A wholesome escape from the housing crisis: the Facebook group dedicated to retro Australian homes
A wholesome escape from the housing crisis: the Facebook group dedicated to retro Australian homes
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I’m obsessed with the fantasy of fixing up a midcentury house – and furious at the people who’ve painted them white. There is one thing that unites the members of my favourite Facebook group: a shared hatred for white paint. In the comments, people moan about mid-century homes being visited by “the white fairy”. Some discuss whether it’s possible to undo the horrors previous owners have wrought. One shares the link to a home for sale, noting the “incredible vandalism” of a whitewash renovation. “I got three photos in and had to stop,” one of 80 incensed replies reads.
![[‘Incredible vandalism’: the whitewash epidemic besieging midcentury beauties.]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/6693d06ea522626ade225acdd41a1c2d242df5a4/0_0_1094_1150/master/1094.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
These are my people, and together we are the members of Retro Houses for Sale Australia. The group is what it says on the tin: a place to share links to homes from the 50s, 60s and 70s (or earlier!) now on the market. Together, we coo over immaculately preserved Beachcombers and mourn the disastrously renovated interiors drained of colour and their soul.
![[‘A converted church in Werribee that looks haunted’ … or a fixer-upper perfect for this housing crisis.]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/c7ef313dfad9f96ebc3d6351edacd75abf9d64e7/2_0_2267_1360/master/2267.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
I don’t know how I came to be in this group, only that it now occupies a large percentage of my scrolling time and brain space. I take great voyeuristic pleasure in getting to peer inside old homes and, importantly, pass judgment on them with a group of strangers. For every delightful pastel bathroom or feat of wood panelling, there is an utter freak show. My current favourites include a converted church in Werribee that looks haunted and a series of dilapidated dwellings set across five acres in Tyaak, Victoria that previously served as a cult commune – or, as the listing delicately phrases it, “a church-based community” with “a rich legacy”.
![[‘Could I live in Kyogle, NSW, population 2,751?’]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/eed9092e30a53099a758debae9476c3535900fc1/0_0_1092_902/master/1092.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
