- A former nunnery near Wellington’s CBD, now with 35 bedrooms, is for sale for over $5.95m.
- The property, once home to the Missionary Sisters, offers a holding income exceeding $500,000 annually.
- It’s zoned for high-density residential, allowing for potential townhouse or apartment development.
A former nunnery minutes from Wellington’s CBD is for sale as a prime development opportunity.
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The property, which was converted to flats and now boasts 35 bedrooms, eight bathrooms and 28 carparks, is pitched as having a “huge holding income”, with the listing agent inviting buyer enquiry over $5.95 million.
It was once a base for the Missionary Sisters of the Society of Mary, according to devotional magazine Marist Messenger.
The magazine explains the order had been known through the years as the “Leper Nursing Sisters”, the Missionary Sisters, or simply the SMSM.
“A number of sisters had been in New Zealand prior to 1934: one spent a brief time with Suzanne Aubert and her sisters in Jerusalem in the 1880s, and several who staffed the government leprosarium on the island of Makogai, Fiji, came here on furlough during the 1920s,” the magazine says.
“Our first foundation was at 48 Aurora Terrace, in Wellington. It was a base for sisters who needed to come from the Pacific missions for health reasons, and a formation house for women wanting to be missionaries.”
The 35-bedroom property is now a boarding house that brings in over $500,000 a year in rental income. Photo / Supplied
The property is being pitched to developers and sits on more than 2000sqm of land zoned for townhouses or apartments. Photo / Supplied
A discussion on Facebook told how the nunnery once had a large olive tree in front of its main door, “apparently growing from a seed gathered in the Garden of Gethsemane”.
The entry also said former Prime Minister Sir Keith Holyoake used to live on the same road, above the convent.
Raine & Horne agent Paul Dickason, who is marketing the property with Nick Eagle, said the listing was “magical”.
“Nick and I are very proud and very privileged to be representing the owner, but I would also say the property as well. It is a genuinely and truly unique property,” he told OneRoof.
“I would say it’s about 110 metres from The Terrace and I would be surprised if it’s more than 500 metres from the Beehive,” said Dickason.
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Eagle said the property was turned into a boarding house after the nuns left and now boasted six separate flats. The annual holding income was capable of exceeding $500,000, the listing on OneRoof noted.
While Aurora Terrace was steep, No.48 was on a flat 2315sqm site zoned high-density residential with a 22-metre height control. The agents’ listing said that buyers could replace the former nunnery with a multi-unit townhouse development or large apartment block, or they could modernise the existing buildings.
Outside of Wellington, on the Kapiti Coast, another striking home from the region’s past is up for grabs, albeit with fewer bedrooms.
43 Kohekohe Road, in Waikanae, is understood to have been built in the late 1960s with the intention of providing accommodation to unmarried pregnant women – there used to be two stoves in the kitchen, and there’s a gigantic laundry.
The property has an RV of $3.32m, but listing agent Sharalyn Fraser, of Sharalyn Fraser Agency, said properties in the area were selling for more than their rating valuation.
Another big home on the market with links to Wellington’s past is 43 Kohekohe Road in Waikanae, Kapiti Coast. Photo / Supplied
The grand five-bedroom home is for sale, deadline closing February 26. Photo / Supplied
The owners, Sue and John Allen, told OneRoof the former owner was Mr Toop, an importer of brass fittings and other objects, so there are chandeliers, wall fittings and brass handles throughout the house.
The couple said Mrs Toop was a woman before her time. “She took in unmarried mothers and pregnant women back in those days, and this house was built with that in mind, so two of the downstairs bedrooms have their own bathrooms and external access,” said Sue.
“There’s a huge laundry where the women could do all their washing and a huge linen cupboard, and also in the kitchen, there were two ovens and two sink benches for them to do their cooking.
“They are not there now, of course. The kitchen has been completely redone, but the house was never used for what she intended because their son died a week before they were due to move in.”
The Allens have lived in the property since 2001, raising their three boys there and relishing the space. They had been living in America, where large homes are the standard, and liked this property because not only did it have the living space they were used to, but it also had a huge garage and workshop.
“You could fit four to six cars in there, and all our boys and my husband are car-mad, so that was the huge draw. They’ve done all sorts of projects down there.”
The couple said their sons have left home, and the house was far too big for them so they have decided to downsize.
Fraser said the house bordered three streets and was a landmark in the area.
“It’s obviously really, really big, but also it’s tucked away as well, so there’s a bit of an air of mystery around it. It’s just a stunning property. There’s nothing around like it.”
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