Landmark Newtown home for sale after painstaking 10-year makeover

News.com.au

16 hours ago

A grand Federation bungalow built for one of the forerunners of Geelong's Costa dynasty has hit the market after a striking makeover.
Vendor Steven and his family only recently put the finishing touches on an epic 10-year project to transform 'Felicita', at 21 Aberdeen St, Newtown.
The six-bedroom brick house proved the perfect canvas for the self-confessed William Morris wallpaper 'groupie', who imported a swag of intricate patterns from the UK to bring his colourful vision to life.
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He said while the house retained beautiful original features, the previous peach colour scheme made the large traditional living rooms feel like aircraft hangars.
'It felt so big I knew straight away it need to be dark and that it needed wallpaper – I love wallpaper,' he said.
'I remember it going up wall by wall and having a moment of thinking 'is this too much?', because it's a full-on experience.'
The circa 1918-19 house, set on a 981sq m block with rear lane access to a triple carport, was originally built for George Virgona, the great-uncle of Frank Costa.
The Italian immigrant opened the Covent Garden food store in Moorabool St, which he later sold to his niece Mary's husband Tony Costa, Frank's father.
Designed by architect I.G. Anderson, who also designed the Geelong West Town Hall, it incorporates Australian fauna and flora in leadlight and cornice detail.
'My favourite will always be the hallway, there is something so majestic when you open the front door and it's just beautiful the way light filters in through the stained glass,' Steven said.
Tracking down the perfect carpet for the feature staircase after 10-year search was the final piece of the decorating puzzle.
'It was the ugliest green carpet I had even seen but it matched the wallpaper perfectly … I remember the man looking at me like 'are you sure this is what you want?' As soon as it was in it was just the icing on the cake – it was just perfection,' he said.
A formal dining room and a series of sitting rooms showcase high ceilings and ornate fireplaces on the ground floor, where the kitchen overlooks the rear yard.
Upstairs, a playroom/study sits off two of the bedrooms, while a sunroom with bay views adjoins the largest bedroom.
Steven said he felt it would have been an injustice to reconfigure the traditional layout, despite suggestions to knock walls out.
'I know the next person will probably come in and build a big room on the back, which is part of what we were planning to do eventually, but maintaining the front of the house has been a real joy,' he said.
Whitford, Newtown agent Heidi Trempel is handling the sale of the property, which is listed for $1.95m to $2.1m.