A landmark Altona home will be demolished to make way for six new dwellings, with some residents dubbing the suburb “matchbox city”.
The house at 146-148 Maidstone Street (pictured) sold last year for $1.15million, and the new owner applied to the Supreme Court to modify a 1953 covenant preventing more than one house on each lot.
The covenant was modified late last year and a planning permit for the new dwellings was subsequently granted by Hobsons Bay council.
Fencing went up last week at the front of the original house in preparation for its demolition.
Graham Griffiths jnr said his father built this house from a design in an American Cape Cod book.
“It was built in 1956 from Glen Iris ‘Coronation’ clinker bricks – Coronation as they were stamped with a crown for Queen Elizabeth’s wedding,” he said.
Mr Griffiths lived in the house until 1973, when it sold for $18,000.
Locals have taken to social media to express their sadness at losing part of the area’s heritage.Some said they had always admired the house while growing up and fantasized about living there.
Many lamented the loss of the traditional Aussie home, with townhouse subdivisions becoming commonplace across Altona.
“It will be called matchbox city soon with all the townhouses,” said one.
The original house has four bedrooms and one bathroom, and is built on a 1215 square metre block, which also has an oversized inground swimming pool.
This footprint will be replaced by six new dwellings – four double-storey and two single-storey abodes.
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