Chesney Wold, the childhood home of celebrated New Zealand author Katherine Mansfield, has found a new owner.
The 160-year-old property on Karori Road in Wellington's Karori attracted widespread attention when it hit the market in September, thanks to its literary pedigree.
Ray White listing agent Christy Kemble told OneRoof that the five-bedroom home had been bought by a large family for around its enquiry price of $1.8 million
"They're moving in soon. They're super excited," he said.
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When the property first hit the market, Kemble indicated it was worth close to $2m, pointing to its $1.95m RV.
"Obviously, it's a higher-end home, and we'll see what people's appetite to spend that sort of money is," he told RNZ at the time.
Katherine Mansfield spent her childhood at Chesney Wold and the house features in some of her best-known works. Photo / Getty Images
The home was renovated by the vendors, who bought it in 2009 for just over $1m. Photo / Supplied
After the October 1 tender deadline passed, the sales campaign switched to buyer enquiry over $1.8m. "It sold three or four weeks after that," Kemble told OneRoof. "I had a couple of offers, then it went unconditional late last week, which was awesome."
The sale sparked renewed interest in the home's remarkable history. Kemble said descendants of Stephen Lancaster, Karori's first mayor and the property's original owner, attended open homes and shared family stories with visitors.
"Stephen Lancaster raised 11 kids at the property," he said.
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The home has undergone several transformations since Mansfield lived there as a child.
"It had some weird iterations over the years and changed a lot since Katherine Mansfield lived there," he said.
"It was four flats, and then it was the Mexican Ambassador's house. At one time it had deteriorated so much that a court ordered its demolition, according to news reports."
The vendors had bought the property in 2009 for just over $1m and later undertook an extensive renovation with the help of specialist heritage architects.
They listed the 311sqm residence this year, after deciding to move to something smaller.
A vintage photo of Chesney Wold. The property is one of Wellington's oldest. Photo / Supplied
Mansfield moved to Chesney Wold when she was around five years old. Her parents, Annie and Harold Beauchamp, had shifted the family to Karori in the 1890s and leased the property, following the tragic death of Mansfield's sister, Gwendoline.
The sprawling property - named after a prominent estate in Charles Dickens' Bleak House - would leave a lasting imprint on Mansfield's writing.
It inspired Mansfield's best-known short story, The Doll's House, and featured prominently in Prelude, which tells the story of the fictional Burnell family's move from Thorndon to Karori, closely mirroring the Beauchamps' own relocation.
The house became the model for the Burnells' home, while the aloe plant, gardens, orchard and semi-rural surroundings all drew directly from Mansfield's childhood memories of the property.
Mansfield famously described Chesney Wold as "a great old rambling house planted lonesomely in the midst of huge gardens, orchards and paddocks".
She died in France in 1923 from tuberculosis aged 34.
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