A landmark property that started out as the local doctor’s house on the outskirts of Melbourne has hit the market — and it could easily become a popular attraction for day trippers.
Historical Maloa House is a well-known landmark at the entrance of the beautiful Woodend township. Originally it was built as a doctor's residence in 1906 in the English Tudor and Federation style.
With sweeping views to Mount Macedon, an acre of magnificent established gardens and a huge indoor heated pool, this is country living at its finest; but a grand family home is just one option for this property which offers so many possibilities.
Maloa House has been beautifully renovated with 6 bedrooms, 5 living and dining spaces, 3 full bathrooms, 4 powder rooms and two commercial-grade kitchens.
While it is currently used as a family home, it could just as easily be a boutique guest house or a successful regional restaurant (which it was for many years).
The property has two street frontages and can be accessed from both the High Street service road and Quarry Road.
Historic Maloa House in the centre of Woodend once sold for $290,000 in 1993 but will now command $3.2m plus, with owners Michael and Denise Grantham havening poured in $2m on renovations.
Maloa House became a boarding house in 1940. At one point, the Grantham’s ran the house as a restaurant with a fully licensed bar and three separate dining areas before they reconfigured years later into a family home.
“It could easily be converted back into a business,” Mr Grantham said.
There’s a running joke in the Grantham household that Denise purchased sprawling Woodend icon Maloa House unbeknown to Michael, who was interstate for work at the time.
“I remember, vividly, coming home one Friday night in 1993, and … Denise said something along the lines of, ‘The kids are in there; I’m heading out. Oh, and by the way, the real estate agent is coming around to sign the contracts because we bought that house,’” he says with a laugh.
“The house is situated on the railway line and, as you come into town, it’s a major landmark in Woodend township – everyone knows it,” Denise says. “I walked past it with the children most days and just fell in love with it.”
The property was in desperate need of some TLC and had been up for sale for some time.
In their almost 30 years at the property, the Granthams have returned the Tudor-Federation homestead to its former glory. The finishing touch was the recent painting of the exterior to restore the original white of more than 100 years ago.
A local builder known to share their passion helped source heritage timbers to match existing ones, and window and door frames in the modern extension mirror those in the older part of the house.
The property also boasts a luscious garden.
From the ornate verandah with its fretwork and mosaic tiling to the tongue-and-groove ceilings, stained-glass windows and marble fireplaces, every detail has been saved or reinstated with the utmost care.
“A lot of thought has gone into it,” Denise says. “We really have done everything we could have done.”
Now, with their children grown up and scattered around the globe, it’s time for a change. The property is for sale by expressions of interest with an asking price of $3.9 million to $4.29 million.
“We have this huge, magnificent house and there are only two of us living in it,” Michael says. “It’s been wonderful, but it’s time for someone else to enjoy the property [and] leverage the opportunities that we were lucky enough to have.”
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