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A historic church in Golden Square has sold for half a million dollars.
Gary Brusa of Melbourne bought the Uniting Church building on Saturday morning.
He intends to make the historic church his residence.
“I’ve been looking for something like this for years,” Mr Brusa said.
“It’s hard to find them unmolested and in a population.”
The tradie travelled from Nowra last night to attend the auction and said he was looking forward to becoming part of the Golden Square community.
People were equally eager to make themselves known to Mr Brusa as he put the ‘sold’ sticker on the sign.
About 100 people attended the auction.
Mr Brusa had little competition in purchasing the property, much to his surprise.
“I expected to fight for it” he said.
The auction started with a vendor bid for $475,000.
Auctioneer Matt Leonard of Tweed Sutherland First National Real Estate had to work the crowd for further bids, inviting people to top the offer of $500,000 by a mere $1000 towards the end.
The Gothic-style church, built in 1870, was quoted at between $500,000 and $550,000.
Mr Leonard said the selling price was cheap, considering the amount of bricks and mortar purchased.
But he expected the new owner would invest in making the building a home, boosting its value to one comparable with the more than 200 million dollar properties in the Bendigo area.
Attendees were quick to tell the Bendigo Advertiser after the auction they were pleased with the buyer because they felt Mr Brusa would respect the history of the building.
“I wouldn’t want to take the integrity of what it is away,” Mr Brusa later said.
“You’re not just buying a church, you buy a community.”
Members of the Johns family, which built a large part of the church, were part of the crowd.
“We are all passionate about the church,” descendant Susan Johns said.
She was pleased the new owner appreciated the building and its history.
The Uniting Church had twice been given last-minute reprieves from aborted auctions, most recently in September because of concerns about the removal of heritage-listed pews.
However, the adjoining manse was sold for $400,000.