A PROJECT to lovingly restore the old St Mary's Catholic Church at Breeza has finally wrapped up, with the historic property back on the market for the first time in a decade.
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When Liverpool Plains local Peter Wills purchased the 130-year-old church in 2012 it was rundown, but he took it upon himself to preserve its history, while converting it into a functioning home.
"She was absolutely derelict," he told the Leader.
"But there were so many aspects to this location that made it absolutely spot on for me - the views, it's a beautiful location and it's not far from our family farm down the highway back towards Quirindi."
Constructed in 1892, the Moffatt Street property boasts panoramic views of Breeza and the surrounding countryside and is steeped in history.
Originally built by the Clift family, the church was blessed by the Archbishop of Armidale in 1899. It was left virtually unused from the early 1980s, Mr Wills said, and after acquiring it, he took a deep dive into its history.
"The Clifts are a very prominent local family, and they owned Breeza station at the time," he said.
"He married a Catholic, and there was no Catholic church in Breeza, so he built the church for his wife."
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Mr Wills said when he rang the local council shortly after purchasing the place, he was shocked to be told he could knock it down because the church isn't heritage listed.
"But now at 130 years old, I think you'd be mad to knock it down," he said.
Mr Wills has restored the stained glass windows and timber doors, and extended the property to include a functional living quarters, but he said making sure everything fused seamlessly was a big focus.
"It's a quality old building, you've really got to do a quality job to restore it if you want to preserve it to be honest," he said.
"I wanted to restore it, because at 130 years old there's really not many older buildings in the north west.
"I've enjoyed developing the garden, it's been beautiful to develop a whole garden from scratch."
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