How a builder transformed a derelict inner west home into an unrecognisable terrace

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November 30, 2025 — 6.00am

Imagine the state a property has to in be for a buyer to describe it as “Jurassic Park”.

That was once 52 Juliett Street, Enmore – a blighted home, covered in graffiti and rampant foliage, before it came into the loving hands of builder Anthony Cavlovic.

52 Juliett Street was ramshackle from the street, but the interior was worse.

An architect recommended he bowl it over. “I said, ‘No, no, I can make this work’,” Cavlovic remembered.

Today, the property is a grand, double-storey terrace with heritage flair, worthy of one of the trendiest streets in the vibrant inner-west suburb. Cavlovic has listed it for sale, via an auction scheduled for December 6, on the books of Highland Inner West.

“I had the vision of the old beauty that was there and the potential of what I could recreate,” Cavlovic said of the auction day in October 2023, and bought the former eyesore for $1,725,000.

It is the most extreme before-and-after project Cavlovic, who owns construction company Amcav, has ever done.

Cavlovic steered the design choices.
“I like restoring old things back to great glory,” he said.

“When I bought this place, I rang my son up and said, ‘I’ve bought a house in Enmore’. He looked it up and said, ‘Oh, as soon as I saw it I knew that was you. There’d be only one idiot who’d buy that place’. And that was me.”

It was ramshackle from the street, but the interior was worse – a treasure trove of horrors. Even tradesmen were reluctant to enter, so Cavlovic faced the calamity himself.

“It looked like Jurassic Park, there were possums in there, a bus shelter bench, syringes – everything,” he said.

“The neighbour’s tree had grown through it, and the tree loppers were too scared to go in there due to insurance reasons. So I spent a week in there on my own, man versus nature, cutting it all out, to find what was there and what we could salvage.”

The threat of demolition previously hung over the property, but Cavlovic had the courage and expertise to take a different path. He has a passion for building vintage Hot Rod cars, and took the same approach with the house, reinstating Victorian period glamour and personality.

Cavlovic steered the design choices and said they came to him easily.

“I like restoring old things back to great glory,” he said, “and with that house, I had a vision there that I couldn’t even explain to some of the trades because I had it in my head.

“And once I have something in my head, I keep pushing.

The living zone now flows to a sunlit deck, terrace and swimming pool.

“Originally, the person that boarded it up had a DA and had the approval to knock the whole house down and start from scratch, but I chose not to. The sandstone rocks that were there, the old craftsmanship, was just so beautiful to see, and some of it we could keep.”

Cavlovic was able to retain the downstairs footprint, and extend up.

Cavlovic kept the home’s downstairs footprint, and extended up.

“What we ended up keeping was the two side walls, the front part of the house and the corridor, for that old heritage look,” he says.

Some of the brickwork was “wobbly” so he steadied the structure with steel. Once done, he could focus on adding a second floor, which includes a main bedroom with an en suite, walk-in robe and balcony, a central bathroom and three other bedrooms.

The second floor includes four bedrooms.

There was so much decay and debris inside that the original floor plan was almost obsolete, but Cavlovic said he could visualise the larger front rooms and pokey kitchen and dining at the back.

The kitchen features a gold-veined marble island kitchen with a suite of premium appliances, according to the listing.

One of those front rooms is now a second lounge with an elegant fireplace, and beyond, a kitchen, capped in gold-veined marble, with a butler’s pantry, and a living zone that flows to a sunlit deck, terrace and swimming pool.

One of those front rooms has an elegant fireplace.

Agent Bryan Mahlberg, who sold the terrace to Cavlovic around two years ago, said the turnaround is unlike anything he’s encountered.

“Never have I seen a property that was in such a state of rack and ruin, returned to market as a high-end, brand-new home before,” he said.

Mahlberg said astute buyers will appreciate the level of finish. “They will notice the quality, and the time and trouble that Anthony has put in – he has meticulously taken care of it.”

The listing agent who sold the terrace to Cavlovic said the turnaround is unlike anything he’s encountered.

Juliett Street is one of Enmore’s blue-chip addresses, and the listing is attracting an even split of local young professionals and prospective buyers from outside the suburb.

“The proportions of every space in the house exceed the average in the area,” he said. “On a functional basis, the flow is just amazing, and that’s what people are drawn to.”

Cavlovic said he expects a family will make it their own. “It’s a beautiful place to live.”