- The unique dome house at 17 Chartwell Drive, built for former All Black Bryce Robins, is for sale.
- Current owners Gerhard and Vanessa renovated the property, including extensive gardening and upgrades.
- Real estate agent Rebecca Bruce says the house is attracting attention, especially for its large backyard.
It's an unusual-looking house, and it has an unusual history. The dome home at 17 Chartwell Drive was built for a former All Black – and it’s now on the market for sale.
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The three-bedroom house is a series of irregular-shaped domes and has long been the talk of Eltham, in Taranaki. The four-connected pods were built by architect Gavin Robins for his rugby-playing brother Bryce more than 40 years ago.
Bryce’s claim to fame is his call-up to the All Blacks in 1985 for their tour of Argentina. He’s also the father of Bryce B Robins, who played for the Hurricanes and has represented Japan.
The owners have put their own stamp on the home including painting the interior and installing double glazing. Photo / Supplied
The home was designed in the 1970s by architect Gavin Robins for his rugby-playing brother Bryce. Photo / Supplied
The house changed hands a few times since Robins Sr lived there, with current owners, Gerhard and Vanessa, picking it up in 2021.
The couple instantly fell in love with it while they were on the hunt for something that would allow them to downsize from their cookie-cutter home in Hāwera and to go mortgage-free.
They’ve spent the last four years upgrading their “home sweet dome” and discovering its hidden treasures.
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They told OneRoof they hadn’t realised how big their garden was when they bought the house. They had been exploring the neighbouring reserve after they moved in and found out that the huge overgrown area beyond the flat fenced lawn and estuary was actually theirs.
Vanessa said the garden had been neglected for so long that it was impossible to access the house from the bottom of the hill.
“It was overgrown and it was a dump. Everyone in the neighbourhood I think left their rubbish there. You couldn’t really see the house from the creek side,” she said.
The couple discovered they had an overgrown secret garden leading down to a stream once they moved in. Photo / Supplied
The couple then embarked on a year-and-a-half-long mission to clean up the area, first with the neighbour’s goat and then by good old-fashioned weed-whacking.
“We wrecked the lawnmower,” Vanessa said.
A landscape gardener then spent two days creating a blank canvas for them. Vanessa, who had recently retired from teaching, ended up watching YouTube clips on gardening and set to it.
The result is an extensively planted area, which the couple is immensely proud of.
The couple also painted the outside of the house, installed double glazing and put heating in the bedrooms. And while the house has felt more like home than their cookie-cutter house ever did, they are now selling to go on a caravan tour of New Zealand.
The unusual-looking property has been a hit since it was listed, attracting enquiries from as far as Switzerland. Photo / Supplied
McDonald Real Estate agent Rebecca Bruce said the house was well known in Eltham.
Bruce said the couple had done a great job renovating their dome home, telling OneRoof it would definitely suit families looking for a big backyard for the kids to play in.
“It’s not going to suit someone who wants a brand-new brick cookie-cutter house by any means, but it’s getting a lot of attention.”
She told OneRoof she even had an enquiry from someone living in Switzerland.
Bruce said Eltham was a town where Kiwis could afford to live mortgage-free. “You can get a really lovely house for under $500,000 in Eltham,” she said.
“Stratford is only five minutes down the road and it’s more expensive. The further you get from New Plymouth, the cheaper the houses get.”
Bruce said Eltham was a great place to live. “We’ve got everything that you need – your bakery, your hairdresser. You’ve got Farm Source for all your livestock needs and all that kind of stuff and the Four Square is really good here as well.
“There’s no reason to have to go to the big shopping centres unless you want to.”
- 17 Chartwell Drive, in Eltham, Taranaki, is for sale by negotiation
