Add CategoryTHEY SAY say home is where the heart is, and with these unique properties there has been a lot of heart thrown in to create some amazing residential conversions.
This year has seen a bevy of quirky homes hit the market across the country and this national top 10 list saw something for everything from former factories for boots, bats or lollies, to a seven-storey water tower with ocean views.
From Freckles and Fantales to a home with a sweet view, this North Melbourne factory conversion was gobbled up before auction.
A two-bedroom pad in the old Allen’s Lollies factory at 51A O’Connell St sold for an undisclosed figure that is reportedly somewhere between $1.1 million and $1.2 million. Collins Simms agent Belinda Lindsay told the Herald Sun that the eventual sale price far exceeded the quoted range of “$950,000-plusâ€.
The conversion of the ex-confectionary factory has transformed the historic building into a quirky residence with exposed brick walls, varied ceiling heights and a stunning rooftop terrace with its city views, spa and unique mural by local artist Rone.
An old St John’s Ambulance station in inner Sydney was saved, spruced up then snapped up
Converted from an old ambo station into designer digs, this well-recognised Camperdown landmark to at 90 Australia St sold at auction in December for $2.725 million, a healthy $125,000 above the reserve price.
The vendors bought the now five-bedroom, three bathroom property in 2012 for $1.001 million as a commercial building then set about transforming it.
Melbourne buyers went batty for a factory conversion and smashed the price out of the park
A former cricket bat factory in Seddon fetched $200,000 more than its set reserve in May this year.
All it took was three bidders to compete at auction for the sleek pad in the former RM Crockett & Sons bat factory for it to score an impressive $1.45 million.
The three-bedroom, three-level, townhouse near Middle Footscray train station has a rooftop terrace with city views, a waterfall feature and a two-car garage.
At the time of the sale, Sotheby’s International Realty agent Grant Giordano told the Herald Sun that the vendors of 2/138 Charles St, Seddon, would have sold for $1.25 million.
Buyers weren’t sheepish about paying top dollar for an apartment in this Newcastle wool store
One of the Soque apartments in Newcastle’s “warehouse district†(also known as Islington) sold for $907,750, smashing the former record for the old Winchcombe Carson Woolstores. Until April this year the most paid for a unit in the converted building was $720,000.
The three-bedroom apartment is one of 96 dwellings in the 1940s heritage site which was reimagined by architects Fairweather Proberts a decade ago.
At the time it gathered several awards including the 2006 Apartment Project of the Year and Best Renovation and Addition project gongs from the HIA.
It features 3.3m high ceilings, exposed timber beams, about 220sq m of combined indoor and outdoor space and an industrial kitchen.
A historic butter factory conversion in Swan Marsh churned up interest
It took a decade for owner-builder Bret Ryan to transform a butter factory boiler room into a two-level, two-bedroom home but the result is now a pretty good spread.
The heritage building near Colac in country Victoria 150km south west of Melbourne still has original features as Mr Ryan vowed to use recycled materials where possible.
The Colac Dairying Company started making dairy products at 587-589 Swan Marsh Rd in 1901 and built the existing factory there in 1930. It continued until 1956 when it became just a shop front until its sale in 1970. Its next owner ran a timber mill on site before selling to Mr Ryan 15 years ago.
* Under contract at time of writing
Author James Phelan’s Richmond warehouse conversion
Best-selling author, James Phelan and his opera singer wife Nicole Wallace, sold their warehouse conversion in November for $1.24 million.
The plush pad at 103/1 Margaret St, Richmond was once a textiles warehouse but the pair rewrote the history books 12 years ago after buying it as an empty shell.
It now is a contemporary home with exposed concrete beams, formwork and floors stained black with lanolin from its past life.
The space has been the site for many of Wallace’s rehearsals and for Phelan, whose most recent thriller Dark Heart was released through Hachette this year, the home has been a place of inspiration.
“I’m going to miss sitting beneath our big steel windows and reading a book or even taking notes,†he told the Herald Sun.
It was a tall order, but a cashed up buyer for this South Australian tower was found
Buyers after something a little different had high hopes of snagging this landmark Adelaide property at auction.
Until the home was sold in November for $1.2 million, 40 Blacklet St in Semaphore was in the same family for 43 years.
The water tower, which is now a seven-level home with three bedrooms, one bathroom and two separate self-contained units, was built in 1880 to serve the LeFevre Peninsula.
Before selling up, vendor Ben Ali said the tower home had many bonuses.
“My family attributes (my grandparents’) longevity and excellent health to the beach lifestyle and climbing those tower stairs well into their eighties,†Mr Ali told The Advertiser.
“This incredible property has stood the test of time and is now ready for the next 100 years,†he said.
A little divine intervention and a lot of buyer demand pushed this ex-church in Melbourne into the record books
The Collingwood church conversion became the most expensive house to ever sell in Melbourne’s inner north when it was snapped up in August this year.
Owner-architect Ilana Kister’s heavenly Courtyard House at 6 Oxford St sold between $5.8 million and $6.38 million according to the Herald Sun, although Nelson Alexander Fitzroy selling agent, Arch Staver, said he couldn’t disclose the sale price. It last exchanged in 2012 for $2.505 million.
The resurrected 142-year-old Gothic Revival building, once known as St Saviour’s Anglican Church is now a stunning four-bedroom designer home on 720sq m curves around a circular courtyard with a lap pool and gardens, in a nod to Sir Roy Ground’s famed Hill St house in Toorak.
The cream of the crop for home conversions in sleepy South Australia
In May this year, The Creamery at 8 Blakiston Rd, Blakiston sold for $1.153 million.
Starting out as a co-op in 1892, the factory was originally run by a group of local farmers and by 1896 the Blakiston Butter and Cheese Factory was born.
But by 1920 the site had already been abandoned, left to linger for decades before its resurrection into a family home.
Now the three-bedroom house, which has appeared in Australian Country Magazine, features 4.5m high cedar ceilings, a mezzanine level, a large, country style kitchen, huge 16-car garage and a tennis court.
A great location and designer interiors to boot with this old factory transformation
Once home to a production line of footwear as the West Australian Boot Manufacturing Company, this inner Perth residential block is a collection of 18 townhouses with the city right on its doorstep.
A two-bedroom home in the 1920s former factory on Lake St, Perth sold in June this year for $560,000 — well above the median price for similar units in the CBD ($474,000 according to CoreLogic).
The designer property now features open plan living spaces, floor to ceiling windows, and polished floors.