Cults, theatre and a piece of port history: Grand Fremantle home hits market
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With an illustrious past life as a trades hall, theatre venue and hub for the orange-robed Rajneesh cult in the wild 80s, few homes can lay claim to such a colourful past.
Built in 1904 as the Fremantle Trades Hall, the foundation stone of 6 Collie Street, Fremantle was laid by Western Australia’s first premier, Sir John Forrest.
And now, 122 years on, the magnificent building serves as a beautifully and impeccably restored four bedroom residence, which has hit the market for a cool $7.5 million plus asking price.
“I have been selling real estate around Fremantle for close to 15 years and I haven’t seen anything quite like it, where you’ve got a freestanding building that’s been beautifully restored that has both commercial and residential use,” said sales agent Michael Harries from Ray White Dethridge Groves.
“It’s just a rare opportunity – it’s an asset that will continue to grow forever.
“It’s probably something you’ll never find in Freo again.”
Set on a 449sqm landholding in Fremantle’s west end, the heritage-listed property includes a grand jarrah staircase, sprawling office space or drawing room, a private courtyard, Juliet balconies, a commercial scale kitchen and a pool.
Hallmarks of its 1904 origins include pressed tin ceilings, a grand jarrah staircase, and the numbers ‘8 8 8’ on the front façade – which date back to the trade union at the time’s aim of eight hours each of work, leisure and sleep.
Classified by the National Trust, the building was used as the headquarters of the Fremantle Trades and Labour movement, including the 50 Port unions until the 1960s. It was sold in 1968 for just $21,000.
Since then it has been a theatre, the Old Trades Music Hall, and a restaurant venue from the 1970s, before the orange-roped Rajneesh religious cult took out a six-year lease in 1981 and operated a restaurant known as, Zorba the Buddha.
“The Rajneesh had it – the orange people – during the ‘80s, they ran a Greek restaurant out of it called Zorba for quite a number of years, it was quite a popular restaurant,” Mr Harries said.
“But it was a situation where you didn’t necessarily have to (pay), it was like a donation. If you wanted to pay a little bit of money when you came in, you could, it was quite unusual.”
Read more https://www.realestate.com.au/news/cults-theatre-and-a-piece-of-port-history-grand-fremantle-home-hits-market/
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