Locked up for 40 years Agents called to sell a Paddington terrace recently were greeted with an astonishing sight: a perfectly preserved time capsule of mid-century Sydney. Most of the house in Brown Street had been locked up for 39 years and accessed only for the occasional dusting of the furniture. And when she died, my uncle had no need to access the rest of the house which was simply too big for one person A sneak preview of the house, which is going to auction in July with expectations of more than $1.8 million, was a bit like visiting the Sydney Antique Centre - except far more interesting. In the corner of the formal lounge sits an old Astor television from the 1950s. A sly old fox sits among several other ornaments on the old Healing radiogram. Six tumblers sit around a brandy decanter on a silver tray on the dresser. The silver on the under side of the glasses is shiny new, the rest tarnished. The days of dinner parties here ended some time ago. At the top of the stairs hangs a picture of the Queen. "We came into the property thinking it was just a two-storey terrace like any other - a bit rundown," said Michael Marano of Oxford Residential. It wasn't until we opened the door to what is the formal lounge/dining room that we realised it's something special and it is definitely a walk back in time. The agents were called in by relatives of the most recent resident, who has moved to an aged-care home. Property records show Bertha Francis bought the terrace in 1960 for the princely sum of 2300 pounds. According to wishes expressed in Ms Francis's will - drawn up in 1968 - the property was bequeathed to her nephew in 1974. But he found the three-bedroom corner terrace too big and lived in the two back rooms - the kitchen and an adjoining room - which he accessed from Glenmore Road. "My great aunt Bertha lived pretty frugally," said barrister Garry Walsh, who is selling the home for his uncle. During the war and afterwards she had a tenant living upstairs. And when she died, my uncle had no need to access the rest of the house which was simply too big for one person. He kept up the maintenance because he was a student of history . . . half his library was real Australian history. In most properties, agents suggest de-cluttering and removing all trace of the past - but not in this case. Although the furniture isn't being sold with the house, it will stay for inspections. "It's been a property left in the family for many, many years," Mr Marano said. It has a lot of history and a lot of good history. There are going to be a lot of people who are curious to see how people lived in the 1960s . . . I'm sure we're going to find a very happy buyer for the property. And if the walls could talk, I'm sure there would be plenty that could be said about it.