Listen carefully and you can still hear the breathless excitement of the Gilbert children as they arrive from town to spend long idyllic holidays at the beach. The year is 1924. Barely pausing to unpack, they skirt around the wide sweeping verandas surrounding the four-bedroom weatherboard home to race madcap across the dunes to the sparkling ocean on their doorstep. Held in the same family for over eighty years, Jarrah Cottage is not so much a cottage as a substantial turn-of-the-nineteenth-century villa constructed entirely of the beautiful Western Australian hardwood for which it is named. Sited on a magnificent absolute beachfront allotment of 1098 sqm (approx) with a 25.88m Esplanade frontage (approx), the elevated property also benefits from rear access to Seaview Road and an open aspect to the North where it abuts a small beach-goers car park and neighbouring reserve that can never be built out. Elevated above the dunes to capture panoramic ocean views, only punctuated by the Grange Jetty to the South, this magical waterfront home is a local heritage landmark that encapsulates the very spirit of the sea in its petrol blue and white exterior colour scheme. Offered in near-original condition, six superbly proportioned main rooms, all with beautiful jarrah floors and lofty ceilings, enjoy French door access to verandas on three sides, an early provision for interactive indoor/outdoor living that still works today. At the heart of the home, a large and welcoming dining room with a working character fireplace has provided a spacious venue for many a large family gathering over the years including, most recently, the present owner?s ninetieth birthday celebrations. And next door, a generous ocean-facing sitting room with another character fireplace and two pulley pendant light fittings occupies the twin gabled south-west corner. Linking the two living areas is a kitchenette and the glass-enclosed southern veranda, affectionately known as The Cage; a cheerful, sunny area that also connects with the fourth bedroom and a serviceable full bathroom. Three more double bedrooms lie on the northern side of the home, all further benefiting from a warm, sunny aspect in winter. At the rear, a scullery provides another link between the original kitchen – readily identifiable by its high mantel and later fifties cabinetry, a second toilet and an east-facing sunroom with a brick floor. Access to the cellar is from outside. The dwelling is flanked by two driveway widths of land leading to a gently sloping front lawn and two pedestrian gates out onto the dune footpath. And behind, there is a good sized backyard with an old double iron garage, offering plenty of scope for future additions subject to council consent. Zoned Western Edge Policy Area 3, this outstanding local heritage listed property deserves to be preserved for all time but, for those game enough to run the gauntlet with Local Heritage, it may also present an attractive proposition for redevelopment. EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST: CLOSING TUESDAY 29TH APRIL, 2008 AT 4.00PM (UNLESS SOLD PRIOR) PRICE GUIDE: IN EXCESS OF $1.2 MILLION
3 Bedroom(s),1 Bathroom(s),1 Toilet(s),1,098 Sqm