The daughter of Kiwi inventor John Britten has sold her Grand Designs-style home - just months after her sister found sales success with her own Grand Designs home.
Jess Britten and her partner Warren Durling took 5 Renall Street in Auckland's Freemans Bay to market last month hoping their multi-million-dollar restoration project would find a buyer.
The property, which was listed with Bayleys agent Edward Pack, attracted a lot interest after featuring in the pages of OneRoof's print magazine OneRoof Herald Homes.
Pack told reporters on Friday that the response to the property had been “incredible”, with interest shown from "single people, young professionals, older couples downsizing from a family home, and young families”.
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He would not reveal the sale price but the property has a 2021 CV of just under $2.45m.
Built by the International Order of Odd Fellows and once owned by the Royal Antediluvian Order of Buffaloes, the house was a Grand Designs-style challenge for Britten and Durling.
The couple bought the run-down Foresters’ Hall in 2015 for $1.15m with the intention of transforming it into a stylish home.
“It’s a place that everybody in the area knows, a bit of a local landmark,” Britten told OneRoof last month.
The couple said they spent long hours transforming the hall into "our forever home".
5 Renall Street was in a bad shape before Jess and Warren transformed it. Now it looks amazing. Photo / Supplied
“We were very lucky because the property was actually zoned residential - in a sub-category, as a gathering venue, so getting consents wasn’t difficult and we found council really great to work with, because they and we all wanted whatever was best for the hall!”
Britten said she was leaving the hall with a sense of sadness.
“Life changes, so with our growing family we’re moving into another phase, but we’re really proud of what we’ve achieved here.”
The inside of the former hall is stunning. Photo / Supplied
Britten's sister is Isabelle Weston, whose struggles to restore Britten Stables - the Britten family home - in Christchurch featured in an episode of Grand Designs NZ in 2018.
Isabelle and her husband sold the restored Britten Stables last year to a Christchurch vet for $7.85 million - the city's highest sale price last year. Now it's Jess's turn to take her restoration work to market, with the transformed, multi-million-dollar Renall Street property now for sale.
