The South Auckland villa that had been in the same family for nearly 110 years has finally changed hands in a momentous week also marked by a wedding and a funeral.
The three-bedroom villa on Luke Street, Otahuhu, sold in March for “close to” $1 million, said Barfoot & Thompson agent Anuj Bisht, who marketed the property with Calvin Roche. The house was bought by an investor but the agent said he wasn’t sure yet whether the buyer would renovate the old place or demolish for development. The house has a CV of $1.225m and is zoned for suburban density.
The four-bedroom house at Luke Street, Otahuhu, had been owned by the Good family since the early 1900s. The house first appears in records as the home address of grandfather Martin Good when he left to serve in WWI, his grandson and namesake Martin Good earlier told OneRoof.
Martin’s father, Raymond Good, moved out to a rest home only late last year aged 93 after moving in with his wife Beverly and six kids in 1953. In a sad twist, Raymond died on February 26, just as the house deal was going through.
Start your property search
“The OneRoof story had a snowball effect. We’d planned a family barbecue to celebrate Dad and Granddad, but when Dad passed away the celebration was brought forward – it was a wake.
Read more:
- 'We didn’t want people to get it cheap': Omaha bach sells for $6.65m - $1.5m above CV
- How NZ has dodged a global property crisis
- Vendor stunned as quake-damaged home sells for $1.43m - $200K above the reserve
“The funeral home did a drive-by with Dad’s coffin, they went down the street to the cemetery where his mother was buried. There would have been 50 of the children and grandchildren standing on the street as he drove by, in front of the For Sale sign,” Martin said.
The house at Luke Street, Otahuhu, had many vivid mid-century wallpapers that were made into an artwork. The house maybe renovated but is more likely to be demolished. Photo / Supplied
The original kitchen and bathroom had modern decorating, but sufficed for the family of eight. Photo / Supplied
The family celebrations also included the wedding of one of the great grand-children, part of a week of bittersweet celebrations for the family.
“Monday we buried Dad, Wednesday the tender closed, and we went boom boom boom,” Martin said.
Martin said that the extended family had a good walk through the empty house, with one of the grandchildren creating a 3D video walk through and another an artwork made up of all the samples of the colourful wallpapers their creative grandmother loved. Celebrations carried on at Raymond’s much-loved Otahuhu club for “one of the best farewells ever,” he added.
The family believe that Granddad Martin built the house for himself and wife Angelina on land carved off a neighbouring farm before he went to war service in 1916. Grandson Martin described his father and grandfather as “proud working men.”
Some 50 descendants of the original owners watched the funeral procession of the last owner, Raymond Good, who died aged 93, from the front porch. Photo / Supplied
Martin grew up in the house with his five brothers and sisters when his parents moved back into the house in the 1950s. His mother Beverly updated the house with colourful mid-century wallpapers, grew flowers in a greenhouse for the local market and raised chickens and vegies in the old-school backyard. Martin remembers the neighbourhood children would all roam the streets, playing with the horses in the pony field next door (now Otahuhu Intermediate School).
The family added two more bedrooms for the growing brood, but the original bathroom and a toilet and laundry on the back porch sufficed for the family of eight. A coal range was eventually replaced with a gas fire and the kitchen cabinets updated, but the house was a time capsule of a bygone era.
“The house was well known because Dad was a JP so he’d get calls at all hours from the police if they wanted a warrant. He was also a marriage celebrant, sometimes he’d be in his shorts and jandals and Mum would be called out to be a witness,” Martin said.
The sale follows the auction of a similar colourful old three-bedroom villa on Cardwell Street, in Onehunga, that fetched $830,000 in February – more than $700,000 below the 2021 CV. The buyers of that property, an Auckland couple, turned up at the on-site auction thinking it was an open home, and ended up walking away with a do-up for their son half an hour later.
Proceeds from the sale of that deceased estate and three other properties were bequeathed to the Salvation Army, St Vincent de Paul and Fred Hollows Foundation.
- Click here for more homes for sale in Otahuhu
