- A couple bought a Cheltenham Beach villa after a spontaneous visit, ending nearly 60 years of single-family ownership.
- The property, originally bought for £20,000 in 1967, now has an RV of $8.3m.
- The buyers, described as “villa enthusiasts”, plan to preserve the historic home and consulted neighbours on renovations.
“They had no plan to move, no plan to buy beachfront, they literally fell in love,” Bayleys listing agent tells OneRoof.
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Simmons is talking about the new owners of an iconic home on Auckland’s Cheltenham Beach.
“A stroll along the beach turned into a multimillion-dollar purchase after seeing the [for sale] sign.”
The beachfront villa had been put on the market by 93-year-old Devonport matriarch Dorothy Chignell, ending nearly six decades of single‑family ownership on one of Auckland’s most tightly held streets.
Dorothy Chignell and her late husband Jack bought the property on Oxford Terrace in 1967 for £20,000. House prices have changed quite a bit since then, with the four-bedroom villa now sporting an RV of $8.3m.
Simmons says the buyers, a local couple, came along to one of the open homes and, after hearing the villa’s story, knew they had to have it. “This happens quite often, but to see it happen at this price level was incredible!”
Vendor Dorothy Chignell loved the property’s proximity to the sea. Photo / Supplied
The heritage villa was updated in the early 2000s. Photo / Supplied
In another twist, the buyers canvassed the neighbours on their renovation plans before making an offer on the villa.
“This is the first time I’ve ever come across that kind of genuine concern for others in the process of buying a home,” Simmons says.
“Devonport people don’t even like neighbours living next to them,” she adds jokingly.
Simmons declined to reveal the sale price.
The couple, who wish to remain private, describe themselves as “villa enthusiasts”.
“Our villa was restored under the watchful expert eye of the late Jeremy Salmond 25 years ago, and we have been fans of villas ever since. But as the family gradually left home, our lives changed. We had been considering moving to a property that might be better suited to the years ahead.
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“We are very much looking to be the next custodians of this grand old dame on Cheltenham beach, and to keep one of the few villas left on this very special city beach in fine fettle for many years to come.”
The villa hit the market in February, and Simmons says that to achieve a sale in just over three months was extremely fast for beachfront homes in the upmarket North Shore suburb.
“The home was lived in by a 93-year-old. It was very, very full of all her kids’ stuff, and we worked with her to gradually get everything out of the house and then to stage it so that you could actually see its beautiful bones. I’m sure that if we had just put that villa on the market as it was, people would have down-priced it.”
OneRoof profiled the villa in February, speaking to Chignell’s daughter Fleur about its history.
She said the family’s connection to Devonport dated back to the turn of the 20th century.
The property has an RV of $8.3m and was bought by the vendor in 1967 for £20,000. Photo / Supplied
The listing agent says the home is a blank canvas that’s ready for a new owner. Photo / Supplied
Her great-grandparents, Percy and Blanche Grahame, made a name for themselves building houses in the suburb. Percy did the building, while Blanche sourced the mortgages. “The Grahames, they had five children and dad’s mother, Gloria, was one of them,” Fleur said.
“Dad was brought up in No.8 Grahame Street, which is the big two‑storey house on the corner.”
Jack trained as a pilot during World War II, but the war ended before he was in danger. On his return to civilian life, he set up a law practice in Panmure, and met Dorothy, who was working as a law clerk.
They soon got married and moved to Northcote, but Jack couldn’t shake his desire to return to his roots. “Dad always wanted to come back to Devonport,” Fleur said. “They looked at various houses on the beach, and they just really liked this one.”
The villa was one of the most desirable on the Shore, and Dorothy and Jack made it a loving family home for them and their children.
The younger Chignells played bowls in the hall, bashed table tennis balls against walls and played softball and badminton on the lawn. “There were lots of broken windows,” Fleur said, adding that the beach was their playground. “There used to be lots of cockles, and if you walked out on the mudflats or [went out] on the skim boards, you’d cut your feet.”
She said she and her siblings spent long hours exploring North Head’s labyrinth of tunnels, which have long since been sealed. “We’d crawl under the gates. You could go through a tunnel, and then suddenly there’d be a big drop, a big shaft that you could actually fall down, but you didn’t. It’s all blocked off now.”
There were plenty more adventures in and around the house, the beach and the nearby reserve. “We used to play tennis in the street and softball on the Balmain Reserve with the neighbours’ kids,” said Fleur. “It was just great. And you’d swim a lot, around things like little model boats and buoys and markers. We built big sandcastles like spaceships, and we had small boats, and we all learned to sail.”
Dorothy, a keen golfer and swimmer, made the pages of the New Zealand Herald twice with her cats. A Herald photographer caught Dorothy and Bon Bon in the water together in 1991. Another Herald snapper caught Dorothy out with Mopsy in 1998, with the photo making the front page.
She continued to swim at Cheltenham Beach until last year, Fleur said, but has now moved into care at Ryman’s Williams Sanders Village, in Devonport.
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