A charming three-bedroom villa in Northland is up for grabs, but there’s a twist. The property comes with a derelict public swimming pool and a two-bedroom rental unit.
20-22 Gordon Street, in Dargaville, Kaipara, has been pitched as a development opportunity, offering buyers a 2451sqm on a corner site zoned residential.
Both properties are owned by local investor Raymond Paxton.
Paxton told OneRoof he only bought the pool because they wanted the villa and unit next door and the properties were being sold together.
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“When it came on the market, everybody was interested in the house and the flat, but not the swimming pool. But I must have been grinning and the owner asked me if I was interested.”
Raymond was, and he struck a slightly unusual deal. He really wanted to buy a small parcel of land at the front of his Victoria Street restaurant, Jo’s Home Cookery, and convinced the council to include it in the deal to buy the 33m pool, which closed in 1998 after 90 years in service.
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The purchase has been a local talking point over the past decade. Whenever Paxton parks his mobility scooter outside the pool and opens the gates, locals wander in to have a natter. “I can never be at the pool by myself. Somebody always comes in if I open up the big gates,” he told OneRoof.
The conversation usually turns to the pool and what it could be used for. One person urged Paxton to turn it into a farm for eels and leeches. Another suggested he build on top of the pool and using the empty space as underground parking complete with turntable.
“At first, I thought I’d flick the pool on,” Paxton said, but he’s now decided it’s best to leave the pool’s future to a new owner. “I’ve turned 83 and I’m getting to the stage where I’ve been told I’m too old to take on new ventures.”
The owner wanted the villa but had to take on the swimming pool next door. Photo / Supplied
Bayleys agents Nellwyn Lulich and Lisa Pocklington, who are marketing the property, remember swimming at the pool.
“All of the local feeder schools used that swimming pool,” said Lulich. “I remember when I was at Dargaville High School we had all of our competitions there.”
Lulich said the property was one of the most unusual listings she’d come across. “It’s not every day that you get asked to list the old town swimming pool,” she said.
The villa and flat at 20 Gordon Street have five bedrooms and two bathrooms between them. The pool at 22 Gordon Street, sits on a 1164sqm corner section and has the main office and ablutions block, lifeguard tower, two pools, and a pumphouse.
Whoever buys the property could follow the lead of Patchwork Architecture, which turned a former public swimming pool in Whanganui into an award-winning home.
Gonville Pool House won a 2024 Te Kāhui Whaihanga New Zealand Institute of Architects award. The architect’s brief was to turn the main pool into a sunken orchard and build a family home.
- 20-22 Gordon Street, in Dargaville, Northland, is for sale by negotiation
