The restoration of this Redcliffe character home has been the talk of the town.
A holiday retreat for Catholic nuns was to be scrapped, with a multistorey sky home development to take its place, until a grandma took the advice of a family friend and turned the retreat into a bespoke home.
Kerrie Stewart bought 80 Prince Edward Pde in 2020 for $1.85m, and locals who passed the house on their daily walks to the waterfront were convinced the block would be levelled.
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BEFORE: 80 Prince Edward Pde, Redcliffe was in a state of disrepair when Kerrie Stewart bought it.
“My intention was to remove the house and build new,” Ms Stewart said. “And there was DA approval for six sky homes on the site when I bought it but I just wanted a home.”
BEFORE: But the property has a commanding position.
But family friend and local builder Duayne Pearce of D Pearce Constructions convinced her the house was worth saving and the restoration ahead of next month’s auction has become the talk of the town.
AFTER: The home as it looks today.
“There’s a local Redcliffe residents Facebook page and when I posted pictures of the home I got 968 responses and 300 comments from people,” Ms Stewart said. “They saw the For Sale sign go up on the property and because it was so rundown, they were sure it would be demolished or removed. And when it became evident it was going to be retained the interest just went up. People now stop and talk to me in the yard. The response has been overwhelming.”
AFTER: The original house has bee pushed forward on the block, overlooking Moreton Bay.
Sustainability is a key pillar of Duayne Pearce’s building company.
“We are very big on reducing waste because we know that 50-60 per cent of the world’s waste comes from construction,” Mr Pearce said.
BEFORE: The property had been rented out in 2019 for $489 a week.
“I can’t stand beautiful old homes being demolished and put into landfill. It’s disgusting. That beautiful timber and hard labour gone to waste.”
Together with building designer Aaron Wailes and engineer Paul Kakia, the team began an 11-month restoration and extension process that began with establishing a strong foundation for the home.
“There’s a heritage fig tree on the footpath (I learned a lot about trees from this job), it’s around 200 years old and its roots go the entire way underneath Kerrie’s property,” Mr Pearce said.
AFTER: The giant protected fig tree.
Engineer Paul Kakia built a foundation like a big bridge, with 101 concrete piers some 4.5m deep as a footing system to bridge over the roots from the tree and hold up the new slab and the columns for the original house and extension.
“The reason for this is because the tree draws so much moisture out of the ground, the engineers didn’t want that to affect the ground and the foundation of the house,” Mr Pearce said.
While this work was carried out the cottage was shifted to the front of the 835sq m block before being moved to its new position at the rear of the property and as close to the edge of the embankment as possible to enjoy absolute Moreton Bay views from inside the home.
AFTER: The home feels like it is floating on water.
The team also stripped back all the exterior cladding and internal VJ walls to bare timber over a 12-week period before working with the original timber to bring the home back to life with the help of six coats of paint.
“The house was originally built by a landowner, a farmer from Chinchilla in either 1920 or 1921,” Ms Stewart said. “And I don’t know a lot of detail but it was a retreat for one of the groups of nuns. A holiday retreat.
AFTER: The main open-plan living area.
“One of the reasons that I kept the old house is that it gives a flavour of the original local environment and although the house looks very different now, there’s a real peace and some kind of calmness here. Maybe that’s from the really high ceilings and a very spacious feel, or maybe it’s the prayers of the nuns when they were having their holidays, or it could be the sound of the beach. Whatever it is, there’s a really special feeling here.”
AFTER: The front windows have been mistaken for paintings.
This is the third renovation for Ms Stewart who moved to Brisbane from interstate 43 years ago and she has now caught the renovation bug and is moving into an apartment in Redcliffe before starting her next project.
Clinton Viertel of Belle Property Redcliffe will take 80 Prince Edward Pde, Redcliffe to auction on July 28 at 5.30pm.
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