- Brooke McKenzie bought the "castle" at 602 Yaldhurst Road without initially telling his wife.
- The property includes a main home and a converted barn, totalling twelve bedrooms.
- Bayleys agent Chris Jones sees potential buyers for lifestyle, business, or industrial development purposes.
When businessman Brooke McKenzie first saw the "castle" at 602 Yaldhurst Road over 40 years ago, he knew he had to buy it. And he did; he just failed to tell his wife.
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When she found out about the eye-catching home, she hit the roof.
“I used to travel up and down the country quite a bit, and I saw the house being built,” Brooke told OneRoof. “It was designed by Tom Taylor, who was a sculptor and a professor of architecture at Canterbury University. I think it was his dream to design something like this.
"I kept coming around to see [Taylor and the builders] and thought, ‘I want this house’. I just loved it. It was unique. I came back several times and increased my offer to the point where I said it was my last offer. And it was accepted.
The unusual-looking property was designed by renowned Christchurch sculptor and architect Tom Taylor. Photo / Supplied
The house has hosted countless parties and is up for grabs for the first time in more than 40 years. Photo / Supplied
“I bought the house and then it took me a couple of weeks before I had the courage to tell my wife Lesley I'd bought it. We had a beautiful home on Fendalton Road, and she wasn't very happy with me. But I talked her into coming out here for a year. I bought it half finished and then completed it and did extensions.”
The McKenzies also converted the barn on the 4.33ha site into a seven-bedroom accommodation unit, dubbed Spires Barn Lodge. It has been popular with sports groups, horse riders, and a wide range of other visitors. The entire property how has 12 bedrooms between the main home and barn.
“We've had FBI agents here, and Ghost Hunters International. We even featured in a Bollywood film,” Brooke told OneRoof.
Daughter Brigette added that her mother ran fundraising events at the property, political party get-togethers, and provided free accommodation to families in need after the Christchurch and Kaikōura earthquakes.
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“It has been the most wonderful, happy family home that anyone could ever have,” Brooke said.
“We'd have a party planned for 50 and there'd be 500 coming through,” said Brooke. “It was pretty full on.” They even had to call the police once.
Brooke, who employed “burley bikers” on his construction sites, roped them in to police the house parties from then on. “They were pretty rugged, but they were good guys,” he said. “They used to labour for me on different sites, so I’d give them a ring and say ‘I need some security’.”
Sadly, Brooke lost his wife a year ago and his youngest daughter to cancer three months ago, and has decided it’s time for his next chapter. Once the home is sold, the 78-year-old is taking an extended break on the Gold Coast to think about what his next chapter in New Zealand will be.
The property comes with a seven-bedroom accommodation unit, dubbed Spires Barn Lodge. Photo / Supplied
The gardens were the pride and joy of the vendor's late wife. Photo / Supplied
Brigette and her sister Amy told OneRoof that their mum transformed the grounds and created an exquisite garden. “That was mum’s pride and joy,” Brigette said. "Mum actually planted every tree, bush, and rose. It was paddocks when we moved out here."
She added: “Growing up, we had the luxury of horses and ponies. Kids came out to ride.”
Bayleys agent Chris Jones, who is marketing the property, told OneRoof that he could see three distinct buyer types interested in the property.
Buyer A was looking for a lifestyle property, he said. "You might just find someone who's moving to Canterbury or sold their farm and has kids with horses, and they want an unbelievable property.
“Buyer B is someone who runs a business that hosts conferences and weddings, or wants an accommodation business. I could see someone using it as their business base. It has easy access to the north, south and west. You go out the gate and turn right to go to the west coast, you connect to the new motorway to go south, and you go around the back of the airport to the northern motorway. In terms of access to all those different routes, it doesn’t get any better.
“The third buyer type is a bit harder, but it's no secret that a lot of commercial and industrial developers are going through rezoning processes in that area.”
With Buyer A or B, the house would survive. It might not with the third type of buyer, Jones said. “It would be a real shame to see it go.”
He added: “We've had interest from locals. We've had people in Auckland make enquiries. We also have a database of buyers looking for some sort of work and home property. We sold one around the corner on Buchanans Road that was purchased by a buyer going through the consent process to get a yard for his business. So we've had inquiries from those sorts of people.
"And then we've had one good enquiry from a buyer potentially looking to go through a zoning process for future industrial use."
- 602 Yaldhurst Road, Yaldhurst, Christchurch, is for sale, deadline closing September 23
