One of Raglan’s original resident surfers who built some of the first skateboard decks for the famous Santa Cruz brand is selling his handcrafted Balinese home overlooking world-class surf breaks.
The iconic four-storey home overlooking Whale Bay in Raglan was built by American woodworker Dennis Conquest almost 40 years ago after he visited the town.
The now 80-year-old craftsman, who has built everything from trinkets to entire houses, was friends with the founders of the now famous Santa Cruz skate brand when living in the US and even made some of their very first skateboard decks for them from solid wood before immigrating to New Zealand.
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When Conquest first arrived in Raglan in the late 1960s, the town, he said, was empty. There were only two surfers living in the town and others travelled from Hamilton and further afield to catch the country’s best waves, he said.
“It was just retirement people. There weren’t any surfers yet, they were all people that had retired and wanted to go fishing.”
Conquest soon became friends with some locals and couldn’t believe his luck when he was given the chance to rent a property in front of the best surf spot.
He stayed there for more than a decade before buying the nearby 2024sqm section at 37 Whaanga Road.
The house exterior was built from macrocarpa, while the kauri interior was repurposed from St Paul's Cathedral in Auckland. Photo / Supplied
“I bought a piece of property in the early days when it was still a dirt road, and they did call us the Whale Bay losers because nobody wanted to live out here yet.”
The 27 macrocarpa trees were removed from the subdivided farmland and used to build the exterior of the home.
“I’m a woodworker so I do anything in wood from cabinets to houses and I built every part of the house. The furniture inside the house and the cabinets and the kauri out of the rafters from St Paul’s Cathedral in Auckland.”
Conquest took 15 years to build his masterpiece with the cash-strapped family first living on the section in a borrowed caravan before moving into what is now his workshop while the main home was constructed.
School children would help him carry timber up what was then a steep dirt track in return for using the first half pipe in the area, which he had built on his property.
Conquest built the entire house and everything in it himself. Photo / Supplied
His unique property still stands in an elevated spot just a five-minute walk down to Whale Bay with Conquest admitting he now enjoys the panoramic views rather than being knocked around by the surf.
“The location itself is really unique because no one can build out in front of you. There are trees out in front of you and there’s a house out there, but you don’t see it. Right now, it’s just pohutukawa trees and from there on it’s all bush looking out from Port Waikato and the ocean and out to the surf.”
A conservatory is perched on the top floor of the home; two bedrooms, a bathroom and a study on the third floor; the main living areas, kitchen, bathroom and another bedroom on the second floor; and a self-contained studio on the ground floor.
A large workshop sits out the front of the home alongside the orchard. Conquest has used it to create his woodworking masterpieces, he said it also had plenty of potential to be used as a yoga studio, gym or artist’s studio.
The massive shed at the front of the home has potential to be an artist or yoga studio, gym or workshop. Photo / Supplied
Conquest said he would miss the impressive sea views, but was struggling with the steep location and considered moving to Gisborne to be closer to family.
“All day long I just look at the beautiful ocean,” he said. “I’m only moving because I can’t walk, hardly.”
Bayleys listing agent Mark Frost said over the last few years Whale Bay had become an exclusive place of residence for surfers with properties fetching anywhere between $2 million and $4m.
“It’s a very iconic home built by one of Whale Bay’s earliest settlers ... it’s one of the biggest residential properties in Whale Bay,” he said. “The main attribute is the views of the surf and being able to walk down to the surf break.”
The property is priced by negotiation and while Frost would not be drawn on price, he said it would be north of its $1.44m RV.
In October, a beachfront bach in Whale Bay with direct access to the surf sold for more than $3m. The two-bedroom, two-bathroom property on Wainui Road attracted a lot of interest from keen Kiwi surfers living overseas before being bought by a Waikato farming family as their holiday home.
- 37 Whaanga Road, in Raglan, Waikato, is for sale by way of price by negotiation
