- Dame Denise L’Estrange Corbet and Francis Hooper are selling their art-filled Freemans Bay villa.
- The house, featuring unique decor and stunning views, has been their home since 2000.
- The couple is open to offers, with the property’s RV at $3.425m.
New Zealand fashion couple Dame Denise L’Estrange Corbet and Francis Hooper are selling their multimillion-dollar art-filled home.
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The four-bedroom villa at 8 Margaret Street, in Auckland’s Freemans Bay, has been the WORLD owners’ base since 2000, and bears their distinct imprint.
The house, usually out of bounds to all but their close friends, is open to potential buyers by appointment through Ray White listing agent Luke Crockford.
Dame Denise, who spoke to OneRoof in between interviewing finalists for the New Zealand Leadership Awards, opened up about the couple’s decision to sell and the many secrets that lie within the villa.
WORLD brand founders Dame Denise L’Estrange-Corbet and Francis Hooper. Photo / Norrie Montgomery
The couple filled the grand house, built for Ponsonby’s Tole family, with art, taxidermy and quirky collectables. Photo / Supplied
The house is unmistakably on brand for the couple, starting with the green letterbox and eye-catching sculpture at the entrance, and continuing indoors with a hallway stuffed with taxidermy and purple parlour walls.
Dame Denise said she fell in love with the villa the first time she saw it. “It was beautiful and empty, with beautiful sash windows. I walked in and went, ‘Oh my God, it’s just magnificent. This is so me’,” she said.
“I called Francis and said, ‘You’ve got to come and have a look’. He walked in and said, ‘No, we can’t afford it’.”
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However, it was meant to be. The couple’s first offer was knocked back, but they got a call from the agent some time later, while they were having dinner at a friend’s home on Waiheke Island.
“The other offer had fallen over, and the owner said, ‘If you come tonight and sign it, you can have it’. So we left the dinner, got on the ferry, and we signed it.”
Dame Denise said the weekend they moved into the house she remembers turning to her daughter Pebbles, then 11, and saying: “ ‘It’s so big, we’re never going to fill it’. Now look at it.”
"Not bold to me," says Dame Denise of the curved orange deck that is a favourite gathering place to take in the city views. Photo / Supplied
The house still has many of its original features. Photo / Supplied
Over the years, the family slowly brought the house to life, upgrading and refreshing when they could. Dame Denise’s main contribution was renovating the two bathrooms (one in yellow, one in lime green) and adding a curved orange deck at the rear of the house to take in the views of the CBD.
“We thought we needed an amazing deck because the thing about the house is the view. It’s wonderful to have people over. We all stand there and get that incredible view.”
Dame Denise said the house was a refuge for the family, and they had made a conscious decision not to open their house to the media. “We’re very private in the house department, we’ve never had it featured. We’ve had all our friends through, and I always think you can consider yourself a true friend if you’ve been to my house,” she told OneRoof.
One of the five bedrooms in the big house. Photo / Supplied
Dame Denise said the house had a long history, with an etched window saying “Tole Estate, 1887” still in place. She understands that one of the two Tole brothers, of Irish descent, who had lived in Ponsonby since the 1860s had resided there.
One brother, John, owned land on the western side of Ponsonby Road (hence Tole Street and Tole Reserve) while Daniel lived on a large property on the eastern side of the street – facing College Hill. Both brothers were land surveyors for a time and named Margaret Street after their mother.
It is certainly a house on a grander scale than most Freemans Bay homes, with two floors, stained glass windows, a columned arch in the hallway, and the original 15-foot ceilings featuring pressed tin work.
The family have gotten used to door-knocks from previous residents, keen to share stories of the house and street.
“One guy visiting from Australia told me gang members used to live on the street. There were parties every night, and they all used to park their motorbikes along the street. No one would ever complain.”
She added: “I will miss it terribly, I love it so much. I have put a lot into it, but it’s given a lot back. Some people spend most of their lives in a house they don’t like, but we have been lucky that we knew from the minute we walked in the front door.
“I am a fatalist, I believe if it is going to happen, it is going to happen. If it sells itself, but if it doesn’t, we will stay here. Who knows?”
Crockford said that it was a privilege to look after the vendors. “They love Freemans Bay; they have loved their 25 years there. The house has not been tampered with, apart from the stylish bathrooms,” he told OneRoof.
While he could not comment on price, he said the couple were open to all offers, conditional or unconditional. “The CV has dropped $200,000 to $3.425m, [but] you cannot put a price on those views or privacy.
“You can watch those cranes and watch Auckland grow.”
- 8 Margaret Street, Freemans Bay, Auckland, is for sale, deadline closing July 24
