Former banking chamber that cost £20,000 to build in 1800s voted most iconic listing

You couldn't rebuild this property today — the craftsmanship behind it has long since priced itself out of existence. But listed at a bargain $3.1m, the former bank been voted realestate.com.au's most iconic 'home with a former life'.315 High Street, Maitland has a price guide of $3.1 million. Picture: realestate.com.auThere's something irresistible about a building with a past. It provides a character no architect can create, plus a tale worth sharing at a dinner party.Mansfield House, both a keeper of old stories and the start of a new one, was voted the most iconic 'home with a former life' on realestate.com.au this month.Built in 1887 as a grand banking chamber by pioneering Sydney architect George Allen Mansfield, 315 High Street, Maitland is a dramatic three-level sandstone spectacle on a scale no modern budget could replicate.The property cost £20,000 to build in 1887, equivalent to around $20m today. Picture: realestate.com.auIt uses a thousand tonnes of hand-carved Pyrmont sandstone and genuine cedar for joinery, and boasts twin granite fireplaces, terrazzo floors and seven-metre ceilings.It cost £20,000 to build, one of the district's priciest private commissions at the t...