A cliff-top estate that’s hosted a who’s who of New Zealand yachting is on the market for sale the first time since the 1980s.
The 5263sqm property on 173 Beach Road, Castor Bay, is one of the largest waterfront sites left on Auckland’s North Shore and has a 2021 CV of $12.23 million.
Bayleys agent Victoria Bidwell, who is marketing the property with a tender closing December 6, said it was hard to find anything bigger on the urban coastline.
While she could not be drawn on what the property might sell for, she said that the CV “is a line in the sand”.
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“It’s an exceptional property, it really is a generational property to keep ... this may never present itself again.
“There are so many different options to build a family compound like the ones on Clifton Road [Takapuna], or add a tennis court. There’s already a pool, the beautiful bush and lawns, and that view, but you can still walk the kids to school.
“It’s completely private, a country lifestyle but you’re so close to everything.
“Castor Bay has some very expensive estates, there is value in such a huge piece of land,” Bidwell said.
The house was designed to showcase the art collection, with acoustics for musical events. Photo / Supplied
There is a swimming pool, with plenty more room to add a tennis court. Photo / Supplied
OneRoof data shows that such big estates rarely come to market on the North Shore. The last big sale in the area was three years ago, when a 2665sqm site with a five-bedroom resort-style estate on nearby Red Bluff Rise, Campbells Bay, sold for $9.25m.
In July last year, a trio of properties on Clifton Road, above Takapuna beach, sold for $18.76m. The properties, in three separate titles with the older homes dating from the 1920s to the 1970s, sat on a combined 4300sqm.
The waterfront record for the area is still the $28.888m paid for a house on a waterfront 4396sqm site on O'Neill's Avenue, Takapuna, over five years ago.
Further north, an empty 3801sqm site on Browns Bay Road, Murrays Bay, billed as a development site, fetched $5.5m in August last year and is now back on the market.
Bidwell said the 410sqm house in Castor Bay was solid brick and concrete and had a European elegance, with high ceilings and great acoustics for the musical family who built it.
The house also had America's Cup connections.
“Dad was a keen sailor, so the centrepiece had to be the sea. Sailing has always been a huge part of our lives. We’d watch the America’s Cup from the lawn, and if we weren’t watching racing, we were out on the water ourselves,” the son said.
The family was very involved in Auckland’s yachting scene, hosting many parties and events over the years.
“We used to run a guest book and it’s amazing to read through it now and see the ‘who’s who’ of Auckland and the local and international yachting scenes immortalised on the pages,” the son said.
The family were keen sailors and hosted many America's Cup events from their prime spot overlooking the Hauraki Gulf. Photo / Supplied
In her listing Bidwell suggests: “You may choose to update this home or commission your own masterpiece, with such a large site you are only limited by your imagination.”
The son, who is now selling the estate of his late parents, earlier told OneRoof that his family emigrated from Hanover, Germany in the early 1980s. Once on the North Shore, his engineer father built their family estate atop the Castor Bay clifftops.
Two houses on two titles were demolished to make way for the sprawling 410sqm residence. A long curving driveway welcomes visitors to a vast, largely single-level home that enjoys sweeping, uninterrupted views out across the Hauraki Gulf.
Art and music have played a major role in the home’s history too, as the father was a composer and musician.
“Mum and dad collected a lot of art too, and we used to have a magnificent art collection displayed throughout the house. Visiting artists also used the house to display their own work,” the son said.
“Dad wanted the acoustics in the main living area to be just right for playing music. We had a grand piano in there and would hold concerts that visitors would come along to – it was just magic.”
The two children enjoyed going on adventures, building huts and playing in the stream that runs through the back garden.
“We hope that whoever lives here next will be able to create equally wonderful memories,” said the family representative.
“There is only a small handful of waterfront sites over 4000sqm left on the North Shore so once this property sells there’s unlikely to be a similar opportunity,” added Bidwell
“We’ve had a lot of interest already, a combination of locals and people from the city, I’ve shown a lot of people through. And expats coming home, who realise this may never present itself again.”
-additional reporting Erin Reilly
