RuPaul drag queen stars Anita Wigl’it and Ivanna Drink are selling their Auckland home following their marriage split last year.
The pair had intended the three-bedroom villa at 35 King Street, in Grey Lynn, to be their forever home but decided to put it on the market after their break-up.
Wigl’it, also known as Nick Hall, told OneRoof that he had poured his heart into the house, giving it a full makeover, but said it was time to sell, now that his former partner was heading overseas to Europe.
Hall, who co-owns the popular Auckland restaurant Caluzzi Cabaret, shot to fame when he took part in RuPaul’s Drag Race Down Under in 2021.
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He married fellow RuPaul Down Under star Shameel Kennedy, aka Ivanna Drink, in 2020, just after the first Covid lockdown lifted.
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By then they were already well into an extensive overhaul of the villa they bought at the end of 2019 for just over $1 million.
Hall said the house, known as Hill Cottage, was very much in a “before” state when they got their hands on it.
However, the backyard studio caught their eye, and they turned it into a large wardrobe for their costumes, wigs and shoes.
“We’ve got a make-up desk – all Hollywood with the mirror and lights – and a lot of storage, because we had a lot of costumes and wigs,” Hall said.
“We enjoyed having our work outside of the house. We could walk down the path that connects to the driveway and go straight to work for a show, come back and take it off again, and go back into the house. We’d drive to work up Great North Road in full costume.”
Anita Wigl’it, right, and former husband Ivanna Drink. The pair have made separate appearances on the hit TV show RuPaul Drag Race Down Under. Photo / Supplied
The studio-wardrobe is just one of the home’s stunning features.
With the help of a neighbour, who is a landscape designer, Hall and Kennedy created an Italian-style outside entertainment space, which includes a swimming pool, outdoor kitchen and hot tub.
They had to use a crane to move the pool over the house and into the backyard – a drama for the whole street, Hall said.
“I don’t think we quite knew how good the garden was going to turn out when we designed it,” he said.
“We did it two years ago, and it’s just the most satisfying thing to see it grow over the last few years. There are olive trees, all the hedges, and the big cypress trees.
“It also provided space for my favourite part of the garden – the Japanese hot tub. You turn the water fountain on so you can hear it just trickling. And when the wooden fire is going, you can smell the smoke in the air. I would go out there every night.”
The couple fitted an Italian resort-style pool with a waterfall in the backyard. Photo / Supplied
Hall's favourite spot - a tiny Japanese-style garden which houses the hot-tub. Photo / Supplied
Hall credited Kennedy for spearheading the renovation. His former partner rejigged the inside kitchen to make sense of what had been a jumbled space and he tweaked walls in the lower ground floor laundry to make space for an office.
Hall said he and Kennedy had doubts about their purchase when they first moved in. “You could tell it was really beautiful, and I love historic homes, we could just see the bones of it. But we were going, ‘What have we done?’.”
The pair began painting straight away, stumbling only when they realised that 80% of the exterior weatherboards needed replacing.
“We wanted this to be our forever house, so we embarked on this huge renovation. I love renovation shows and design, so we replaced every single weatherboard so it would be fine for another 120 years.”
The “awful” damp 1990s terracotta bathroom got a double vanity and luxury tile finishes – a welcome update, even if it did mean weeks of showering outside while the job was done.
The kitchen was rearranged to add an island and better storage space. Photo / Supplied
A grand fireplace rescued from a Royal Oak villa updated the living room fireplace. Photo / Supplied
The living room’s closed-in fireplace was upgraded to a fancy Edwardian mantle rescued from a villa in Auckland’s Royal Oak.
Listing agent Ryan Teece, of White Fox, said that buyers would be able to dictate the price for the unique property. “It’s not going to suit the masses, so I expect it to be really good value,” he said.
People shouldn’t be put off by all the “bells and whistles”, he said, noting that properties on Grey Lynn’s affordable side were selling in the early to mid-$1ms.
“Everyone has been impressed by the quality of the renovation, especially when a lot of properties in that price range are not that exciting. This is very much for sale.”
- 35 King Street, Grey Lynn, Auckland, is for sale by way of deadline, closing June 26
