A Gothic castle in Auckland’s prized double grammar zone finally sold after three years of trying.
The “fairy-tale” property on Castle Drive, in Epsom, was snapped up for $5.26 million – just below its CV but $610,000 more than what the vendor paid in 2016.
Built in the 1860s for concrete baron Josiah Clifton Firth, the castle has been a familiar if not strange sight to generations of Aucklanders. Listings over the years have described it as the “rarest and the fairest in the land”.
It is possibly Auckland’s oldest “mock” castle and while it is less imposing than the more famous Larnach Castle, in Dunedin, it is a money-spinner in its own right.
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The 875sqm property, which sits on a 2591sqm site, is divided into seven flats, and brings in around $175,000 a year in rental income.
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The vendor had originally bought the castle in 2016 so that her sons could attend Auckland Grammar, but after her sons graduated the family moved overseas.
She first put the castle on the market in November 2021, and cycled through several agencies in an attempt to get her desired price. Ray White agents Justin and Sally Wu took on the listing about four months ago, and marketed it hard to buyers on their database.
Sally told OneRoof: “She bought this because of the address, because it was in Epsom. Now that the sons have grown up, she doesn’t need it. She approached us because we had sold a friend’s listing.”
Sally said a range of buyers from the agents’ database had shown interest and they were able to present multiple offers to the vendor during the campaign.
The castle was built in the late 19th century by Josiah Clifton Firth. A photo from its early days shows how it dominated the landscape. Photo / Supplied
The new owners plan to restore the castle to its former glory. Photo / Supplied
Some of the interested parties wanted to buy the castle as an investment property, while others wanted to convert some or all of it back into a family home. Sally said the latter would have required deep pockets, something the vendors had to consider regarding the price. “People had to keep a few million dollars aside to restore the place,” she said.
The agent said the buyers were locals. “They are going to restore it, then see what they are going to do,” she said.
The property, which is known to locals as Clifton Castle and Firth’s Castle, was bought by Josiah Clifton Firth in 1871. Firth added the home’s most notable feature, a 15m crenelated tower, in 1873 along with a concrete wing, according to Heritage New Zealand.
The wing and tower were built in unreinforced concrete. Historical records suggest that the tower was built to house a water tank because the home would have needed to be largely self-sufficient.
Inside one of the rental flats. Photo / Supplied
After Firth’s death, the castle became a Catholic orphanage in the 1920s run by Mother Mary Joseph Aubert, the first person in New Zealand to be recommended for canonisation by the Catholic Church. It was then sold to Herbert Garlick, who converted it into flats.
The unique Gothic Revival home is a Category 1 Historic Place, which means it can’t be pulled down. It’s also one of the earliest surviving concrete buildings in New Zealand and possibly the earliest in the North Island.
Early photographs depict the building’s commanding presence over a sparsely settled sweep of land down to the Waitemata Harbour before it was crowded in by successive generations of Aucklanders.
Firth built two castles in his lifetime. His second castle was built in Matamata where he and his sons had business interests, including the Firth Concrete Company, which still exists today.
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