The former Remuera home of Auckland’s longest-serving mayor, Sir Dove-Myer Robinson, is on the market after a four-year refurbishment by its current owners.
The five-bedroom art deco-style house, which has an RV of $8.2 million is being marketed for sale by tender, closing September 29, by Barfoot & Thompson agents Leila and David MacDonald.
The handsome Horace Massey-designed house on 47 Victoria Avenue in Remuera, has stood on its 1265sqm site on the corner of Waiata Road since 1936.
According to OneRoof data, 47 Victoria Avenue last changed hands in 2007 for $4.35m; it was listed for sale in August 2018 and again in April this year.
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“It’s a truly incredible home,” Leila MacDonald says. “These owners have done an amazing job with everything new, including the roof. It’s 100% in the best location for schools and shopping, and is really private too, with all-day sun.”
The current owners were aware of the home’s history when they bought it.
“My husband and I had always been aware of the property, and we knew that it was a Horace Lovell Massey design,” the owner says.
47 Victoria Avenue in Remuera, Auckland, has sat on a giant 1265sqm site on the corner with Waiata Road since 1936. Photo / Supplied
“His homes tended to be very arts and crafts in style, so this one really stands out with its strong art deco features. It really has the wow factor, and the gorgeous painted panelling and the high ceilings make it feel like an elegant Parisian apartment.”
The four-year renovation to update the house included adding a Morgan Cronin-designed kitchen and butlers pantry, and repainting, indoors and out. There is a covered spa, outdoor fireplace and a heated pool.
The garden was rejuvenated by celebrated landscaper Suzanne Turley, featuring box hedges, topiary and plenty of lush green lawn.
Sir Dove-Myer Robinson, with TV presenter Alan Whicker in 1973, would walk shirtless from his Remuera home to his mayoral office. Photo / NZ Herald
The property includes a one-bedroom annex off the internal garage. The enormous master suite on the second level enjoys what the owner calls the very best views in Auckland.
“We can see Rangitoto and the city, which looks wonderful at night,” the owner told OneRoof of the vistas that stretch to Waiheke Island and, on a clear day, the Coromandel Peninsula.
The open-plan dining and family living zone opens to a deck with a loggia overhead of the spa, pool and outdoor fireplace. Photo / Supplied
The owners’ children have now left home, so they are selling to spend more time at their South Island property.
Sir Dove-Meyer Robinson, known always as Robbie, was knighted in 1970 for his services to the city where he was elected mayor six times. He famously would walk to work from the Remuera house to his city office shirtless, an early master of the media photo-call.
Back then, he may not have succeeded in his lobbying for a rapid rail system, but he did ensure that Auckland’s sparkling Waitemata Harbour did not turn into a sewage dumping ground. He was into organic gardening and composting city waste decades before the rest of the world.
Recent sales on Victoria Avenue show an appetite for high-end property in Remuera’s most exclusive street. In December last year a mansion that once belonged to Team New Zealand chief Grant Dalton was sold by rich-lister property developer Culum Manson for $19.75m after more than a year on the market.
It had been listed with an asking price of $22.5m after the five-bedroom house had undergone a top-to-toe makeover since it was bought by Manson in 2018 for $16.55m.
The five-bedroom, three-bathroom home has gorgeous painted panelling and high ceilings. Photo / Supplied
The deal was brokered by luxury real estate agent Michael Boulgaris, who also sold two other Victoria Avenue properties this year for eight-figure sums: a near-new five-bedroom home that fetched $11m in February this year, and the former convent estate that sold for $12.38m in July reaping the vendor a $1.68m profit in 16 months.
Last month, top architect Noel Lane sold his modernised arts and crafts house on the street for more than $10m. New Zealand Sotheby’s International Realty agent Gavin Pollard, who brokered the deal with Lesley McLellan, said the five-bedroom house was bought by a returning expat.
The house at 47 Victoria Avenue joins a handful of elite properties on the market in the double Grammar zone suburb.
The most expensive, a 1000sqm five-bedroom home and guest house, known as Cambridge Manor which sits on a 3234sqm site at 120 Victoria Avenue, has been on the market since March this year.
A renovated Victorian mansion on Victoria Avenue sold in December last year for $19.55m, the year's top price in the street. Photo / Supplied
At the time the property was first listed, Bayleys’ Gary Wallace, who is marketing the property with wife Vicki, told OneRoof he was expecting interest in the property, which has a CV of $17.25m, to fetch “well in excess of $20m”.
It last changed hands 18 years ago for $5.2m but has since undergone almost $8m worth of renovations the owner, financier Martyn Reesby, told OneRoof.
120 Victoria Avenue has been on the market since March, and is looking for $20m. Photo / Supplied
Boulgaris is marketing another art deco mansion in the suburb, a four-bedroom home on 9994sqm at 171 Remuera Road. The property, which has a CV of $6.1m, is for sale by tender closing September 8.
A smaller house designed by Horace Massey, this one in his better-known arts and crafts-style, is for sale at 45 Upland Road. The four-bedroom house on a 733sqm site, which has a CV of $4.9m, is listed for sale by negotiation by Ray White agents Nicholas Dallyn and Ross Tierney.
- additional reporting Louise Richardson
- 47 Victoria Avenue is for sale by tender, closing September 29
