An Auckland mansion which sits on 1.18ha of land and has wide Hauraki Gulf views is one of the best development opportunities in the east of the city, reckons Bayleys agent Angela Rudling, who is selling the property with colleague Michael Chi.
The 1930s Bay house at 215 Bleakhouse Road, in Mellons Bay, known as Fowey Lodge, was perfectly liveable and had plenty of charm and neo-Georgian grandeur, she said, but one option would be to demolish it, along with other buildings on the site.
All up, there are 23 bedrooms and 11 bathrooms in the Macleans College School zone.
Rudling said the main house was double brick and could not be relocated but could be renovated as one of many options available for buyers in the $15m-plus price bracket.
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The original owner was a medical practitioner, and so was the current owner, she said.
The current owner, Dr Tony Hanne, had the house for 58 years and raised his family there as well as running his medical practice from a wing, and also operating a bible school in the grounds.
There is a second house on the site and also dormitory accommodation.
“He's been very much a kind soul in the community who has offered lots of assistance over the years,” said Rudling.
“The property is very well known by patients and friends alike. It's been a real retreat and part of the accommodation is also like a lecture hall or a big area where they could have social events.
“It's been a very happy, very positive experience for all involved over the years.”
The house has breath-taking views to the Hauraki Gulf and islands. Photo / Supplied
The library has changed little since the 1930s. Photo / Supplied
Rudling said someone could build a grand estate on the site, or cut it up into several homes.
“I think the number that's legal on there without any extra compliancing is 12 sites.”
She has had interest mainly from developers, one of whom had fallen for the house and was trying to work out how to retain it.
The house had olde worlde English charm but was not decked out with modern facilities, she said.
Dr Hanne’s son Nick lives in a cottage on the site but was raised in the big house, saying: “It felt like something out of the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.”
He spent his days looking for secret passageways and said there were great hiding spaces for children not to be found in a modern house.
A previous OneRoof article on the house, when it was for sale with a different agent last year, described how when the Hannes bought the house it had servants’ quarters and that it still has the old bell system to summons them with.
The house is on Bleakhouse Road, with the story going the road was named in honour of the Charles Dickens novel.
Also included in the sale is a large secondary dwelling on the estate. Photo / Supplied
The 1.18ha of land could be developed. Photo / Supplied
The original owner who built the house, Arthur Eisdell Moore, indicated Dickens was a cousin of one of the earliest settlers in the area.
Nick Hanne told OneRoof he was aware the property could be bought by a developer but he hoped someone would see the beauty in the house with its art deco influences.
“We don't believe it would be a difficult thing to renovate it and perhaps modernise some aspects of it without losing the structure and the basic features, because it is still a very sound home after all these years.
“It could go for another 100 years.”
New bathrooms and a more modern kitchen could be put in but Hanne said the house was surprisingly forward-thinking for its time.
“The 1930s is a long time ago but it's still a very liveable home. It's a very light home. It's got the sun from morning till evening and the rooms are very, very light and big and spacious.
“There's an old tennis court which could be renewed or could be something else instead.
“We have large lawns, a fish pond and an orchard area, and a small bush block as well, a path to the beach, and a combination of natives and more European varieties of trees.”
The house is for sale by tender with a May 21 deadline.
- 215 Bleakhouse Road, in Mellons Bay, Auckland, is for sale by way of tender, closing May 21
