The iconic Auckland house that star architect Ron Sang built for himself is up for grabs again.
The four-bedroom property at 58 Hapua Street in Remuera was scooped up in 2021 for $4 million by a couple based in the Coromandel.
However, they haven’t been able to use it much since taking possession and are now selling up, telling OneRoof they are keen to hand Sang’s striking creation to a new generation of architecture fans.
Sang, who died in June 2021, built the house for his family in 1973, and it features his signature glass boxes cantilevered into the trees – a move he’d made famous in his iconic Brake House.
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Landscape architect Ted Smythe, a frequent Sang collaborator, helped create the Japanese-style gardens around the mosaic swimming pool.
The house was bought by David and Yaning in 2021 several months after Sang died, aged 82.
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“My wife found the property and I felt it was a little outside our price range,” David told OneRoof.
“But she kept on bringing it up so we thought we should at least go have a look at the house. I can remember walking up the steps to the house and I thought, ‘I’m going on a journey’.
“And sure enough, it was an architectural journey. I’m passionate about architecture and I’ve designed a couple of properties myself.”
David, who asked for his surname to remain private, said he had always regretted missing out at an auction for another famous architect’s house on the same street, so the couple went all in for Sang’s home.
Ron Sang's signature touches include the cedar and concrete facade and landscaping by collaborator Ted Smythe. Photo / Supplied
The swimming pool was added in the 1980s but has recently been refurbished and has a new filtration system. Photo / Supplied
The upper part of the street is well-known in architectural circles for its collection of homes by some of the country’s biggest names from the late 1960s and 70s. As well as Sang’s, there are homes by Claude Megson.
They bought the house with the intention of shifting to Auckland when their daughter, now aged 11, started high school. They had intended to rent the house out on Airbnb in the meantime, but they soon realised the house was not suitable to leave unoccupied.
“It’s close to the city, but you’re in a little bit of native bush. It doesn’t feel right having a house that’s empty,” he said.
David has enjoyed filling the house with mid-century furniture and art, including pieces by his mother, and updating the garage doors and a pool filtration system. The major restoration work to the 1970s house, to which Sang added the cantilevered glass box and the swimming pool in the 1980s, was done by the previous owners.
Big fans of Sang’s work, the previous owners had bought the house in 2015, for just over $1.8m, just three days after seeing it. They told OneRoof in 2021 that the neglected home had a “laundry list” of urgent repair work, which included new steel beams designed by Sang’s son Darryl to support the cantilevered glass living area.
The original sunken living room has a fireplace. Photo / Supplied
The kitchen in the centre of the house. Photo / Supplied
They installed smart technology throughout the house, restored the colour scheme with the help of original plans Sang provided, and updated the bathrooms and interiors.
They said their biggest reward was a thank you from Sang before he died. The architect, who wrote them a personal message on one of his art books, told them: “You’ve done an amazing job.”
“It was a seal of approval. It makes me feel we did the house justice,” they told OneRoof in 2021.
David said he would miss the house a lot. “It’s been a journey, owning it. I’ve learned a lot at various levels. My wife is a poet and she wrote a poem about being in the house,” he said.
“It’s a tight neighbourhood, everyone knows each other. I will really miss that.”
Architect Ron Sang, who died in 2021, was a keen collector of art. Photo / Brett Phibbs
Ray White listing agents Steve and Nila Koerber, who estimate they have sold three to five other architectural houses in the street over their real estate career, said that Hapua Street was a special enclave for mid-century architecture lovers.
“It’s a work of art, you can’t value that,” said Nila, pointing to the classic Sang touches of the 5.5 metre cedar door with Guy Ngan-designed handles and the house number etched into the concrete facade.
“The most wonderful thing is the sense of calm, it just washes over you. But it’s a good big family house too, there’s a pool and four bedrooms, and we know what that would cost to recreate in today’s building costs,” added Steve.
- 58 Hapua Street, Remuera has a set date of sale of November 27
