A recognisable Thirroul property is on the market for the first time in more than 30 years.
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‘The Gables’ is located at 342-344 Lawrence Hargrave Drive, Thirroul.
Owner Lesley Reynolds and her late husband Greg Tillman relocated from Sydney to the Illawarra in 1984, and eventually purchased the home in 1987.
“I just fell in love with it – even though it was pretty shabby at first,” she laughed.
The home was built in 1953.
“Where the units are now, beside the house, that was three blocks with a smaller house on it,” Ms Reynolds told the Mercury.
“That was owned by the Davis family, who used to have a bus company and quite a few businesses at that time.
“They sold the block of land to an Englishman who had been asked to come out to manage Bulli Spinners, and he had the house built.
“When we looked at it, it was only on the market for about a week and I fell in love with it because I love little English cottages.
“It was just one level at the time. Fairly soon after that we bought it from the young couple that were in there.
“About a year after that we did an in-roof conversion, which doubled the size of the house.”
Sprawled across two floors, ‘The Gables’ boasts four bedrooms and two bathrooms.
Constructed of double brick, the home features multiple living areas, an extra study and an entertaining deck.
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The home is set behind its recognisable garage door.
Nowadays, it typically boasts colourful murals, many of them devoted to promoting events by Yours & Owls, co-run by Ms Reynolds’ son Ben Tillman.
“The idea of the garage door was a funny one,” Ms Reynolds said.
“Being in between two pubs and a club, you used to get a lot of people coming along late at night with their spraycans. It was just a basic heritage green garage door originally, and I just got fed up with the graffiti.
“So my two daughters and some of their friends, I gave them a whole lot of spraycans.
“They did their first design on there, which was the ‘Yellow Submarine’ and they wrote ‘thank God for The Beatles’.”
Ms Reynolds said she was selling in order to downsize, and hoped to stay in Thirroul.
“There’s lots of good memories there,” she said.
“It’s been a lovely home, and it’s always kept us warm and safe.”
Listing agent, Adam McMahon from Dignam Real Estate said there wasn’t a price guide at this stage, subject to feedback from potential buyers.
The allotment is zoned R3, offering multiple possibilities to develop (subject to council approval).
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