Historic house has $3m pricetag

A hillside house with a history has gone on the market, after major renovations, for offers over $2.99 million.

Anne Tucker and local conservationist Devon McLean have lived at 1A Richardson St in the Nelson suburb of Britannia Heights for nearly 10 years, but say many locals are connected to the house the couple affectionately call ‘‘the grand old lady’’.

‘‘It used to go right down to the road ... It used to be a magnificent property and they used to have a boat at the bottom of Rocks Rd,’’ said Anne of the house, which has stood on the spot since 1922.

The property, which has since been subdivided, had had ‘‘various people’’ do ‘‘various things to it over the years’’, and the house needed to let the light and views in, she said.

‘‘We wanted to not only maintain the character, but we wanted to actually improve it.

‘‘It has been here for nearly 100 years, and we wanted to make sure that it was going to be sustainable for 100 more.’’

The couple took five years deciding how to renovate, and in 2013 began the work, which included replacing all the windows, restoring the original window latches and door fittings, and installing underfloor heating.

Stripping all the timber in the house of paint and varnish was ‘‘probably the biggest challenge’’ of the eight-month-long project.

They tried to recycle and reuse as much of the original features as possible.

In the garden, they recreated a well they discovered under the house, that had featured in a painting, dating from the 1840s.

‘‘Lots of people have told me ‘ahh I came to a party at this place’ or ‘I used to live here’,’’ Tucker said, when explaining a decision to open up their home to the public for a fundraiser in December.

‘‘So I thought ok, well why don’t we open it up and make some money for breast cancer in the process.’’

Anne, who was treated for breast cancer last year, raised more than $4000 for the Breast Cancer Foundation after 145 people visited over the course of two days.

The house was put on the market in December, for offers above $2,990,000

‘‘We’ve seen a number of sales over the summer break here in Nelson over the $2 million mark,’’ Sotheby’s International Real Estate agent representing the house Steve Kelso said.

It’s not becoming the new norm, but it’s certainly becoming more frequent.’’

Nelson was attracting a higher sale price due to out of town buyers, with a good level of sales and inquiries, he said.