A Glenroy home that was part of a powerful early Melbourne family’s bid to establish a “Toorak of the North” has hit the market as a more than 130-year-old time capsule.
The 6 Salisbury St home known as Taringa is one of the oldest in the suburb, originally built in 1887 as a wedding gift for a daughter of the then wealthy Wiseman family.
Arthur and Albert Wiseman bought significant land parcels before establishing Glenroy.
They then paid for the government to bring a train station to the area and set up twin mansions as their own residences in the suburb they advertised as “The Toorak of the North”.
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Claudio + Marwan Eview Group director Claudio Cuomo said while the Wiseman family had succeeded at their endeavour to bring a railway line to the area, they were “still working on” establishing it as an elite suburb.
Mr Cuomo added that 6 Salisbury St was one of about five heritage-listed homes in the area, built at the behest of Arthur Wiseman as a wedding gift for his daughter Lilian and son-in-law Edward Strickland.
Despite family tragedy and the loss of their fortune, the four-bedroom house at No. 6 remained in the family for generations and is now for sale for just the third time.
“It’s been immaculately maintained, we had a pre-sale pest inspection done and it’s in remarkably good condition,” Mr Cuomo said.
“The original character has been retained. They have kept the original leadlight feature windows, the bullnose veranda, the ceiling rosettes and the cornices.”
Sympathetic updates were done in keeping with the home’s past — right down to the freestanding claw-foot tub in the main bathroom.
“It’s not got a Miele or Bosch kitchen, it’s all very much in keeping with its character,” Mr Cuomo said.
“Even the palm tree in the front yard is heritage listed.”
A formal lounge room, open-plan living area at the rear, a study and covered deck provide plenty of space to spread out or entertain.
Mr Cuomo said an address within 15km of the CBD and the home’s classic charm readily justified its $1.1m-$1.2m listing price, with a mix of buyers from the Brunswick and Coburg area already eyeing the property.
However, he joked that picking up the property and putting it in Toorak would likely result in a more than $7m price guide.
The Wiseman family were also secretively a major benefactor of charities for at-risk youth unlikely to receive education, but their wealth failed as the land market crashed and they were left bankrupted in the 1890s.
While their mansions and other homes they had built for family were in the names of others and protected from creditors, tragedy continued to follow their name.
In 1938 Annie Wiseman and her niece, Phyllis, were murdered at another Salisbury St, Glenroy, home by chimney sweep George Green.
The brutal killings were ultimately solved as a result of some of Victoria’s earliest forensic science breakthroughs, with Green eventually sentenced to death and hanged based on evidence including boot prints, hair samples and bloody clothing.
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The post Taringa: How Glenroy was meant to be the ‘Toorak of the north’ appeared first on realestate.com.au.
A 130-year-old home that was part of a powerful early Melbourne family’s bid to establish a “Toorak of the North” with the creation of Glenroy before their lives spiralled has hit the market.
The post Taringa: How Glenroy was meant to be the ‘Toorak of the north’ appeared first on realestate.com.au.