A historic Orange house has been sold off by council to a mystery buyer.
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The rundown residence at 94 Woodward Street was formerly owned by the Barrett family of ice-cream fame. Council bought the land from an estate in 2014 for unclear reasons.
It sits on a 1838 square metre block adjacent to Elephant Park and directly behind Emus rugby club.
Three bedrooms, two bathrooms, hardwood floors, period cast-iron fireplaces, a large garden and lawn, and a car space feature.
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At auction on Wednesday, the residence was sold for $810,000 to an unknown buyer lodging bids over the phone via an intermediary.
"I have absolutely no doubt the new owner is going to capitalise ... it can reap some significant rewards," auctioneer Andrew Robinson from Belle Property said.
"Properties on the other side of the street here that have been through that process have got significantly more.
"If you hold this for a couple of years I'm sure you will not regret it ... I can't guarantee that, but I'm pretty positive."
Offers started at $750,000. One other person lodged bids and tapped out at $805,000, citing renovation costs.
A handful of Orange City Council senior staff watched on.
It's unclear if the property is protected from demolition by heritage listing.
The adjacent 93 Woodward Street - on a smaller block but in significantly better condition - sold in 2020 for $1.48 million. It is now valued at about $2 million.
A push to allow council CEO David Waddell to sell 94 Woodward Street prior to auction was rejected by councillors at their last meeting in July.
Property database Corelogic suggests council paid $1.05 million for the property almost a decade ago, however more than half the land has since been carved off in a subdivision.
An investigation into the possibility of building social or affordable housing on the carved off land was requested by councillor David Mallard.
"I would not be comfortable with council just selling-off assets into the private market that will then be unaffordable for most people," Mallard told the Central Western Daily at the time.
"That won't help to address the challenges [Orange residents] on low- and middle- incomes are facing in finding housing they can live in."
Council voted to approve sale of the house on October 18, 2022. It was first debated in early 2021, alongside several other "redundant assets."
Then-Mayor Cr. Reg Kidd described the property as "beautiful," and said: "We recognise we have nearly $16 or $17 million of redundant assets that we could look at."
In 2021 the CWD reported the sell-off was part of a wider push to secure funding for the conservatorium project.
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