- First-home buyers pick up a 1960s house in Crofton Downs for around $900,000.
- The couple plan to retain the house’s original charm while slowly renovating it.
- The house, a deceased estate, belonged to Phyllis and David Oliver, known for its eclectic decor.
First-home buyers have snapped up what might be Wellington’s grooviest do-up for around $900,000.
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Listing agent Anita Corlett, of Lowe & Co, told OneRoof that the couple “absolutely loved” the 1960s-era house on Churchill Drive, in Crofton Downs, and planned to keep much of its original charm and quirk.
She said the couple were from overseas but had been living in New Zealand for some years. “They’ve just purchased their first time together and are going to slowly renovate it,” she told OneRoof.
The three-bedroom property has a CV of just over $1m. Photo / Supplied
The kitchen is quirky and a testament to the late owners’ ingenuity and taste. Photo / Supplied
Corlett said the buyers were going to “keep the wallpaper and the handles in the kitchen and things like that and probably the tiles and the flooring in the kitchen”.
“They could tell it had been well loved and cared for over its lifetime. It was in the prime location and was what they were looking for,” she said, adding that the couple had found a four-leaf clover the day they submitted their second offer on the property.
“It was funny because I’d just sent a four-leaf clover to my colleague [who was talking to the couple that day], saying, ‘Wish them luck’.”
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The three-bedroom deceased estate, which had a CV of just over $1m, had belonged to colourful Wellington couple Phyllis and David Oliver. Their daughter told OneRoof last year that the house was a reflection of the love they had for each other.
“Dad did like his colour and things were eclectic. The house still has the old Axminster carpet on the floor. And it has zany different wallpapers. They’re all mismatched all over the place,” she said.
David was a sheet metal worker by trade and he expanded the basement to house his home-built caravan and spent some 50 years tinkering with the house. He worked up into his 90s, his daughter said.
The purple bedroom still boasts a purple shagpile carpet. Photo / Supplied
The late owners’ daughter told OneRoof the wallpaper was different in every room. Photo / Supplied
“The kitchen was done by him – the whole lot. The walls are stippled with tiny chips of stone in it. If he bought a microwave, he wouldn’t just put it on a bench, he would make brackets for it, because he had the know-how to do things,” she said. “Everything was done slightly different to what everyone else would do.”
He lined the cupboards with stainless steel, curved around the front; he built a lift to get from the basement to the living area; and he installed a one-of-its-kind drier in the laundry.
“He was very, very clever mathematically and he loved gadgets. So, if he could design and make something that made life easier, he did it.” Virtually everything he built comes with a handwritten manual and service record.
The basement garage was a workshop that gave birth to all sorts of gadgets and gizmos. Photo / Supplied
“The 60s decor actually stayed, although he updated bits and pieces. He always chose the best of everything for the time, so if anything was new, Dad would look in to see if it suited him and whether it was a viable proposition and it was always the best. He wouldn’t buy cheap stuff.”
One of the more unusual rooms in the house is the lavender room, with a purple shagpile carpet. It was the best bedroom growing up that a 1970s girl could want, the couple’s daughter said, adding that her dad used the purple shagpile offcuts in her car when she was old enough to drive.
Corlett said the family had found letting go of the house “quite hard because they were all brought up there”. However, they all agreed the new owners were “the perfect buyers from the get-go”.
“It was a great result, and I think they were happy in the end,” the agent said.
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