- Northland’s “castle on a hill” is relisted for over $3m, after selling for $2.5m.
- The four-bedroom chateau in Whangārei proved too large for the Auckland buyer.
- Built by Stuart and Nanette Cains, the home features imported materials and handcrafted details.
Northland’s famous “castle on a hill” has been relisted for sale – 15 months after an emotional Auckland buyer picked it up for $2.5 million.
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New Zealand Sotheby’s International Realty agent Sandy McKenzie told OneRoof that her client loved the four-bedroom chateau at 99 Parakiore Road, in Ngararatunua, Whangārei, but had found it too big to handle.
“She just fell in love with the whole thing. The romance of it. It ticked all her boxes. But the realities are different,” McKenzie said.
McKenzie is inviting buyer interest over $3m for the three-storey trophy home, which has sweeping views of Whangārei and sits on a 3.49ha lifestyle block.
The 776sqm home has multiple lounges, a library, workshop, a sauna and spa room. Photo / Supplied
The house was snapped up last year for $2.5m. Photo / Supplied
The property sits on a 3.46ha lifestyle block. Photo / Supplied
“There are no comparable sales,” McKenzie said when asked about the $500,000 leap in price. “It has an insurance valuation of $8m. This [$3m] is where [the vendor] wanted to start.”
McKenzie’s listing describes 99 Parakiore Road as an estate of rare distinction. “Whangārei’s most talked-about residence - and every bit as extraordinary as its reputation suggests,” she wrote.
“From the moment you pass through the wrought iron security gates and ascend the sweeping asphalt drive framed by Paradise Stone retaining walls, it is clear this is a property unlike any other.”
The chateau had been the decades-long labour of love for retired master builder Stuart Cains and his wife, Nanette.
Nanette told OneRoof in 2025 that they had been bowled over by some of the properties they had seen while travelling around Europe and in Atlanta in the late 1990s, and decided to build something similar.
“It was never meant to be a castle, but unfortunately, people call it that.”
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The couple were both working full-time when they started the project, so everything was done after work and during time off.
They completed the first stage of the build in 2000, producing a two-bedroom home, with a bathroom, laundry, two toilets and a kitchenette. Over the next two decades, they added two more bedrooms, a library, a workshop, multiple lounges, a state-of-the-art kitchen, spa, and sauna room.
Nanette said they spent hours looking for the right fixtures and fittings to complement the home. “We kind of had a style, and I guess we have carried it through.”
Nanette said they spent numerous weekends driving to Auckland to pick up various materials, including an ornate fireplace.
They also rescued several leadlight windows that the Quest Hotel in Brisbane had discarded, flying them back from Australia to use as the windows in their upstairs hallway and library.
“They were beautiful. We couldn’t let that go. So we bought that back, and that’s all in the house now,” Nanette told OneRoof.
The original owners sourced the marble on the staircase from Spain. Photo / Supplied
Game of chess? The house has a distinct European flavour. Photo / Supplied
They also imported marble for the staircase and around the fireplace from Spain. “We had so much fun doing this over the years. We used to go away and bring stuff back and get ideas.”
Stuart spent countless hours in his workshop, crafting the intricate staircases, banisters, and architraves from Australian Jarrah wood.
The couple sold the property to an Auckland buyer, who told OneRoof that the house meant a lot to her.
She said she had come up from Auckland to look at the home on impulse. "I stopped on the hill and looked over the city, and I thought, ‘Wow, I'm never going to see anything like this again.' It was so beautiful.
“As you drive up the road, you come round a corner and poof, it's there in front of you, this magnificent palace. Everybody knows it, it's amazing.
“I just thought, whoa. I was standing there, dumbstruck because this entrance is just superb. The gates are like Buckingham Palace gates. I looked up at these little balconies that look over the entrance, and I immediately thought, ‘I would love to hear opera voices singing’. The acoustics are fabulous. It sang to my European soul.”
She added: "I came from London and then never really got out of Auckland, and I was thinking, oh dear, can I really live in the country? But I love it.”
- 99 Parakiore Road, Whangārei, Northland, is for sale, enquiries over $3m
