Williamstown’s history-packed “Shenandoah house” is being offered for sale for the first time in 42 years.
Bus loads of tourists visit the double-storey house at 17 Ann Street to see a mural of Confederate warship CCS Shenandoah, which adorns an external wall of the corner building.
Another wall bears an external plaque acknowledging the house was formerly the Telegraph Hotel, circa 1858 and rebuilt in 1862.
It is one of the last original properties on the former Port Phillip Woollen Mill site, which is being transformed by residential development.
Shenandoah house is owned by historian Leigh Goodall, former chairman of the Williamstown Maritime Association.
“When I was sailing and I was over in North America, I researched the Shenandoah and found that the CCS Shenandoah was a warship by the Confederate Navy that came into Williamstown, and virtually none of the Williamstown locals knew about that history,” he said.
“When I got back, I was that inspired with the story that I started the Shenandoah Society, and that led to the Williamstown Maritime Association which ran three major boat shows, and that led to Seaworks who gained the lease on the site [where the ship docked].”
The original home burnt down and was rebuilt with bluestone from Point Gellibrand.
Mr Goodall, 72, said the house burnt down again on his 40th birthday. The walls withstood the ferocious fire and the remainder of the house was rebuilt in keeping with period style.
He bought the house in a derelict state for about $38,000.
The house is listed for auction by Williams Real Estate on April 28 at 12.30pm.
