pieces of machinery.
The two-bedroom pad transformed by Mark and Tania Morgan has a $900,000 asking price, after passing in at auction in August for $870,000.
Its interior mixes elegant Victorian style and bold touches of industrial and machinery elements, inspired by a genre of science fiction.
Mr Morgan scoured the internet for the out-there pieces that fill the apartment at the former site of the Port Phillip Water Police. And he’s prepared to throw in the unique furniture with the purchase, for a bit extra.
“Ninety per cent of the furniture is imported. It’s cost me about $60,000,” he previously told the Herald Sun.
READ MORE: St Kilda steampunk apartment passes in at auction
St Kilda steampunk apartment brings ‘Alien’ vibe to market
OUTBACK AUSTRALIANA
Address: 55 Gurdies-St Helier Rd, The Gurdies
Status: for private sale asking $1.05-$1.15 million
This eccentric home up for grabs just outside Melbourne takes you back in time to the wild days of outback Australia.
A vintage steam train, rundown trucks, horse-drawn carriages, pub bar benches, a replica outdoor dunny and windmills fill the gardens.
And the three-bedroom house features windows made from wagon wheels and a rustic rumpus room with a bar made of red gum and corrugated iron.
The true-blue items collected by owners Clive Hunter and Sammy Hand are part of the package.
Mr Hunter said they scoured the country for the huge antiques from “early pioneering days” during their 15 years at the home.
The property keeps surprising Spencer’s Unlock selling agent Joanne Spencer, who said: “Every time I go, there’s something I didn’t see the last time, like a fake possum in a tree or gumboots that poke out from the outdoor dunny.”
The pad could be yours for $1.05-$1.15 million.
READ MORE: Outback-inspired house up for sale in The Gurdies
-with Nathan Mawby, Tessa Hayward and Jayitri Smiles
Originally published as Melbourne real estate: the oddball listings of 2019