Historic farmhouse opens door to living large at Charlemont
The Manager’s Residence at 95-97 Sparrovale Rd, Charlemont is for sale.
A Charlemont house that’s the last remnant residential building from an experimental Sparrovale farm on the site of Geelong’s original racecourse has been listed for sale.
The five-bedroom weatherboard house now occupies a 957sq m corner block at 95-97 Sparrovale Rd.
Gartland Geelong agent Lisa Emanuel has listed the circa-1906 Edwardian-Federation era house, which originally served as the manager’s residence on the Sparrovale Farm, run by the Geelong Harbour Trust into the late 1920s.
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The Manager’s Residence at 95-97 Sparrovale Rd, Charlemont is for sale.
The main hallway has a timber-lined ceiling and fretwork feature.
The property has been listed for sale with $600,000 to $660,000 price hopes and goes to auction on December 7 at 12.30pm.
The property was the original site for the Geelong racecourse and even the terminus of a railway branch line until 1906, when constant flooding saw the race club ultimately move to Breakwater.
The Geelong Harbour Trust established the model irrigated dairy farm on the floodprone land around 1907, before the state government auctioned off the property in the 1930s, which became the privately-owned Sparrovale farm property, much of which forms the Sparrovale Wetlands.
Ms Emanuel said renovating the house is a real option for several potential buyers who were considering turning into a home or as an opportunity to flip it for resale.
Some original features remain, such as an ornate ceiling in the lounge room.
French doors open into the living and dining room and kitchen.
The house has a big return veranda on the north-facing facade.
It retains some character elements, such as the decorative Edwardian gable, internal timber fretwork, and timber-lined and ornate ceilings. However, parts of the house have been substantially renovated while it was rented out as late as 2019.
Ms Emanuel said the facade and general character of the home were worth keeping, though vandals have made light work of every window.
“It’s pretty much a blank canvas for somebody. Once it’s done, it’ll be stunning,” Ms Emanuel said.
“The house is actually huge – and the land is huge.
“The floor plan is amazing – it’s got these grand hallways with the rooms off it.
“It’s basically got two living, four bedrooms and you can make an extra bathroom. That’s probably all it needs.”
The near-1000sq m block was an amazing size for the growth corridor, while the location of the house gives plenty of north-facing yard space at the front of the dwelling.
“It’s fantastic because you can possibly have a big driveway and you could have a swimming pool as that’s all north facing,” she said.
“The back of the block is where would put your services.”