GLOBAL LAUNCH FOR MANSION
A grand home in an exclusive part of Auckland is for sale for the first time ever on the open market, writes CATHERINE SMITH.
84 Paritai Drive
Agrand Italianate stone mansion on Auckland’s blue-chip Paritai Drive is being launched to the international market for sale this week.
NZ Sotheby’s International Realty agent Paul Sissons said bringing the 813sqm luxury house on 84 Paritai Drive to high-end local clients, expats and international buyers through the company’s 1075 global offices in 83 countries was the best way to tap buyers.
“We expect there’ll be huge interest locally and internationally. It’s never been on the market since it was finished in 2002 and we’ll only be showing qualified buyers through by appointment,” he said.
Sissons would not speculate on the likely price for the property as it is being sold by an international tender that closes on March 14, but said the expectation was that the property would fetch more than its CV of $15 million. This is the first time the property is being sold on the open market.
OneRoof records show the place changed hands in November 2009 for $10.5m in an off-market deal.
The five-bedroom house was designed by name architect Robert Railley of Swan Railley Clapham, who worked closely with interior decorator, the late Linda Reid.
But central to the build, Sissons said, was the work by stonemason Steve O’Connor, of Hinuera Stone.
“This was an over two-year build, and every detail is classic – the stone terraces, the architraves, the molding. Steve still comes back to maintain the house, it’s one of his most timeless jobs,” Sissons said.
O’Connor told OneRoof that the house was one of the biggest private homes the company had worked on, and called on very skilled stonemasons turning Railley’s two-dimensional sketches into 3-D.
“Things like the cappings on the columns, the corbels, even the window sills and architraves, we had to shape the solid stone, but also drill holes for steel supports to meet New Zealand building code.
“Then the walls and facade were a 70mm-thick veneer. We were on site for a year,” he said, adding that hinueras, known as ‘old statuary’, got better with age.
“There are houses made from the stone in Lichfield and Matamata still going strong from 1885, we’ve used it at Craggy Range and the chapel at St Cuthbert’s [School].
“Twenty years later, it’s still great to come back to the house to maintain it. I come with the house,” he joked.
The house is arranged around a striking two-storey lobby, home to a sweeping staircase and lit by a circular skylight. Floors are a mix of marble, stone and mahogany laid in intricate parquet-style patterns.
Windows and French doors are steel, finished to a bronze colour that is repeated in the hundreds of doorknobs around the house and the plaster ceiling and light fixtures are top-notch.
The lobby opens to the enormous open-plan formal and informal living and dining rooms, which in turn open to the north-facing patio and its breathtaking views of the Waitemata Harbour, Rangitoto Island and the city.
A finely detailed kitchen with granite benchtops has a gaggle of luxury brands: a brand-new Falcon cooker, Gaggenau steamer, double Miele dishwashers, Liebherr wine fridge, as well as Fisher & Paykel fridge-freezer and a coffee machine. An adjacent scullery takes care of the cooking mess, and there is a laundry on this floor too.
The ground floor includes an oak-panelled library and a second casual sitting room which both open to the swimming pool. The sitting room can be closed off from the rest of the house with pocket doors to create a self-contained suite with a bedroom and bathroom.
Upstairs is the huge master suite (the bedroom alone is nearly 33sqm) that opens to a further terrace with more of the grandstand views, with an elegant bathtub in the ensuite that gets its own view of the sea.
There are three further bedrooms, one of which is currently used as an office, another which has its own ensuite bathroom and closet and a generous family bathroom, as well as a second laundry.
The basement floor has garaging (for up to eight cars, Sissons said) and opens to another generous lobby. There’s a wine cellar as well as masses of storage on this floor, service rooms for the tech and even a staff bathroom for visiting tradies. A second bathroom is next to the gym, which doubled as a playroom for visiting grandchildren.
One of the owners is a keen gardener, so her touches include re-doing the formerly clipped planting to a softer look that creates shady spots on both the front and back covered pergolas. The back and side yards are surrounded by tall hedges to create a private haven. Underpinning the property is a new electronic system that controls security, sound, light and air.
Sale: Tender closing March 14 Contact: Paul Sissons, NZ Sotheby’s International Realty, 027 432 5220