A Central West townhouse in Orange’s iconic Bowen Terrace row that has not been lived in for about 20 years is up for sale.
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Owner John Macdonald bought the townhouse for $95,000 in 1997 when he started work over the road at the then Department of Agriculture.
Mr Macdonald said he moved away with work and now lived in Sydney, rarely returning to Orange.
“I was only in Orange for a couple of years,” he said.
The townhouse is number 13 but Mr Macdonald said it wasn’t always that way.
“It was 12A in the day. I don’t know when or how the number changed.”
He said he had undertaken major work on the property including installing black cypress timber flooring downstairs, rebuilding the staircase with kauri pine and replacing the upstairs flooring in oregon timbers.
However, after a long period of sitting empty, the home is ready for serious upgrading.
VIDEO: A tour inside the property
One Agency Orange licensee Ash Brown said even in its unloved condition it had the potential to break the record of $383,000 set last year for the 12 Bowen Terrace properties.
“It has been vacant for a good 20 years,” he said.
“Our price guide is $370,000 to $400,000. That’s where we think it’s at.
“We’ve had really strong interest and I think we’ll get really strong interest through to the auction.”
The row of townhouses was built in 1876.
A listing on the Heritage Council of NSW website said the building was designed by Orange’s architect John Hale.
“Bowen Terrace stands on part of 256 hectares granted to Joseph Moulder in 1836,” it said.
“In 1875 Henry Thomas Bowen purchased 3.281 hectares from Moulder and in 1876 he constructed Bowen Terrace.”
It said extensive restoration of the building was undertaken from 1968-1972.
Mr Brown said it was rare to find a row of terraces in a regional area.
“If you Google terraces in country NSW they’re aren’t many.”
And last year the townhouse owners were each given grassland at the rear of the row that had been owned and maintained by Orange City Council.
“Every terrace gained around double their yard space,” he said.
The Bathurst Road property is to be auctioned at 11am on Saturday December 1.
David Fitzsimons
I am a senior journalist at the Central Western Daily concentrating on council, government and real estate issues. Before moving to Orange I filled senior roles at the Daily Telegraph, Daily Telegraph-Mirror and the Daily Mirror in Sydney. They included being an editor, news editor, chief of staff and reporter.
I am a senior journalist at the Central Western Daily concentrating on council, government and real estate issues. Before moving to Orange I filled senior roles at the Daily Telegraph, Daily Telegraph-Mirror and the Daily Mirror in Sydney. They included being an editor, news editor, chief of staff and reporter.
