The four-bedroom Victorian red brick house on Armstrong Street North was built in 1867 by foundry owner John White. 

Bidding started at $600,000, and moved quickly up to $700,000 before creeping up by one-, two- and three-thousand dollar bids to the final price. 

The sun, central location and history of the house brought a strong crowd of about 60 people to one of the several houses going under the hammer at midday on Saturday. 

Realtor Jim Bambridge from PRD Jens Gaunt was pleased with the sale, which came after two of the three bidders tussled for it after the $700,000 mark. 

"Good result, great crowd, for a central brick Victorian (which is) pretty hard to find, and obviously there was good spirited bidding which shows auctions work in Ballarat," he said. 

He highlighted the house's proximity to the station and the CBD, the options available on a 861 square metre block and historical features of the house to the crowd before the auction. 

Auctioneer Chris Leonard first took a final offer of $700,000 to the vendor, but came back for further bids as it was below the reserve. 

The buyer's first $2000 bid was rejected by Mr Leonard for being too small, but once he had established the reserve had not been met, he was happy take bids smaller than $5000.