A retro home in the heart of Auckland’s double grammar zone is heading to auction on May 16, hoping to snare a buyer who’s big on leopard-skin decor.
Billed as a home with an Austin Powers-vibe, the two-bedroom 1950s stone and brick at 50 Maungawhau Road, in Epsom, is a striking example of mid-century design.
The deceased estate has been left virtually untouched since it was built by K Rd menswear store owner Colin Maclean over a period of two years in the 1950s.
The three-storey 230sqm house on a 2020sqm site has only two bedrooms, but numerous entertainment rooms and the house was packed with then-unheard-of tech features.
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“I called him a time traveller, he was so far ahead of his time. He was just a clever bugger,” a family friend, who preferred not to be named, told OneRoof. The friend’s dad had helped Maclean with the tricky job of waterproofing the unusual flat roof, and he’d helped with upkeep on the house.
Maclean built in a radio and a sound system – for years he ran a record label and recording studio known as Tudor out of the house – and one of the living rooms was converted to a cinema for parties. The leopard-trimmed bar still stands.
Stonework in the once “amazing” gardens, now run-down since Maclean died in 2005, was built by prisoners on day release from Mount Eden Prison in the 1920s and 1930s, the friend said.
He added that Maclean did a lot of the welding for the striking circular steel staircase and balustrades on the deck and designed and built a lot of the cabinetry in the house. The carport walls featured Egyptian-style scenes he had carved into the concrete walls.
The staircase is a standout feature. Photo / Supplied
The carpeting throughout the house is colourful and original. Photo / Supplied
A keen astronomer, Maclean had built an observatory in the garden, a replica of the nearby Stardome at Cornwall Park. While the concrete base remains, there is just an old corrugated iron shed left.
His German wife Hildegard, who died recently, had met Maclean in the 1960s when he was in Sydney on a buying trip for his store, Colemax.
“She was very private, but she did say Colin would have had a few cocktail parties,” the friend said.
Buyers may find the wallpaper and carpet combo overbearing. Photo / Supplied
The bedroom is a riot of red and green. Photo / Supplied
The couple bought the adjoining 1320sqm land at number 46 in 1979, inviting the local fire brigade to burn the house down for practice so they could have their privacy.
A self-contained one-bedroom flat was later added for Hildegard’s mother, but the friend said the glowing vintage wallpapers, carpets, purple and blue bathroom fixtures remained unchanged over the years.
“It was kept as a shrine. It’s an amazing house. God bless her, Hildegard was an amazing lady. But nobody had been in the house, she wouldn’t let them past the round table on the ground floor,” he said.
The bathroom is heavy on purple and lilac. Photo / Supplied
Enjoy drinks at the leopard-skin bar. Photo / Supplied
Ray White agent Steve Stone, who is marketing the property with Sho Mehta, said he had already had about 30 groups of buyers through the property since he listed it last week, many of them keen to see inside the mystery house.
The agent’s marketing makes no bones about the possible fate of the time capsule building, suggesting it could be restored or replaced by a modern building.
- 50 Maungawhau Road, in Epsom, Auckland, goes to auction May 19
