Auckland's oldest surviving house - a five-bedroom colonial homestead in Parnell - is back on the market for sale, with a price tag of just under $5 million.
24 Ruskin Street passed in at auction this week, but the listing agent Ray White’s Ross Hawkins told OneRoof that the vendor – who lives in Australia – was motivated to sell.
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The renovated mansion, which is more than 170 years old, has already attracted interest from overseas buyers.
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Hawkins said that $4.95 million was a “very realistic price point for a property of this size and in this location”.
The house, which has a 2017 CV of $4.7 million and sits on a 1292sqm section, has been over years used as a police hostel, a kennel, and even a brothel.
In its earliest days, the property was referred to as the "city farm" because of the amount of land it covered.
The house has been sensitively renovated to retain many original features. Photo / Supplied
Hawkins, who is marketing the property with colleague Caleb Rufer, said that while the house had been upgraded and boasted a luxury finish, it still retained much of its original character.
“Many people have done horrible '70s add-ons to houses of this era which destroys the character of the home,” he said.
“The beauty of this home is that it looks like it could still step out of the history books and into 2021.”
The house, seen in the centre of the picture, in the 1850s. Photo / Supplied
Attending the auction this week was the grandson of one of the past owners of the house.
Gary Stanborough, 77, said his grandfather had first moved into the house in 1928 as a tenant before buying it in 1942.
The family had sold the house after he passed away in 1975.
Stanborough said it was touching to see the house now, and was surprised to see what had changed and what had stayed the same.
Aucklander Gary Stanborough, 77, whose granfather owned the house from 1942 to 1975. Photo / Daria Kuprienko
What was now the dining room used to be the main bedroom, and although there were plenty of luxury touches throughout the house, Stanborough said a lot of original features had remained intact.
“It was a huge property all the way to Windsor Street, with gardens and trees, and a honey house,” Stanborough said.
