Although often contested, 21 Gipps Street, Paddington is thought to have been built in the 1840s and has arrived on the market for the first time in 13 years with Ray White Paddington selling agent Dean Jarman.
One for the lovers of art, the historic home was once known as Gallery A in the 1960s - an avant garde gallery concept which was brought up from Melbourne at the time by renowned art dealer Max Hutchinson.
Ann Lewis - Gallery A’s curator during its short history - was a big supporter of Australian and Aboriginal art, and often housed art that intended to shock and provoke.
“One of the artists, Mike Brown, has always been into the shock factor,” said Roz, “he had a painting exhibited with a series of four letter words in around 1966, the authorities were tipped off and Mike was subsequently prosecuted for obscenity and sentenced to three months hard labour.”
To this day, he remains the only Australian artist to have been successfully prosecuted for obscenity.
The three bedroom two bathroom home - also thought to have been the old Paddington jail - was purchased by Roz’s late husband in 2002 from an art professor at UNSW, who had unsuccessfully campaigned to council to have the property re-opened as an art gallery.
The large property by Paddington standards was built by the same people that built the Victoria Barracks, and the sturdy sandstone home has seen a number of renovations in its time - including restorations by current owner Roz Deaker.
“One of the main things we did was restore the sandstone, which is a real feature of this home,” said Roz.
“It’s an unusual house in Paddington, it has an almost 12 metre frontage almost across a double block, which is rare, and it has a good size courtyard.”
According to Roz, she will miss the high 18 foot ceilings, thick sandstone walls and private courtyard which offer another rare feature to the home - a sense of peace.
With a growing family, it’s time to start fresh, but she has no idea where yet.
“I keep looking at other places, and it’s going to be hard to find something that comes close to this,” she said.
The property will go to auction on the 28th of November at the offices of Ray White Paddington, 215 Glenmore Road.
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