Former Mount Alexander Shire mayor Jim Norris and his wife Carmel a former secondary school teacher, are selling their home; a beautifully restored Methodist Church built in 1865.
The Norris’ (Jim, his parents, and his brother) bought the deteriorating church at auction in 1982 for $18,000 to use as a holiday home.
“It was a dump that no one else wanted, only a bit better than a tent,” Jim said.
31-years-ago, Carmel, Jim, and their two year old and three month old daughters, made the move from Melbourne to Taradale and the couple began the arduous task of bringing the old church back to life.
The interior of the church was baby blue, the ceiling pink, and the beautiful wooden trusses and windows a white gloss. There was green slime running down one wall, a section of the floor had been burnt out and there were termites eating the floorboards. As work began on the building, the family of four lived on the ground floor with hessian bags for walls.
Jim, who once studied architecture, designed the breathtaking transformation, which features an open-plan mezzanine bedroom and a church tower with views spreading across the valley to the historic railway bridge.
“It’s taken a lot of work. I worked with master carpenter John Parker and Neil Tait did all the steelwork in the place,” Jim said.
In the intervening years the couple welcomed a third daughter and the family made the revamped church their home.
“Les Hough, a local stonemason built the dry stone wall. He used to travel over from Fryerstown on his horse and cart, sometimes giving our three girls a ride, which they loved.”
“People who turn churches into homes try and put too much in and lose the feeling of a church. Putting in a mezzanine keeps the church open and shows you the full expanse, while also giving you the space underneath for those necessary closed-off spaces like the bathroom,” Jim said.
“We finished the structure about 15 years ago when we built the church tower on the back. The rest was the finicky stuff.
“There are 400 privately owned churches in the state and our house is only one of four with a church tower.”
Now in the later years of life and with their children grown, Jim and Carmel have decided to sell their home and are now building a modern house in Castlemaine.
“We will miss the house,” Carmel said. “Although it takes a lot of love and attention, especially the garden. It’s someone else’s turn here now.”