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Wednesday May 23, 2012

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'The Castle' up for sale

Posted by: Simon Johanson - Fairfax | 21 July, 2010 - 3:36 PM
The Castle

The real-life home made famous as the set for the iconic Australian film The Castle is on the rental market.

For just $300 a week (tell 'em they're dreamin'), you too can sit in the backyard and watch the planes take off and land at Essendon Airport next door.

As they taxi down the runway beside the house, the noise becomes intense but the large jets that were a feature of The Castle are not taking off near No. 3 Dagonet Street.

''There are no jumbos here, only Cessnas and the Flying Doctor Service,'' said owner Vicki Cosentino.

The cast of The Castle in front of the house.

The cast of The Castle in front of the house.

Advertised as being in the Strathmore ''precinct'', the house boasts ''three large-sized bedrooms, a bathroom, good-sized kitchen, meals area and sunroom at the rear''.

The sunroom was converted during the film shoot into battler Darryl Kerrigan's legendary ''pool room'', lined with the family's trophies.

Ms Cosentino was a fan of the film but said the shoot in 1997 caused some problems. The tenants at the time told her a documentary would be filmed there for two or three days. Two weeks later, the film crew were still there and when they finished there were ''holes drilled in the walls'' and ''hundreds of staples'' that had to be removed.

''After two weeks of filming, the tenants took off with the bond and proceeds of the filming,'' she said.

Repairing the house and finding new tenants left her significantly out of pocket.

And while the real estate agent in the film described the property as having ''location, location, location'', Laura Teal, from Brad Teal Real Estate, won't go so far.

The agency has had a dozen inquiries from prospective tenants, Ms Teal said. ''It's a great feature that it was in the film but I don't think it would make people want to rent or buy the property,'' she said.

Former tenant Bing Qian, who lived in the house from 2006, said she didn't realise it was part of a film set until a friend watching the movie on television called her up one day and said they had seen her house.

''I've had people knocking on the door, saying 'Can I speak to Darryl, please','' Ms Qian said.

Any desire to raise greyhounds in the backyard will be crimped by Ms Cosentino's plan to put two units out the back.

''I would have put three units on the block but because it was part of the movie I'll keep the house,'' Ms Cosentino said. ''The serenity's beautiful. That's why I bought here.

''I'm going to live there one day surrounded by the airport. I'm happy with that.''

Blog comments Your Say

  • thats a terrific old place id love to rent it if i had the money

    daniel Wednesday 21 July, 2010 - 5:14 PM

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