Ten years after appearing on Grand Designs New Zealand, Wellington's 45 Degree House has found a new owner.
A Singapore-based buyer paid $1.4 million - $450,000 below the RV - for architect Nic Ballara's gravity-defying four-bedroom home on Orangi Kaupapa Road, in Northland.
Tommy’s listing agent Ramon Kane said the property was scooped up sight unseen. "Interestingly, this is something I am seeing more frequently. I have completed more than six sight-unseen sales this year alone,” he told OneRoof.
One of the properties, a five-bedroom home on The Parade, in Island Bay, set a suburb price record of $3.46m.
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Kane said overseas buyers were comfortable buying sight unseen when they had access to the right information. “Having the right systems in place - detailed property information packs, builder’s reports, LIM reports and supporting documentation - allows buyers to do their due diligence and make informed decisions with confidence regardless of where they are in the country or the world.”
The new owner of the 45 Degree House could have also watched Grand Designs New Zealand. Ballara's determination to prove that Wellington’s steep hills could, with the right design, accommodate housing featured in the first season of the hit show in 2015.
Ballara used an experimental design to prove you could build a house on a steep site. Picture / Supplied
The four-level house boasts spectacular views of central Wellington, but at the same time is completely private. Picture / Supplied
Ballara hung his four-bedroom home backpack-style over a sheer drop at Orangi Kaupapa Road, rather than cut into the land.
His daring efforts made for one of the TV series’ most exciting stories.
The structural system used 11 rock anchors drilled back into the hillside, with a steel structure projecting from the anchors. The house cantilevered over the slope rather than sitting conventionally on the ground. It was the highlight of the inaugural season of Grand Designs New Zealand in 2015 and later won Ballara an award.
https://www.nzia.co.nz/awards/local-architecture-awards/45-degree-house/6220/
Ballara, who listed the house in March last year, told OneRoof that he had put much of his "heart and soul" into the property, noting that living there had been an extraordinary experience.
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“You look from one direction, and there's a full forest with kākā in the bush. Look from another direction, and you've got this amazing postcard view of Wellington City. The weather, the sunrise, the mist - it's just a magical place to live," he said.
“The building was designed to open itself to all of it. It had an entire wall of glass facing the bush, which was incredibly private, so no one else could see.
“From a practical perspective, now that I’m living in rental properties, I realise how beautifully warm it was all year. It had a healthy HRV. It was like the house was breathing all the time, changing the air. It was just amazingly designed.”
The 45 Degree House may have defied conventional gravity, but unfortunately for Ballara, it couldn’t escape Wellington’s property downturn. “Our timing was shocking,” he said.
Ballara's efforts appeared on the first season of Grand Designs New Zealand. Photo / Supplied
Ballara said so much had changed in his life since appearing on Grand Designs. “The star of the show, my wife Callie, passed away five years ago,” he said. “I’ve remarried, and the house was no longer fit for purpose in that it didn’t have enough bedrooms."
With four children still at home, Nic and Trish Ballara will continue to rent for the near future. “It’s like trading in a Ferrari,” he said. “I had this amazing place, and now I've got the Škoda.”
The family is living in a holding pattern for now, he said. “Renting is actually incredibly cheap in Wellington at the moment, and we can rent a big home that works for us.”
The couple plan to build something new in the next 12 months to 18 months. “The idea is that we do something crazy and spectacular and probably modular that's craned on, and at that point we might talk to the show again. That's my latest idea.”
Following Grand Designs, Ballara’s architectural practice, The Pōneke Company, created concept plans for modular homes for very steep sites based on the backpack concept. “I'm doing a lot of work with a company based in Australia that constructs apartments and houses offshore in China,” he said.
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