The oldest home ever listed on Zango is here: but could you live there?

Please allow me to start this article with a disclaimer: I’m terrified of old houses. Homes built in the 1940s scare me (sorry people living in Tocumwal houses). Homes built in the early 1900s are even worse (sorry people living on Campbell Street in Queanbeyan). And bedrooms with fireplaces are my deepest fear.

So when I scrolled past this Zango listing on Braidwood’s Duncan Street, built in the 1850s, I just scrolled faster. It was a massive NOPE from me.

But then I was intrigued: whose dream home is this? Who could sleep in what was once the original parlour, where someone had once given birth (and potentially died) there?

Sales agent for the home Kelly Allen from Belle Property Braidwood doesn’t laugh at my terror, but does point out that lots of people die in houses.

“Bree - show me a house in Braidwood that hasn’t had someone die in it,” Kelly says.

“In fact, show me a house anywhere, in any town or city, that hasn’t. It’s a common thing for someone to want to die at home, including in modern homes.

“If the walls of any home could talk – not just older homes – there’d of course be sorrow but there’d also be joy.”

The four-bedroom property, built for one of the original owners of the The Braidwood Dispatch and Mining Journal, John Musgrave, and his family, is a breathtaking piece of regional history. While Kelly is unsure whether the bi-weekly broadsheet newspaper was actually written from within its walls, the home is one of only two houses built in the Georgian style of the time in the township.

The black and white photo included in the listing (and shown at the top of this article) shows John Musgrave showing off his very fancy horse-drawn cart in front of the home.

Kelly says the exact reason I’m terrified of the home – its age – is the reason someone will want to buy it.

“Braidwood attracts two types of buyers,” Kelly says,

“People that adore the historic side of the town, and people who love solar passive.

“No one comes to Braidwood and says, ‘I want an ultra modern four bedroom home from a standard template’, they want something interesting.

“And 80 Duncan Street definitely ticks the interesting box.”

While the home does need work, “she’s got good bones” according to Kelly. The kitchen and bathroom are in their original locations in the home (but not quite the original condition, thankfully), and the two downstairs rooms have been transformed into bedrooms.

A lounge/living/dining area was added to the original home in the 1950s. The historic home oozes period features including original hardwood floors, pressed metal ceilings, wide skirting boards and multiple fireplaces.

“For a historic home, she’s priced to sell,” Kelly says.

“Yes she needs work but in the right hands and with a little bit of love, she’ll sparkle.”

The family that undertakes the work will be “in the thick of it” when it comes to placement in the heart of Braidwood.

“If you want to stroll down and get a coffee and paper, you’re less than 100m from the main street,” Kelly says.

“But be prepared to have a chinwag while you’re there.

“It’s a true country community here, and we live and breathe warm country hospitality.”

80 Duncan Street, Braidwood, is for sale for $959,000 and can be viewed by appointment.

View the full listing.