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2015
12 November 2015
Landmark Mudgee building to go to auction
A prominent Mudgee building is set to have a new lease on life.
The Parkview Guesthouse at the corner of Market Street and Douro Street has been vacant since 2007, and in recent months has been the target of vandals.
Now owner Di Austin is preparing the property for sale in the hope that it new owners may re-open it as a guest house, art gallery, office or other use.
The building was used by pharmacist William Lester as a pharmacy and residence in the 1870s and 1880s. His sons William and Charles also became pharmacists in Mudgee, and Charles was also a noted doctor.
William Lester also built the adjoining house, 'Rexton', in Douro Street.
Parkview was a boarding house before being renovated in 1986.
Ms Austin and her mother, Lydia Austin, bought the building around 15 years ago.
From 1999 until Mrs Austin's death in 2007, they ran a bed and breakfast, tea rooms and art gallery at the property.
Ms Austin said in recent months, the property had been vandalised, with the windows and mirrors smashed and doors punched in.
Squatters also took over the house for a time and intruders sprayed graffiti through the building.
The damage, together with difficulty in negotiating the stairs in the two-storey property, has prompted Ms Austin's decision to sell.
Ms Austin has spent the last two months working to clean up the property in preparation for an auction on December 5, including replacing the glass in the windows, repainting and cleaning up the courthouse garden.
'This was one of the icons of Mudgee,' she said. 'It was restored in 1990 as an interpretation of the Victorian era and it has all the Victorian style lights and high ceilings.'
Ms Austin said with five bedroom and six bathrooms, the property could be run again as a bed and breakfast.
Although the building stands on one of the Mudgee's busiest intersections, Ms Austin said 'at night you can hear a pin drop'.
'Ideally, the building would be up the point where the new owner can walk in and run a guest house or bed and breakfast,' she said.
However, Ms Austin can also envisage the property as professional rooms, a beauty day spa, a bookshop or antique shop.
Ms Austin said the agent for the property, First National, has already received a number of inquiries from interested buyers.
In the lead up to the auction, Ms Austin plans to show an exhibition of paintings by Milthorpe artist Ada Clark.
Ms Austin plans to use proceeds to the sale of Parkview to complete restoration of her historical home 'Cheshire' in the Blue Mountains.
She is helping to organise a volunteer group to assist people with historic homes in the Central Tablelands1 .