It’s on one of Auckland’s wealthiest waterfront streets, flanked by billionaire trophy homes and award-winning architectural landmarks on a commanding 1128sqm site with an RV of more than $9 million. Yet the next owner of 32 Rawene Avenue is unlikely to keep the house that stands there today.
Bayleys listing agent Sam Wallace said buyers circling the Westmere property are likely to be drawn less by the distinctive home and more by the rare stretch of waterfront land beneath it, with many expected to start again.
That prospect would mark the end of one of Auckland’s most unusual houses.
Built in 1998 for artist Susan Firth, the home wraps its bedrooms and living spaces around a tropical indoor garden beneath a soaring glass atrium, creating the feeling of a private jungle at the centre of everyday life.
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But Rawene Avenue, perched above Coxs Bay opposite Herne Bay, has become one of the city’s most prized waterfront addresses. Once a bohemian enclave favoured by artists, it is now lined with multimillion-dollar architectural showpieces commanding Herne Bay-level prices.
The glass-roofed house at 32 Rawene Avenue wraps around an internal Balinese-style jungle garden. Photo / Supplied
The sea view from the master bedroom balcony. Photo / Supplied
The 1128sqm section runs down to the sea with views across to Hobsonville Point and Beach Haven. Photo / Supplied
In one direction sits the waterfront mansion that rewrote local records when it sold last year for $28m, about $10m more than it achieved five years earlier. The property was famously rented by Jason Statham and his partner Rosie Huntington-Whiteley during the filming of The Meg a decade ago and is now undergoing a multimillion-dollar renovation expected to further boost its value.
In the other direction stands the striking new home of businesswoman Anna Mowbray and former All Black Ali Williams. The couple paid $24m for the 3000sqm headland site in 2020, buying it from Shrek director Andrew Adamson before demolishing the existing house and commissioning a David Ponting-designed glass-and-concrete compound.
“Rawene Avenue is one of the most desirable locations in Auckland now. You’ve got that fantastic proximity to the sea,” said Wallace, who is marketing the property with colleagues Gary and Vicki Wallace.
“It’s an extraordinary house with so much personality, but it might not suit everyone. It’s not often you get the opportunity to come up with a clean slate and build your dream home in a dream position.”
Ali Williams and Anna Mowbray are two of Rawene Avenue’s famous residents. They own a lavish waterfront home there that’s made headlines. Photo / Supplied
Jason Momoa, right, and Jennifer Coolidge at the premiere of The Minecraft Movie, which was shot in Auckland. The actors attended a barbecue next door to 32 Rawene Avenue. Photo / Getty Images
Jason Statham and Rosie Huntington-Whiteley famously rented a house on Rawene Avenue while Statham was filming in Auckland. Photo / Getty Images
The Rawene Avenue trophy home that fetched $28m last year - $10m above what it sold for in 2020. Photo / Supplied
One of the home’s owners, Gideon Keith, accepts that the house his mother created may not survive another generation.
“I think it’s kind of a given. I don’t like to think about it,” he told OneRoof.
“I mean, I wouldn’t be able to demolish that house and build again. But you know, I wouldn’t begrudge somebody doing that.”
Keith laughed that the property almost had its own Hollywood cameo. Two summers ago, Jason Momoa and Jennifer Coolidge attended a barbecue next door while Momoa’s stunt double from Minecraft: The Movie was staying at the house.
The transformation of the Rawene Avenue property would have seemed unimaginable when Firth bought an old waterfront bungalow on the site in 1989.
Back then, Keith said, the neighbourhood felt like Auckland’s “wild west”, populated largely by artists and creatives. By the late 1990s, when Firth commissioned architect Grant Copeland to design a replacement home, she had one overriding request: a house with a garden inside it.
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“She spent a lot of time in Bali; she liked the tropics. She had written books on plants with [photographers] Robin Morrison and Gil Hanly and always had amazing gardens,” Keith said.
“Her grandfather had a house with a garden inside it. So, she remembered that.”
Keith still remembers carrying palms his mother had nurtured into the newly completed house. Fed by a favourable microclimate and an automatic watering system, some have since grown so vigorously they occasionally need cutting back.
Outside, more mature palms frame a hot tub with sweeping views across the water.
When OneRoof first visited the property in 2017, Keith, his wife Elena and their two young children had been living there for about a year. The family initially intended to sell, reluctant to alter Firth’s vision.
Instead, they stayed and carefully adapted the home to suit family life.
The section of the internal garden with the best sea views became a new living room, complementing a separate media room. The staircase was reconfigured and a fourth bedroom added.
They also made a more practical change to the main bathroom, adding a door for privacy. Originally there was none; the surrounding palms provided all the screening Firth felt she needed. New tiles and a freestanding bath were installed, while preserving views of the indoor jungle.
Susan Firth’s son Keith and his wife Elena reimagined 32 Rawene Avenue to work for their young family, adding a living room and updating the colour scheme. Photo / Supplied
The living spaces open to the view, tropical gardens and artworks by Firth’s friends. Photo / Supplied
Elsewhere, the family retained Firth’s handmade tiles but softened her bold palette of green, purple, red and orange with cleaner white tones better suited to displaying art. The light-filled kitchen beneath the glass roof was modernised in white and stainless steel, while Firth's kiln room became an office or fourth bedroom.
“We wanted to keep the spirit of mum’s vision, but also make it a bit more functional,” Keith said.
“We felt really sensitive about making too many changes; we worked out how we could without ruining the spirit of the place. And that’s given us another 10 years.”
He said the home’s open-plan design struck a rare balance between privacy and connection.
“You feel like you’re in nature; it’s exceptionally quiet. When it is a still night, you can hear the estuary; it is alive. It makes bubbles and pops. It is just the most magical spot.”
He has also witnessed the dramatic transformation of the surrounding area.
“Mum and her partner would go out and catch flounder or snapper. You could look up the west harbour, to Hobsonville, and there were no lights. You felt like you were in the Kaipara, rather than the Waitemata,” he said, adding that his children spent hours exploring the shoreline.
Now, as his children move into adulthood, Keith believes it is time for the next chapter.
“I will be really sad to say goodbye to the place, but then, you know, the only thing that’s constant is change,” he said.
Wallace would not speculate on a sale price but noted that even redevelopment sites on Rawene Avenue have been attracting huge premiums. Last year, a tidy original brick-and-tile waterfront home sold for $8.6m, well above its $6m RV.
“There may be someone who really falls in love with the uniqueness of the house and is happy to live in it. There might be others who come along with their architect and build that dream home that’s going to sit there for the next 50 years.”
- 32 Rawene Avenue, Westmere, Auckland, is for sale, deadline closing December 10
