“I WOULDN’T know them from a bar of Burfords,” was early 1900 WA vernacular for someone you shouldn’t trust because you didn’t know them.
Elsewhere it was “a bar of soap”, but locals preferred the local brand and Burfords entered the lexicon after Burford & Sons opened a soap- and candle-making factory in North Fremantle around 1896.
By the 1970s the company had been taken over by multinational Unilever and the local industry was yesterday’s soap suds, the workers thrown out with the bath water as production ceased.
But this peerless building, which is on the state heritage register, rose from the bubbles in the ‘80s to become stunning apartments.
Number 2 was the intended home of a syndicate member who’d brought the old building back to life, and is an absolute stunner.
Step through the front door and you’re looking across a pleasant and vast reading room/study to clock a glistening blue pool set in an atrium of tropical plants, a soaring banana tree touching the high ceiling.
Everything is on a grand scale in this four-bedroom/three-bathroom abode, with mega-high ceilings, massive Oregon pine beams and steel girders, and sash windows tall enough for Harry Potter’s mate Hagrid to step through with ease.
The idea of a home over five floors may sound daunting, but there’s a lift to whisk you aloft should the stairs be too much — or if you’re carrying the groceries.
When the vendors moved in some 30 years ago there were just two bedrooms, but with no shortage of space to play with they retro-fitted to accommodate a growing family, including a gorgeous ship’s cabin-like bathroom clad in sweet-smelling cedar.
The main bedroom was originally mezzanine, but these days gorgeous mullion windows and timber panelling ensure peace and quiet no matter who’s watching TV in the huge open plan living area below.
And if you don’t fancy napping, french doors lead out to a spacious balcony overlooking Rocky Bay and the river.
On the opposite side of the sweeping open plan is the kitchen, with views of Fremantle harbour and the ocean from the sink. This long, lean space is as rustic as the rest of the building with raw brick walls and lovely honey-gold cupboards and a walk-in pantry.
Living here offers a rare opportunity to enjoy both a luxurious lifestyle and custodianship of a piece of WA history.
There’s no shortage of cafes close to hand, and a delightful swimming beach is just across the road.
by JENNY D’ANGER
2/51 Rule Street, North Fremantle
offers over $2 million
Nathan Hewitt | 0411 695 313
Yard Property | 9339 1006
