After 71 years, an iconic Werribee house is set to have a change of ownership.
Number 9-11 Synnot Street, Werribee, or ‘Muswell’ as it has been known since it was built in the late 1930s, has hosted some of Wyndham’s best-known residents.
The two-storey Spanish Mission-style house was built for Claude S Creed, a local farmer, before being bought by Dr Charles Prouse in August, 1943.
Dr Prouse lived in the house with his wife and three children while running a small surgery out of a building at the side of the property.
The house has been owned by the Prouse family ever since and also has connections with the Purcell family.
First National Real Estate managing director Bob Westwood said part of the property’s historic value came from the doctor.
“Dr Prouse was a greatly revered local resident,” Mr Westwood said. “It’s quite amazing how many older local people would remember going to see him at that house.”
Mr Westwood said the house was the only known one of its kind in the western suburbs, with its Spanish style having been popular during the inter-war period.
Wyndham’s official history book, Wyndham Our Story, notes that in 1946 the house was valued at £150, while by 1952 it had increased to £192. Mr Westwood said the house, on a 1788-square-metre block, was expected to be sold privately for a much greater sum. “We’re looking at around $2.5 million for the property.”
There is a heritage overlay on the house and Mr Westwood said he hoped that whoever bought it respected its history.
Expressions of interest are also being sought for an adjacent vacant block of land.
