- An interior designer’s renovation of a 160-year-old Mount Eden villa sold for $9.1m.
- Rachyl Abraham transformed the five-bedroom home, retaining only four original walls.
- Agent Richard Thode noted strong demand for finished luxury properties like this in Mount Eden.
An interior designer’s lavish renovation of a 160-year-old villa in Auckland’s Mount Eden has been a resounding sales success, with the luxury property fetching $9.1 million this month.
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The five-bedroom home on Essex Road featured large rooms, a sub-tropical garden, an outdoor pool, and a spa.
Its transformation was the work of Tesori Design founder Rachyl Abraham, who purchased the villa with her husband Tony in 2015 for just over $3m.
“The original villa on this 1444sqm site was built in the 1860s by the Gray family, who named it Ellamore after their estate in Scotland,” she told OneRoof last month.
Successive owners had made changes, but Abraham’s project was by far the most comprehensive and certainly not for the faint-hearted.
Interior designer Rachyl Abraham and her husband Tony purchased the villa in 2015 and spent over 18 months rebuilding it. Photo / Supplied
The home has five bedrooms, five bathrooms, garaging and off-street parking, multiple living areas, a separate scullery and laundry, a workshop, a wine cellar and a pool house. Photo / Supplied
Over 18 months, the couple rebuilt the main house. In fact, just four of the original walls remain in what is now a 693sqm monument to style and elegance.
Ray White listing agent Richard Thode said he had received four offers for the property during his six-week marketing campaign. “There is a strong appetite for something that was done like Essex. Buyers prefer to buy something that is finished, [when] all the hard work has been done, and all the money has been spent.”
He knew when he listed the property that the quality of the renovation would resonate with buyers. “It was very rare for Mount Eden. There is an absolute demand for more product like this: the number of bedrooms, flow to a pool, a view, and privacy. People who are spending this sort of money like their privacy.”
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He added that some people looking at the property had just started planning their own renovation but decided buying a finished project would save them two years of agony and millions of dollars.
The agent also noted good interest in another renovated property he is selling in Mount Eden. 5 Bellevue Road is a historic five-bedroom 1880s villa that had been carefully modernised, he said.
The vendors added a swimming pool, spa, gourmet kitchen, study and a hidden wine cellar, and it sits on a 1535sqm manicured section. The RV is $4.9m, but buyers should expect to pay over $6m.
Thode also has a striking modern home for sale at 8 Mount Hobson Lane, in Remuera. The five-bedroom house, designed by Bossley Architects, was pulling interest well beyond its “meaningless” RV of $5.75m.
A luxury villa at 5 Bellevue Road, in Mount Eden, is also attracting buyer interest. Photo / Supplied
8 Mount Hobson Lane is an architectural stunner created by Pete Bossley. It is for sale by negotiation. Photo / Supplied
“There is a lot of detail in the design, the fit-out and finish is right up there. To build that today would be close to $20,000 per square metre, so that is an $8m building.”
The vendors had three school-aged children when they bought an old 1940s cottage that stood on the site in 2017 for $3.4m. The family bowled the old home and built brand new in 2020, creating the perfect home for their family.
The home has five bedrooms, three bathrooms, is over 407sqm and sits on 670sqm of land. Now that the children have left home, the family is selling up.
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