But more than being a colourful reminder of the sepia age when the city was built, Englefield is testament to Maitland’s importance as a colonial centre.

It was built in 1937.

The NSW Heritage Office of the Department of Planning has recognised the building’s importance to NSW’s pioneering history, and this week it was added to the State Heritage Register.

Owner Peter Gibbs expected notification to arrive by mail on Thursday.

Listing marked the completion of a 20-year restoration of the Newcastle Road, East Maitland, property.

With its preservation assured, Mr Gibbs and his wife, Jacqui Kirkby, will now move on.

Englefield was a labour of love and a family home for the couple and their three sons.

They moved in 1986, about the same time the Maitland bypass was built and took away the coal trucks that rumbled past the front door.

Mr Gibbs’ profession was period furniture reproductions, and he was involved with the National Trust as the deputy chairman of the now defunct Hunter Region branch and chairman of Historic Buildings.

But the inspiration to own a colonial home came from seeing Aberglasslyn House in the 1970s.

When he bought it, Englefield was in ruin.

Its grand history as the estate of a wealthy colonial businessman, and later popular hotel, disintegrated with its conversion to flats.

Mr Gibbs saw its potential.

The original features of the colonial Georgian house remained intact: from the old kitchen and bread oven to “all the details from the attic down: it’s all here and has survived,” he said.

The building’s inclusion on the State register will ensure his life’s work remains for generations.

“It was 22 years of work to preserve a building that was condemned when I got here,” he said.

“The thing about Maitland is that it was the second most important town in colonial NSW, which a lot of people don’t know.

“The retention and renovation of colonial houses in Maitland is hugely important.

“They exist here in a form that people can see.”

The project was daunting, and Mr Gibbs admitted to being frustrated by it at times.

But: “I wouldn’t have liked to have left it unfinished.”

His starting point was at the top.

“You have to look at the architectural shell of the building,” he said.

“You’ve got to fix the roof straight away, because nothing does more damage to an old building than water.

“Then you’ve got to prioritise areas, particularly if you’re going to live there.

“We put up with a third world bathroom for a lot of years, which was a mistake.

“You’ve got to prioritise areas, do the next important thing first and do it room by room.”

But Mr Gibbs’ main piece of advice to other heritage renovators was to start outside.

He cultivated pre-1850s varieties of plants at the start of the renovation, and the sprawling grandeur of the colonial garden, with only the gentle hum of the bustling New England Highway in the background had the property included in the Open Garden Scheme twice.

“Because of the totality of these houses, start with the garden,” he said.

“It gives you the immediate pleasure of a garden and, when the project’s finished, you have a mature garden.”

Mr Gibbs did the building work - two cedar trees were used to replace joinery and internal doors - and Ms Kirkby teamed up with Newcastle historian Elizabeth Guilford to trace the building’s history.

It began with convict John Smith, who built the house on one of the 11 early land grants from Governor Macquarie for a site at Wallis Creek.

It became one of Maitland’s earliest pubs, known as the Black Horse Inn and operated by Henry Adams.

It was a hotel until 1878, when Adams’ sons reconverted it to a private residence and it was sold.

They used the name Englefield for the first time, presumably as a marketing tool.

Farmer John Hickling bought the property in 1910 and the family lived there until 1968, after which it fell into disrepair.

The search is now on for the proprietor of the next phase of the site, with the property listed with PRD Nationwide for $849,000.

Mr Gibbs said the heritage-listing had benefits for the new owner in the form of money for the building’s maintenance.

It also had benefits for the city.

“We have documented everything over the years: we have a huge photographic base, fabric and wallpaper samples,” he said.

“We’ve got the original title when John Smith transferred the property to Adams.

“Even the original paint colours were found through scrapings.

“That’s the way history is. If you don’t document it, we will lose what these houses looked like.”