Auckland couple selling the historic Hawke’s Bay villa that changed their lives

- Peter Allen and Paul Smith are selling their historic Hawke’s Bay villa after six years.

- They renovated the 119-year-old Hawthorne House, adding a new kitchen and bathroom in 2022.

- The villa, run as a bed and breakfast, features five ensuite bedrooms and a reworked garden.

An Auckland couple is selling the historic Hawke’s Bay villa they brought back to life.

The five-bedroom property, which owners Peter Allen and Paul Smith have run as a boutique bed and breakfast for the last six years, is back on the market with a new agency after a three-month hiatus.

OneRoof profiled the property when the pair first listed it at the end of last year. They said at the time that they had accelerated their three-year plan to relocate to Hawke’s Bay after spotting the 119-year-old villa, known as Hawthorne House, on the edge of Hastings.

Peter Allen and Paul Smith in their Hawke’s Bay retreat. They have enjoyed running the bed and breakfast and bringing the villa up to scratch. Photo / Supplied

Allen told OneRoof: “We wanted to move to the Bay. We always joked we would move to the country, but only if it was no more than 10 minutes away from a good coffee.”

The Edwardian villa started life as a doctor’s surgery and was originally situated on a corner site near Hastings racecourse. In the late 1960s, it was moved to its current location, with new owners in the mid-1990s converting it into a bed and breakfast.

When Allen and Smith took possession, they spent several months redecorating the property before carrying out a larger renovation in 2022, which included adding a new kitchen and bathroom.

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“We redecorated inside and out, replanted the gardens, installed a new kitchen, and added a guest bathroom,” Allen said.

They wanted the renovation to be sympathetic to the property’s heritage and couldn’t believe their luck when they discovered the original wooden paneling and stained-glass windows.

“People love a bit of nostalgia, so we retained all that character,” Allen said. “We are more mid-century meets villa than art deco meets villa.”

Each guest room has been named after the colour scheme inside: Māwhero, Kikorangi, Pango, and Kākāriki. Allen admitted that some guests had described some of their colour choices, such as the dark blue-black paint in the sitting room, as “a bit eccentric”.

The villa was split into three pieces and moved to the former freezing work site on Railway Road South. Photo / Supplied

The couple’s "eccentric" colour choice included painting the sitting room dark blue-black. Photo / Supplied

The couple infused the villa with their extensive and diverse collection of art, ceramics, glass, and garden sculptures, which they said was part of the attraction for guests.

The overhaul of the garden speaks to the site’s former life as a freezing works zone. The old pumphouse for the original factory sits at the rear of the property while traces of the railway siding and some of the factory foundations are still visible.

Hawthorn House has five ensuite bedrooms in the main house, four of which are guest rooms. In 2006, a three-bedroom, two-bathroom property called The Mews was added to the home and used as the manager’s accommodation.

Allen during the renovation work. The couple stripped everything back. Photo / Supplied

The couple carried out a full renovation on the home including installing a new gourmet kitchen with a marble benchtop. Photo / Supplied

“When we moved from Auckland, we chose to live in the main house, knowing that if we didn’t like it, we could always move into the mews, but five years later, we are still in the main house, and we love it,” Allen said last year, adding that the mews was rented out and provided an additional income stream.

In recent years, most of the guests have been overseas travellers aged 55-plus. “They love being hosted, they generally love the area, they love our hospitality, and they love the house,” Smith said.

The couple told OneRoof last year they were selling up to move to a smaller house in Havelock North. “The last three owners did three years each, and we’ve done five. We love hosting, but we have bought another house in Havelock North and it’s time to move on,” Allen said.

- 1420 Railway Road South, in Hastings, is for sale