History
Built by Mr Billie Payne, owner of the Royal Hotel in 1884. Bought in 1906 by Mr Charles Fraser, a local solicitor, for his bride Miss Richardson of “Deltroit”. It has been the home of a number of local doctors since then.
Architecture and Construction
Solidly built house of classic Victorian style. Full brick (double and triple) on heavy slate foundations. Iron room. Twelve foot (3.6m) ceilings.
Dimensions
- Land: 1876 square metres
- House: 230 square metres
- 90 square metres of bullnose veranda on three sides (1.8 m wide and 50 m long) enclosed with decorative cast iron panels and pillars with an original Australian cedar railing all around.
- Two 5m x 4m well ventilated cellars with good head room.
- Original two storey stables, double brick, iron roof, concrete lower floor and wood upper floor each measuring 11m x 5 m.
- Front entrance hall vestibule 4.2m x 2.4m, narrows to 1.5m wide for another 9m through the main body of the house.
- Four bedrooms
- Two of which measure 4.8m x 4.2m
- Two of which measure 5m x 3.5m
- One formal drawing room, 5.4m x 5.4m, interconnected with
- One sitting room 5.4m x 3.6m
- One dining room 6m x 5.1m
- One kitchen (eat-in) 4.5m x 3.9m
- Two bathrooms
- One 3m x 2.1m
- One 2.4m x 2.4m
- Laundry and ironing rooms 3m x 5.4m
Decoration
- Pressed tin (wunderlich) in five main rooms and hallway
- Plaster
- Tongue and groove 6” boards
- All woodwork Australian cedar
- Picture rails in hall
- 14” (0.36m) skirting boards in all main rooms and hallway
- 8 sets of architraved and fan-lit French doors opening on to verandas, with cedar shutters
- 12 architraved internal doors
- Ornate arched front doorway with glass side panels and stained glass fanlight
- Veranda railings
- 5 marble fireplaces, including one in the formal dining room of very decorative Italian marble
- 2 open fireplaces
- Decorative brickwork
- Front fence
- 40m Victorian cast iron fence with ornate gateway leading to an impressive wide staircase to the main entrance.
Condition
Very original. All cedar woodwork is French polished, none has been painted. External woodwork is western red cedar. Floors and structural wood are Cypress pine.
The roof guttering is poor in placed and needs some replacement. The roof and bullnose are superficially rusty, but sound.
The brickwork is very sound.
Most of the wall plastering is sound.
The town
Gundagai is an unspoilt town with good commercial and medical facilities and a growing tourist orientation. It is just off and visible from the Hume Highway, four hours drive from Sydney and less than two hours from Canberra.
Contact:
Mark Spalding
email: wilding@grapevine.net.au
