17-07-2025
‘Unliveable': Shock price paid for 100-year-old cottage
An 'unliveable' cottage on a tiny block has sold for $1.4m after languishing on the market for 18 months because it can't be knocked down.
The crumbling, three-bedroom house on a 240 sqm site is one of the last of its kind in original condition in the Brisbane inner-city suburb of Spring Hill — only a stone's throw from the CBD.
Records show the house was built in 1925, which means it can only be renovated, not demolished, and last sold in 1983 for just $60,000.
Surrounded by multi-million dollar properties, the house at 24 Gloucester Street was marketed as 'ready to renovate' by selling agents Sam Mayes and Zac Tully of SPACE Property Paddington.
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Mr Tully said the sale price set a new benchmark for the entry-level price of a house in Brisbane's inner-city.
'Unliveable cottage on 240sqm of land and the house cannot be knocked down,' he said.
The home had been in the same family for over four decades, and the owners had initially listed the property with price hopes of $1.5m-plus.
Architectural historian Marianne Taylor posted the property on her House Detective social media account, saying she would 'definitely buy it' if she had the money.
'This is likely a very old Brisbane home on a beautiful inner-city would also come up a treat with a sympathetic reno!' she wrote.
'I'd love to do some metal detecting in the back yard, as I bet it hasn't been disturbed much since the house was built!'
