When architect Les Struthers bought and restored his home in Allora, he chose it on its architectural merits but got a whole lot more.

The house incorporated the local bank, and in 1905 was home to bank manager Travers Goff, whose daughter Helen would go on to create one of the most beloved children's characters - Mary Poppins. "She changed her name later to PL Travers," Struthers says, "as she was devoted to her father."

"It is a magical place," Struthers says of his home. "It's actually a very quiet house with immensely high ceilings. You can understand the relationship between Travis Goff and his daughter. He died in the house, but there's certainly no ill feeling in the house."

The release of the film Saving Mr Banks has renewed interest in the Mary Poppins story, and Struthers says he got to play a part in the film's production.

"The producer and director came and visited, and they loved the house, but they decided to film scenes in California for logistical reasons. But they asked me to liaise on it. I redrew the house plans for the set designers in Hollywood and over the course of a year we liaised with photographs and they rebuilt it over there."

"The house had been falling apart before we bought it," Struthers says, "but it was marvellous. We had found a couple of newspaper clippings about the Mary Poppins connection, but since the time we renovated the place we'd done some research and found more and more about it."

"There is a maid's room in the house next to the kitchen, and there is an interesting story there that the housekeeper used to arrive with an umbrella with a parrot's head carved on it." Just like a certain character would years later.

Struthers hopes the Allora link is celebrated as much as it is in the birthplace of Helen Goff. "Helen was born in Maryborough, but the story of Mary Poppins is in Allora."

Travers Goff is buried in the Allora cemetery. "I took the movie producers up to the gravesite, and at first we couldn't even find it. It was weathered, some of the lettering had disappeared and the gravestone had sunk into the ground. Since then we've had a couple of functions and restored the gravesite."

Struthers says he was impressed that Colin Farrell, who played Travers in the new film, donated "a considerable" sum to help restore the gravesite.

Les says his home is a "place that needs people. It'd be awful for it to be sitting there degrading."

He and his wife Lorraine have welcomed many people for tours, and there's always interesting dinner conversation.

"I love the architecture of it," Struthers says, "I could talk about it for hours!" But talk of the home often turns to its famous residents, and the magical characters that came to life in books and on film.

Speaking of the film, which opens in Australia on January 9, Struthers gives it "a top rating. They get to the heart of the matter, where Walt Disney says the whole story of Mary Poppins is about Travers' father."

But for this architect, the magical part of the story is the house itself.

"Even though it hadn't been looked after for many years when we bought it, everything in the house worked. The restoration was quite easy, and that was the magical part of it," Struthers says.