- Artist Colin Hope’s Casa Esperanza in Raumati Beach is for sale “as is, where is”.
- The unique home, inspired by the works of Antoni Gaudi, is also used for art exhibitions.
- The property is meant to be a “hybrid between sculpture and folly”.
Artist Colin Hope doesn’t mind if the person who buys his “out-there” dream home takes a wrecking ball to it – provided it is for a valid artistic reason.
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Hope built Casa Esperanza, at 344 Rosetta Road, in Raumati Beach, Kāpiti Coast, as a folly back in the 1990s, collaborating with award-winning Kiwi architect Dave Launder.
He told OneRoof he was inspired by famed Spanish architects Antoni Gaudi and Josep M. Jujol and wanted to create a “live-in” piece of art.
He’d like the next owner to approach the house with the same spirit that led to its creation. “Even if the new owner wants to pull it down – that’s OK – so long as it’s for a valid artistic reason,” he said.
The house is a “hybrid between sculpture and folly”, according to the OneRoof listing. Photo / Supplied
Hope built the unusual-looking house in the mid-1990s, inspired by the works of Antoni Gaudi and Josep M. Jujol. Photo / Supplied
The standout property comprises a wooden-framed main home and a separate two-level studio/gallery with a bathroom and a kitchenette.
Tommy’s agent Jill Lampitt describes the house in the OneRoof listing as a “hybrid between sculpture and folly but intended as a fully functional residence with free-flowing internal spaces and interesting shapes and light distribution drawing inspiration from Spanish architecture”.
Hope worked for 30 years in law, before studying for a master’s degree in public art from Glasgow School of Art. “Since then I have been a practicing artist for over 35 years, exhibiting and making art in NZ, UK and Europe and held my art exhibitions in the casa annually,” he wrote in a document detailing the history of the house.
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People would queue at the front door of the property to get in. “The art exhibitions in the casa were full on, with wonderful energy,” he said.
Hope was inspired by sculpture to build the home, but questioned the classification that said sculpture could not be a residence. “The question I asked was could I create and build something that was a hybrid of both sculpture, but also a fully functional residence,” he said.
The home was designed with no internal conventional square or rectangular walls. “Just spaces and interesting shapes,” Hope said.
Hope has used the house for many of his art exhibitions. Photo / Supplied
The property is currently uninhabitable. Photo / Supplied
The design included open voids to display and hang paintings and sculptures. The stairwells featured mosaic tiling in keeping with the Gaudi theme and encompass the names of Hope’s children and pet dog Tui. His artist friends helped create and embellish the spaces.
The windows are also unconventional: they sit at different heights and are all different shapes and sizes – square, rectangular, circular, and triangular.
Many of the aspects of the home were inspired by the architectural works of Gaudi and Jujol, which Hope describes as “biomorphic, pushing the boundaries between conventional residences and sculptural spaces. I kept some New Zealand twists, for example volcanic rocks and coat hooks”.
The design proved a challenge for builder Scott Barker, Hope said. The exterior is a black plaster mix, applied over moulded ply and timber framing with “Butenoyl” roofing in black to blend in.
The internal walls are not painted, just coated and polished in a plaster, to reflect Spanish-style walls. “You could even draw or write on the inside walls and wipe the drawing marks off,” Hope said. “I did and we created ... works on paper, metal, concrete, and clay.”
The five-bedroom, three-bathroom 170sqm home on 389sqm of land is zoned commercial and residential, and the listing notes that there are opportunities to renovate and repair the site or redevelop it.
The Rosetta Road property is close to Raumati Beach and sits behind the much-loved Raumati fish and chip shop, which was shortlisted for national awards in 2008 and 2012.
It is being sold in “as is, where is” condition, and has a CV of $900,000. According to the listing, it is currently in a non-habitable condition.
- 344 Rosetta Road, in Raumati Beach, Kapiti Coast, is for sale, tender closing April 1
