A period-inspired house in Melbourne’s northwest described as “like a museum” contains materials from a former bloodbank and Melbourne Aquarium.
Building the four-bedroom house at 3 The Oaks, Hillside, was a labour of love for its owners, Sam Inguanez, a carpenter, and his wife Josephine.
Mr Inguanez said he was a fan of Melbourne’s historic mansions including Rippon Lea Estate and Werribee Park Mansion.
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With a love of old-world design, he set about building a four-bedroom house for his family – which includes three children.
“Me and Josephine put a lot of work and effort into it,” Mr Inguanez said.
Set on a 2000sq m block, the house has 3.45m-high ceilings, gold leaf, ceiling roses, leadlighting and a Falcon stove.
English-imported Lincrusta wall linings first commissioned as a design by Queen Elizabeth I in the 1800s are another highlight.
Painting the interior took four years, and some of the cornices were decorated by late renowned master craftsman Derek Marvelley, known for his Werribee Park Mansion work.
Mr Inguanez bought 13,000 bricks from a former Melbourne blood bank to use in the project.
“I laid 10,000 in the driveway and used the 3000 to build the outside kitchen,” he said.
Wave-shaped bluestones placed near the outdoor kitchen were left over from the construction of the Melbourne Aquarium, while there is also an outdoor bar, wood-fired pizza oven and parking for 15 cars in two garages.
Cast-iron antique lights which previously hung in Melbourne’s city centre before 1894, when electric street lamps were introduced, illuminate the outdoors.
Mr Inguanez nailed the floorboards in by hand, not wanting to use a nail gun, while the veranda contains Australian bluestone, imported marble and cast-iron lacework.
Mr Inguanez, 69, said he and Josephine were selling the house now their children and have grown up.
Anthony Orellana of Main Road Real Estate said some people who inspected the house had said it as “like a museum”.
Mr Orellana said the house had passed in at auction on Saturday and has now been listed for private sale with a $2.1m-$2.3m asking range.
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Originally published as Hillside: ‘Museum’ house’s interior took four years to paint, has 15 car spaces across two garages
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