Street artist transforms derelict house in Melbourne into gleaming gold spectacle

All that glitters is not gold. Sometimes, it is just metallic spray paint.

The Melbourne street artist who turned a bombed out Toyota Camry into a famous art installation in October appears to have struck again.

This time, the artist gave their golden touch to a derelict house in the northern suburbs.

Continuing the theme of turning urban ruin into a gleaming spectacle, an entire weatherboard house on Greensborough Road in Macleod has been spray painted. Everything from the chimney to the front steps appears gilded.

It’s believed, based on several Instagram posts, the artist may be Ling ID, who is part of the SDM crew.

The house is on a prominent corner near Winsor Reserve and has been home to squatters, with graffiti, mattresses and other dumped furniture inside.

It has remained vacant for years, despite being sold for $1.2million in April last year. Back then, the house was white, with a green roof.

There is a planning application currently before Banyule City Council to turn the almost 1180 square metre block into a childcare centre.

In the meantime, it has become something of a tourist attraction since its makeover, with visitors stopping to take photos of the unusual paint job.

Owner of the Comfort Inn across the road, Gary Gordon, said that anything was better than the decaying state the house had been in for more than two years.

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“Look, it needs to be improved from what it is,” he said.

“Whether it’s a childcare centre, gold house or anything else, except another motel.”

In October, the same mysterious artist is believed to have completely covered a car dumped near the intersection of McKean and Michael streets in North Fitzroy with gold paint.

It became something of a local landmark. However, like other many landmarks, that just made it a target for graffiti taggers.

The artist known as Ling ID is a mural, graffiti and street artist. And, it appears he has previously turned his golden touch to an old freight train.

The story was originally published by The Age.