17 Cherry St, Macleod, sold massively over reserve after a renovation led by its owner’s daughter.
A loving daughter’s desire to give her dad’s home a refresh before it’s sale to “do it justice” led to a $1.37m boil over auction yesterday.
The modern architectural gem at 17 Cherry St, Macleod, had been hidden behind heavy foliage for years, but sparked a buyer rush after it was cleaned up, renovated and revealed.
And with five bidders competing, the auction quickly ran away after a $900,000 vendor bid, with the $990,000 reserve rapidly eclipsed, before bidding eventually carried the sale to $1.37m.
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While preparing the home for sale on behalf of her father, Kate tackled a “light touch” renovation completed over a “very intense two and a half months”.
“Initially I considered selling it the way it was, and then thought I wanted to do the house justice,” she said.
The kitchen and laundry were replaced with new spaces sympathetic to the old, while dated wallpaper was replaced with a more neutral pale colour palette.
Most of the reward came when her father went through the home nodding his appreciation at how it was different from what he had known — but still had the indoor-outdoor ethos he’d loved.
The central courtyard provides plenty of natural light to the home’s interiors — and creates an indoor-outdoor ambiance.
The home was once hidden behind denser foliage.
The kitchen was replaced, but with a modern equivalent that’s sympathetic to the home’s character-filled design.
It was originally designed by Llewellyn George Bawden in 1953 as part of the Small Homes Service, and adapted by architect David Frank Cowell Ham in 1960.
And while the sale price will help her father’s retirement plans, it was the buyer who loved the home for its style and architecture that the family were most pleased about after yesterday’s auction.
Neloson Alexander’s Nunzio Sulfaro said a result $380,000 above reserve had come as a surprise, given a three-bedroom house in the area normally sells for far less.
But with an aesthetic and architectural look that’s relatively rare, Mr Sulfaro said buyers had come from much further afield than normal.
The modern arechitectural style of the home’s architecture has given it good bones that buyers appreciated decades after it was built.
The home’s bold, red entrance created an instant connection for homebuyers.
The bathroom features a colourful, mosaic-tile design rarely seen today.
“There’s homes you buy based on the market, then there’s those that you buy based on the opportunity and the lifestyle,” he said.
“When it comes to property like this, you don’t let it pass you by.”
After the auction the buyers revealed the architecture had been a key attraction, as they had recently seen a similar home in Sydney on Grand Designs — and wanted to have a similar home themselves.
Kate also credited vendor advocate Simone Curley at Trusted Advocacy with helping navigate the sale.
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