Geoff and his wife Nicolee purchased Hindmarsh House 19 years ago, but only started the massive restoration job in 2011, following Geoff’s retirement from Shoalhaven City Council.

The heritage listed property has been restored to its former glory, with Geoff painstakingly sanding, painting and repairing the building that many believed was beyond redemption.

“When we bought the place, it was in a really bad state,” he said.

“People thought it couldn’t be restored, but I was convinced ti could be done in an historically correct way, whilst introducing modern communication facilities.

“It has been a huge challenge and was definitely a labour of love.”

The Victorian Georgian style building, on the Princes Highway next the the Milton Theatre, was built in 1873 by William Rutter Hindmarsh and used as a general store and residence.

The double brick home was constructed by Milton stonemason James Poole and over the years has been used as a shop, the town’s first telegraph office, a branch of the English, Scottish and Australian Bank, a tailor store and even the doctors surgery where two doctors worked before the new hospital was built.

It was purchased by Vivian and Teresa Thompson in 1929, who altered the smokehouse at the rear of the building and opened a bakery which operated on site until December 1975.

Following the closure of the bakery, the rear building in particular fell into disrepair and, when the Starkeys purchased it from the Thompsons in 1996, some thought they may have bitten off more than they could chew.

“The roof of the smoke house out the back was collapsing, the brick walls were moulding and deteriorating, and the floorboards and weatherboards in the rear passage were rotten,” Geoff said.

“Everything had been painted in layers of paint and some fireplaces and doorways to the rear smokehouse had been pulled out and closed off in 1929.”

But, having dreamt of owning and restoring the building since he first laid eyes on it while working in Milton in the 1970s, Geoff said he was determined “to do it right”.

“I didn’t want to do half a job, so everything has been done properly and in period style from the ground up,” he said.

“About 90 per cent of the building is original and the rest has been replaced with period items I have found at specialist suppliers and antique auctions or replicated by hand.”

Geoff and a team of more than 23 helpers and local tradespeople worked tirelessly on the property and he said, without the skills and passion of local craftspeople, the restoration would not have been possible.

“We have so many people with old skills in this town that have helped restore the cedar features, the hardwood flooring, the sash windows and to rebuild, by hand, the sandstone walls and timber pitched roof of the smoke house,” he added.

An amatuer historian and lover of antiques, Geoff, has restored many vintage cars and antiques and said this was his biggest project ever.

He said he was proud to have saved an historically significant building.

The only surviving son of the Thompson bakers, Graham Thompson, has given support to the restoration and said the building had been transformed from “a sow’s ear into a silk purse”.

The building was officially re-opened on Saturday, with tradespeople and dignitaries invited to view the finished project.

It features seven rooms, four with ornate fireplaces, that have been finished in period colours.

The complex is now fitted out with modern wiring, new plumbing and communication systems. and ready to be leased as professional offices in the future.