As part of the development of Vista Park we preserved and restored the old Coral Vale Homestead on Smiths Lane, which has such a proud link to the past and nearby area. Originally built by William Rose around 1890 and continually occupied since, it became rundown and fell into disrepair over the years. The Homestead is now listed as a local heritage property.
Before the majority of restorations works could commence the homestead had to be made level as over the years the footings of the building had been destroyed by termites and were either sitting roughly on bricks or directly on the ground. This process involved jacking up sections of the building at a time, laying new foundations and then resting the structure back down on the new footings.
Once the building was made level the rest of the works could commence. Large sections of the internal floorboards and external decking were replaced and the entire roof structure and cladding were replaced.
New weatherboards were specially milled to obtain the same profile as the original weatherboards and the kitchen annexure was stripped of asbestos and rebuilt. Finally a long overdue fresh paint job completed the restoration.
There are many ancillary buildings surrounding the Homestead and these required similar careful treatment. Works on the feed silo have been completed and the old milk dairy buildings have been restored and repurposed as Smiths Ln Dairy.
