A South Auckland villa which has been in the same family for over 100 years is being sold by tender and will probably be torn down.
The four-bedroom house at 20 Luke Street, Otahuhu has been owned by the Good family since early the last century, with father Raymond Good only moving out last year, aged 93. It is one of the few original villas left in the area, and was lived in by three generations over the years.
The family home first appears in records as the home address of grandfather Martin Good when he served in WWI, his grandson and namesake Martin Good told OneRoof.
“We can’t see if Grandad built the house himself, but it was his address in 1916 when he went to war. We don’t know what he paid for it, but back then it was in a street of cookie cutter villas,” Martin said. Unfortunately family lore does not record how much Good Snr paid for the solid kauri home, which they believe he had built for himself and wife Angelina.
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The family stories say the 1012sqm site was carved off a neighbouring farm, back in the days when the town of Otahuhu was being developed for heavy industry as it was on the railway line, and handy to roads and ports.
“Otahuhu was a busy working man’s town. Grandad was a coach builder with the railways which gave him his building skills, he was a fireman, a bus driver, he used to work on the car ferries [to the North Shore] before they built the harbour bridge," Martin said. “He was a proud working man."
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The property, which is being marketed by Barfoot & Thompson agents Calvin Roche and Anuj Bisht, is being pitched as a land banking, investment or development opportunity, in a rapidly changing neighbourhood that now has zoning for suburban density.
“Developers, builders and home visionaries with aspirational dreams and energy can take this property to the next level. You could quickly and easily turn this villa into a masterpiece, while you build few new homes to the rear or redevelop the entire site to maximise the full potential,” the agents say in their advertising.
Bisht said he expected an experienced developer would put four or five modern family homes on the site, within walking distance of the shops and transport. Similar affordable homes for first-home buyers are selling for $900,000 to $1 million in the suburb.
But for Martin, the house is full of memories of a long-gone way of life in the working class suburb. His father Raymond grew up in the house, moving back with wife Beverley in 1953 to raise their brood of six kids there. Beverly died some time ago, but Raymond only moved out last year to go into a care home.
The mother of the second generation, who lived in the house since 1973, was fond of colourful wallpapers. Photo / supplied
The living room sports more vintage wallpapers and carpet. Photo / supplied
“Mum was a keen sewer and crafter, she loved colour. The place is still very colourful with her wallpapers – one of the granddaughters wants to save the blue paper, she loves it,” Martin said.
When he was growing up, Martin said the children would all roam the streets, playing on the horses in the pony field next door (now Otahuhu Intermediate school). The kids went to the local convent school, then on to South Auckland Catholic schools De La Salle and McCauley. He remembers the busy family had chickens and a vege garden out the back, while his mother grew flowers for the local market in a greenhouse that is no longer on the property.
As the family grew, his parents, with the help of Grandpa Martin, added on an extension in the 1960s or 1970s for two more bedrooms. But other than adding a shower in the one bathroom, replacing the original coal range in the dining room with a gas fire, and updating kitchen cabinets and décor, the house is a time capsule of a bygone age. There’s still a toilet and wash house on the back porch.
Martin, however, doesn’t remember the house being a tight squeeze for a family of eight, with the wide old hallway providing an excellent sports strip for the five boys and one girl.
Old Otahuhu was still a working town in his childhood, with two picture theatres (the Orpheus and the Queens Gaiety) and two pubs (the Star and the Criterion), with the kids heading there or Mangere for Saturday afternoon pictures.
“The house was well known because Dad was a JP so he’d get calls at all hours from the police if they wanted a warrant. He was also a marriage celebrant, sometimes he’d be in his shorts and jandals and Mum would be called out to be a witness.
The backyard had chickens, a vege garden and a glasshouse for growing flowers for the local market. Photo / supplied
“Dad was determined to stay here until he needed to go into care. I had a whole lot of questions I needed to ask him about the house and life here growing up, but regretfully it’s too late now,” Martin says.
The tender for the property closes March 8 and Bisht says there have already been a lot of enquiries. While he couldn’t comment on the likely price of the property, which has a CV of $1.225m, he says land in the area is typically going for less than CV.
“They could definitely be close to a millionaire,” he agreed, a fitting reward for the proud working man’s family.
A similar colourful old three-bedroom villa at 57 Cardwell Street, in Onehunga, is also being sold, with the deceased estate bequeathing proceeds from the sale of this and three other properties to the Salvation Army, St Vincent de Paul and Fred Hollows Foundation.
The property, which goes to auction on February 23, has a CV of $1.575m, most of which is for the land.
- 20 Luke Street, Otahuhu, Auckland, is for sale by way of tender, closing March 8
