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For more than 50 years, John “Giovanni” Riccardi has poured himself into his sprawling Spearwood property — digging trenches by hand, building sheds, planting fruit trees, growing vegetables and creating what he calls “a sanctuary”.

Now, after decades of work, the 430sqm home on more than 4000sqm of land has been sold, but only after Mr Riccardi and selling agent David Bombara found a buyer they believed would respect what had been built.

Mr Riccardi bought the property as a young man after selling his panel beating and spray painting business.

“Well, I sold my big business,” he said. “I had a big business with panel beating and spray painting.

“We were told by our parents, you buy, you put in as much as you can, and don’t borrow much from the bank. “So that’s the philosophy.”

Investment properties

After selling the business premises, Mr Riccardi began buying investment properties, including factory units, acreage and a holiday house on Molloy Island.

Then he found the Spearwood block.

“It was just bushes, trees, a lawn that was  neglected,” he said.

“And I thought, ‘work here’. “I had to change the roof on the house. That’s how bad it was.

“When you went in there on a cold day, it’d be eerie; you turn a light on, and you could hear the power going through the old felt electric wires.”

Clearing the property

He struck a deal with an electrician friend who rented the house cheaply in exchange for rewiring it.

“Let me wire the whole house for you,” the friend told him.

“I said, ‘if you do that, you can stay for six months, rent free’.”

Mr Riccardi replaced the roof, painted the house, built the shed himself and spent weekends clearing the property.

“There was dead trees, and they had a bit of a garden that had pipes everywhere,” he said.

“I rang up Kovich, the best moving people, and they took about 12 truckloads of rubbish out of it.

“And then I got to work with a shovel and dug the trench for the fence.

“I put all my super six fence in with the shovel all the way to the back.

“I was a bit of a workaholic, I must admit.”

Before building the gardens, Mr Riccardi sank a bore.

“In doing so, we struck it lucky,” he said.

“I hit an underground vein of water, beautiful, beautiful water.

“I haven’t drunk scheme water for 52 years.

“I won’t drink it, only drink my bore water.”

The property slowly became an oasis, with vegetable gardens, orchards, figs, apricots, nectarines, mandarins, loquats and old English rhubarb.

“I didn’t sell any veggies, we’re on the old bartering scenario,” he said. “Many fishermen would come in with fish; they wanted the veggies and I wanted the fish.

“It was just a mateship.

“I was in my glory with not one cent changed hands.”

Eventually Mr Riccardi demolished the original house and built the current split-level brick home, complete with cellar, large outdoor laundry, multiple living spaces and workshop.

“I knew what I wanted, so I designed the house,” he said.

“This will last you 100 years.

“The house is 430sqm of house — that’s a big house, isn’t it?”

Mr Riccardi said every bricklayer, plasterer and tradesman involved was a mate.

“All me mates are brilliant,” he said.

“We gave each other shit, but we were good at what we did.”

Semi-retirement

The home later became the base for his semi-retirement, where he restored and painted show cars for private clients.

“The last one I did was Beta Spud — Carlo Cocciolone,” he said.

“He said, ‘It doesn’t have to be perfect, we’re not gonna put it in the show, okay?’

“Anyway, it come up beautiful.”

The two-door Chevy did ultimately end up in a national show at the invitation of Muguiares Paints, and much to Mr Riccardi’s surprise took out second place. Mr Bombara said the property attracted extraordinary interest when it hit the market.

“He’s quite a character and very well known locally — we’ve had over 1,000 attendees through the home opens,” Mr Bombara said.

“There were numerous offers, many of which he declined as the buyers intended to develop the property, which he is strongly opposed to.

“Ultimately, we secured the right buyer — someone aligned with his values, looking to grow their own food and genuinely enjoy the property.”

Mr Riccardi said money was never the main consideration.

“I said to David, ‘David, you know what? It’s not about the money. I’ve worked hard to get this place where it is, and I love this place,” he said.

“What I would love David is for someone to look after what I’ve worked hard for, and someone that will appreciate what it is and enjoy it for the rest of their life.”

In the end, the buyer was a farmer from Geraldton.

“I still got good money, but I didn’t even bother to push the envelope for more,” Mr Riccardi said.

“Lovely man. He sold his farm and he said, ‘I’ve seen this on the net, I need exactly something like this’.” 

by STEVE GRANT