One can only imagine what the walls have seen inside 212 Mount Keira Road.
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The building has housed generations of a family, was refuge to people during war and was the main parish on the hill.
The now two-bedroom home perched high on the corner of Mount Keira Road and Gipps Street has a history dating back to 1889.
The current owner has done extensive renovations which include glass walls to showcase the original brick structure.
The property’s first incarnation was as a Wesleyan Church, built two years after the railway line from Sydney to Wollongong was completed.
Wollongong Library archives reveal the white brick building with high pitched roof was to replace two existing churches in the area and later became a Methodist Church after the Christian denomination became popular across the district around the turn of the century.
Only two photos remain in the archives of the building as a church. One from 1920 of which shows a group of girls, possibly coming from Sunday School, along with three adults – all in attire fashionable at the time.
The building remained a church until 1939 when it was destroyed by gale force winds.
Local builder Robert Lochead then purchased the property and converted it to a home suitable for his growing family.
Mr Lochhead designed the home for his wife Lena and their five children - Florence (Betty), her brothers Robert and James, and sisters Margaret and Jeanie.
A relative of the family, Leann Slade, has previously told the lllawarra Mercury the property was also used by defense personnel as a shelter during the first and second world wars.
The home remained with the Lochead family for seven decades before being sold for a bargain price in 2014.
McGrath sales agent Jason Betschwar said he loved listing homes with rich history as they always give him a “spooky kind of feel”.
He said while the new owner has made a lot of modern changes - like a separate three-car garage, new kitchen and bathroom - it has all been done to compliment the building’s character.
Meantime Mr Betschwar said the view of the ocean was not interrupted by the new garage, while there was potential to convert the garage into a granny flat or build on top of it.
Number 212 Mount Keira Road will head to auction on September 10 at 12:45pm.
Brief History of Mount Keira:
- 1835 Mt Keira Rd formed.
- 1857 Osborne Wallsend coal mine opened.
- 1887 Sydney to W'gong railway finished.
- 1889 Wesleyan Church built.
- 1907 School of Arts built.
- 1911 First motor car at Mt Keira.
- 1917 Robertsons Lookout opened.
- 1824 Electric light at Mt Keira.
- 1929 Post Office destroyed by fire.
- 1939 Church destroyed by gale force winds.
- 1940 Mt Keira Scout Camp opened.
* A special thankyou to the Wollongong Central Library reference desk.
For more information on Mt Keira’s history visit: www.wollongong.nsw.gov.au