Warwick House or Warwick Avenue?
Depends if you’re on the market for a sprawling Victorian gothic castle in Nelson or immaculately modernised bungalow in inner-city Auckland.
A spend of $2.5 million gives you the choice between a four-bed two bath house in Warwick Avenue, Westmere, or a fancy spread of 34 rooms in 810 square metres of multi-storeyed, turreted splendour five minutes from the centre of Nelson. The four-bed bungalow sits on a typical inner city 462 square metres, while the mansion is now on 2324 square metres, much reduced from its landholdings 165 years ago.
The mansion, officially known as Warwick House, but dubbed The Castle by locals, is one of the South Island’s oldest private homes. Owners Nick and Jenny Ferrier bought the house in 2003 when they returned with their three kids from long stint living overseas.
Start your property search
“Initially it was their family home,” says Sotheby’s agent Steve Kelso, who is marketing the property. “Then as the kids flew from home, they turned it into luxury accommodation, gradually expanding from the main house into their wing.”
Built in 1854 for one of the city’s business families, Warwick House has been lived in by several worthies. It was expanded in the 1860s with more wings, the huge ballroom and a four-storey tower on the front. Important trivia: one of the sons, Charles Munro, is credited with bringing rugby to New Zealand.
A luxury finish to the bungalow in Warwick Avenue, Westmere.
The Ferrier’s restored the house, which had been chopped into five apartments in the 1940s, uncovering a hidden wine cellar, internal stairs, more lead light windows and grand archways.
The house was ahead of its time, with coal gas piping and a bell wire system used to summon servants. Must be the something about the name: the Warwick Ave house, marketed by Custom Residential’s Keith and Sandy Dowdle, has serious cred from this century too, with technology, double glazing, insulation, rainwater catchment and solar power system. Its gates are electronic, not hand-crafted cast iron from Britain.
Warwick House, listed with the Nelson Council, is important to locals. Council funding supports some parts of the restoration - next up is restoring the slate roof, says Kelso. As well as the 1000 square foot ballroom, with a sprung matai dance floor, the lathe and plaster house has many ornate oriel windows, five grand bay windows and its original cast iron gates and gate posts brought from England. Right now the home is marketed with eight bedrooms and six bathrooms, but rooms and functions have changed a lot over the years and could again.
“The Castle has had a good restoration, but someone can come in to do more to make it excellent,” says Kelso. “We’ve had interest from overseas, hospitality people who want to do more. And from Aucklanders interested in a lifestyle switch.
“You’d have to come into this with a philanthropic bent, because it’s beautiful and needs keeping alive for the years to come.”
