Sitting atop a hill in the historic and popular village of Millthorpe the former Baptist Church, built in 1902, is an imposing building.
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In 2002, one hundred years after it was opened, the current owner Virginia DeSantis and her late husband Gordon Craig began the process of transforming the bluestone building, and the church hall and vestry, into a family home like no other.
To not detract from the building's stature the pair, with Millthorpe builder Greg Good, replicated its shape and form on the footprint of the church hall.
Using straw bales, and every scrap of timber recycled from the church hall, the home gradually rose on the hill and now, nearly 20 years later, Ms DeSantis is putting the unique home on Pearce Street on the market.
We've had a lot of small concerts in here and you can comfortably fit 65 people
- Virginia DeSantis
"Gordon and I pulled that hall down and reused every piece of timber down to the floor joists," she said.
"It is a really unique home because we wanted to follow the same footprint of what was here."
The house is scattered with furniture that Mr Craig created from the timbers that weren't used in the construction. Some of the doors and door jambs are also made from the timbers salvaged from the church hall.
The main attraction is the church building in which there have been many social events in the past.
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In one corner sits a grand piano and where the baptismal font once was is where Ms DeSantis now keeps her wine.
"We've had a lot of small concerts in here and you can comfortably fit 65 people," she said.
The room is in essence one large dining / living room that is imbued with the solemnity of its original purpose.
Despite all the memories that are contained in every nook and corner of her hand made home, Ms DeSantis is ready to move on.
"It's just too big for me now and there are a few too many steps to go up and down," she said.
"It's best if I leave now while I can make that decision and not have it made for me because I can't get around the house," she said.
The previous record for a Millthorpe house was for a Blake Street property that sold for $1,060,500 in September this year.
The agent for the sale of 7 Pearce Street is One Agency in Orange.
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Mark Logan
Started working in newspapers in the 1990's in the darkroom of the Pastoral Times in Deniliquin before moving to Millthorpe in 2003. Soon after arriving I started as a photographer at the CWD. Now a journalist at the Blayney Chronicle.
Started working in newspapers in the 1990's in the darkroom of the Pastoral Times in Deniliquin before moving to Millthorpe in 2003. Soon after arriving I started as a photographer at the CWD. Now a journalist at the Blayney Chronicle.
