Slice of Masterton history

AN HISTORIC Masterton home on a large, leafy section with a 200-year-old totara tree is on the market for only the second time since it was built in 1880.

The four-bedroom house, at 125 Cornwall St, was in the family of its builder, carpenter and brickmaker Edwin Truscott, until 1988 and has since been repiled, rewired and replumbed.

Apparently built from timber milled on the site, the 110-square metre dwelling is on a 984 square metre picket fenced section with a carport, garage, barn and other sheds, including one used to store wallpaper for the second-generation owner who was a painter and paperhanger.

The wallpapers from the shed are now in a museum but some, from the 1920s, were used in the restoration of the house.

The house also stands out for its ‘‘wood graining’’, or the painting of native timbers to resemble oak (fashionable in the early 1900s), and original bamboo curtain rods in the bedrooms (two doubles, two singles).

The double bedroom to the right of the front door has an original mantlepiece while the one to the left includes an original wardrobe.

The sitting room has a box window with seat, an original ledger desk and sideboard, a woodburner and reproduction wallpaper of an historic design.

The dining room’s woodwork is the same as it was 100 years ago but the interior brickwork has been restored and a Stanley wood range installed.

The kitchen has tongue-and-groove panelling, and the joinery dates to the early part of last century.

The bathroom has a vanity, shower and linen cupboard.

Other features include a laundry with second shower and an enchanting cottage garden with bluebells, Japanese anemones, roses and wisteria, and nineteenth-century brick cobbling.

Lynn Davies, of L J Hooker, says viewing is by appointment only and the vendors will be looking for offers above $400,000 when tenders close on November 22. ADDRESS: 125 Cornwall St, Masterton. AGENT: Lynn Davies, phone 027 445 4990.

VIEWING: By appointment.