An Auckland Art Deco home, once filled with fairground magic and dubbed the "Pavlova House" by locals, has found its new owners.
The four-bedroom house on Landscape Road, in Mount Eden, was snapped at a Ray White auction last week for $1.785 million.
Listing agent Robyn Ellson, who marketed the property with colleague Claudia Wright, told OneRoof a young family with twins bought the characterful house. They were the only bidders, she said, although there were several conditional buyers hoping to make a deal if the house passed in.
“The new owners liked the story of the house and are just thrilled they’re going to raise their children there,” she said of the property, which has a CV of $1.975m.
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“I reckon this house won’t be back on the market for another 30 years.”
Ellson said interest in the property was huge, with some 80 groups going through the property during its three-week marketing campaign – a sight she said she’d not seen since the 2021 market peak.
The owner, Sue Hudson, told OneRoof that the auction success came with a double celebration of a family birthday. “It’s a real quick turnaround for three weeks, but it worked so well,” she said of the sale. “I just hope that they’ll be as happy as we are.”
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Hudson said that she plans to leave behind the safe that kicked off her family’s interest in the house’s colourful history. Her children’s hoped-for treasure did not eventuate, but the family found a rich backstory instead.
She told OneRoof last month when the house went on the market that neighbours told them the house was formerly occupied by one of Auckland’s leading fairground operators, the Johnsons. 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.”
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
Unfortunately, there was nothing in it – although the family is leaving it behind with the house for future owners’ amusement.
Hudson said her neighbours remembered a carousel with galloping horses in the backyard before the Johnsons fairground business was sold to Mahons Amusements, the country’s biggest supplier of fairground equipment.
John Mahon earlier told OneRoof 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 house is a standout in the suburb. “It’s one of those houses people drive past and notice,” Hudson earlier said. “If you caught a taxi, the taxi driver would say, ‘oh, it’s the Pavlova House’.”
The 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.
Hudson, who is downsizing to a smaller home, said that she can now start looking for her new home. “We were just waiting to see what happened. It’s quite interesting out there at the moment. As downsizers, it also means you’re competing with first-home buyers. It’s a stressful time for everything,” she said.
Ellson agreed that the spring market has been getting busier. “It’s nice to see momentum is high at the moment, especially the $1m-plus bracket. It’s really strong,” she said.
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