A quaint Kiama property with links to the town’s favourite son Orry-Kelly will be auctioned next month – but there’s a catch.
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The two-bedroom cottage at 4 Terralong Street does not come with the land it sits on and the winning bidder will need to arrange for its removal and transport at their own expense. Terry Dawson from Ray White Kiama said the owners plan to rebuild on the block and can’t bare the thought of demolishing the period gem.
“It is such a gorgeous little cottage. That’s why we’re doing this. It’s so charming and we’d would love to see someone continue living in it somewhere,” he said.
The 92 square metre property features high ornate ceilings, polished floorboards, stained glass windows and original claw foot bath and also includes doors from the 1842 Steam Packet Hotel, later the Brighton Hotel. He said the cost of transporting the house to its new address would be around $30,000, if it was level and had good access.
The unusual sale has caused controversy in Kiama with locals taking to Kiama’s Community Facebook page to vent their concerns about a house linked to three-time Oscar winning Hollywood fashion designer Orry-Kelly being sold off.
Martha Collins posted: “This is Orry-Kelly's house..should be kept as heritage!”
However Kiama Historical Society president Sue Eggins, said while there was evidence that Orry-Kelly lived at 4 Terralong Street for a time, he did not live in the house that is now located on the block.
“It is the site where Orry-Kelly lived after 1899, but it certainly isn’t the house he lived in,” Ms Eggins said.
A photograph from 1913 shows the two-storey building at 4 Terralong St where Orry-Kelly’s father William ran his tailoring shop, after his original shop was destroyed by the 1899 fires that destroyed Kiama’s main street.
“The shop was downstairs and the family lived upstairs. William Kelly died in the house above the shop in 1924. The house that is currently there wasn’t built until after he died. It is definately not the house where Orry-Kelly lived.”
Ms Eggins said while previous owners of the house believed it was built in the 1880s, she had not found evidence to support that. Kiama council confirmed there is no heritage listing on the house. The most recent assessments were made as part of the December 2011 LEP.
The cottage will be auctioned on site on March 12.