A four-bedroom Art Deco home in Auckland’s Mount Eden is heading to auction next month with a magical past.
Owner Sue Hudson told OneRoof the house was formerly occupied by one of Auckland’s leading fairground operators. They had left behind an old safe which her children had spent years trying to crack.
“I bought the property in 1990. When we explored the basement, the children found an old office. There were boxes filled with invoices and other business papers, but what caught their eye was an amazing Wells Fargo-type safe.”
“When the going got tough, I would say to the children, ‘Why don’t you go down and open the safe?’.” Convinced the safe contained riches, the children kept trying. “It took years, but eventually they did crack the safe.” Unfortunately, there was nothing in it – although it will remain with the house when it sells.
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Hudson said the house at 183 Landscape Road was previously owned by the Johnson family, who operated fairgrounds in Auckland. “An older person in the community said they used to have the carousel and galloping horses all in the back section.”
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That tied in with another find in the basement office: Plaster of Paris moulds, which Hudson believed were for making fairground prizes.
John Mahon, of Mahons Amusements, the country’s biggest supplier of fairground amusements, told OneRoof his company had bought Johnson’s business. He remembers going to the Landscape Road home in the late 1980s with his late brother Bill and father Roy to collect a large amount of fairground equipment.
“We went up and collected lots and lots of old merry-go-round horses. Some of them had been hand-carved. There was also a lifetime of amusement park parts kept there. Some of that equipment we still have in containers, and we still use some of those rides,” Mahon said.
The fairground connection and the safe weren‘t the only surprises. Hudson remembers her puzzlement when she heard neighbours refer to the home as the “Pavlova House”.
The four-bedroom home has been upgraded by the owner. The "heart and soul" of the house is the sun-soaked living room. Photo / Supplied
The property has a 2021 CV of just under $2m. Photo / Supplied
“It’s one of those houses people drive past and notice. It looks like a pavlova. If you caught a taxi, the taxi driver would say, ‘oh, it’s the Pavlova House’.”
“Pavlova House” is one of a handful of Art Deco homes built in Mount Eden in the 1930s and early 1940s. There is an almost identical home next door, most likely built by the same developer.
When Hudson bought 183 Landscape Rd, the home had underfloor gas-fired heating, which worked for years, until all the old-school gasfitters who could service the system retired. At some point prior to purchase, what would have been a high-end for its day, a wall oven was installed, said Hudson.
Although the gas heating and wall oven have been superseded with modern replacements, the front rooms retain their round Art Deco glory.
Ray White agent Robyn Ellson, who is marketing the property, said it was a beautiful “cake-like” home. “It’s one of those homes with a beautiful soul. I love the curves.
“I have been selling real estate for 14 years and this is the first Art Deco house with curved windows that I have brought to market. I also love that it's on a 600sqm section, which is a pretty significant size for this area."
- 183 Landscape Road, in Mount Eden, Auckland, goes to auction on September 11
