Sale of Tui Flower’s home to aid charity
She influenced an entire generation of home cooks and has been described as the person who ‘‘invented’’ food writing in New Zealand, and now the late Tui Flower’s legacy is set to continue even further.
The Mt Eden house the pioneering food writer lived in before her death in August 2017 is on the market, and the proceeds of the sale will be going to a charity she established.
Flower (Lucy Tui Hampton Aitken, QSM) set up a foundation, the details of which have not yet been disclosed. Already, Flower’s valuable collection of antiques and Maori artefacts, believed to have been worth several hundred thousand dollars, has been auctioned off to provide funds for the foundation.
The house, built in the late 1800s, has been in Flower’s family for more than 100 years – it was formerly owned by her maternal grandparents, who were also serious collectors of antique pieces.
Listing agent Godfrey Twigden of Unlimited Potential, Mt Eden, says the house is a ‘‘grand, double brick and weatherboard villa’’ that is largely original with a soaring stud.
‘‘It stands ready to be reinvented for the next generation.’’
The two-bedroom villa sits on a double site of more than 1100 square metres, but is zoned currently for a single dwelling.
It comes with a two-storey garage workshop, which Twigden calls ‘‘the perfect man cave or artist’s hideaway’’.
Flower grew up in Matamata, and was awarded a scholarship to study cooking in Paris for a year in her youth. She said the French love of food and wine had a huge impact on her.
At the end of the 1960s, Flower was appointed food editor of the NZ Woman’s Weekly, where she ran the test kitchen for 20 years, creating recipes for New Zealand housewives to cut out and keep.
Ina Stuff obituary on her death at the age of 91, food writer and Homestead chef Sam Mannering said Flower was revered for her contribution to New Zealand food and culture.
‘‘I guess America had Julia Child, the UK had Fanny Craddock and we have Tui Flower,’’ he said.
Mannering said he was lucky enough to visit her house to make scones, after meeting her just once. ‘‘I remember being at the Sugar Club launch. She’s quite unassuming, but the place just changed atmosphere when she arrived.’’
He said he would not have expected ‘‘that reception for the Queen Mother’’.
The house is for sale by negotiation. It has a CV of $2,250,000.