- Wellington’s most photographed home in Kelburn sold for well over $2m.
- The three-bedroom turret house attracted significant interest and multiple offers, selling above its $2.095m guide price.
- The buyers, a local family, were familiar with the historic 1903 cottage and its unique features.
Wellington’s most photographed home has sold for well over $2 million, OneRoof can reveal.
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The three-bedroom turret house on Rawhiti Terrace, in Kelburn, has made numerous cameos in tourist postcards over the years, thanks to its location between the Kelburn Cable Car and the Botanic Gardens.
It hit the market last month for the first time in almost 30 years, and Tommy’s listing agent Sam Newble said interest was huge.
The cottage can be seen in postcards of the cable car. Photo / Supplied
The three-bedroom house boasts spectacular views of the capital and the harbour. Photo / Supplied
“We didn’t run any open homes, but we had lots of private viewings,” Newble told OneRoof. “We had multiple offers on it, and it sold well over the guide price [of $2.095m].
“A big drawcard was obviously having the views in a single-level house with internal access, which is pretty hard to find in Wellington.”
Newble declined to disclose the exact sale price but said the buyers were a local family who were familiar with the house. “They took that opportunity to own it, knowing that properties like that didn’t come up very often,” he said.
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The vendors, who had bought the cottage in 1996 for just under $900,000, were also pleased with the result. “It’s one of those things where they’ll take the memories with them. It’s been in that family for decades, so it’s quite a big deal when you’re selling a property like that, especially when so many people know that they own it and know the property.”
The cottage, built in 1903 to house the tramway’s caretaker, has a rich history. In the early days, the tram was known to make unscheduled stops at the cottage gate for the caretaker’s wife on “shopping days”, the vendors told OneRoof earlier this month.
The impressive gardens were created by the previous owner, Richard Nanson, who was Wellington’s director of parks and recreation. Photo / Supplied
The cottage also boasts an impressive garden, the work of the previous owner, Richard Nanson, who was Wellington’s director of parks and recreation.
The vendors told OneRoof they had worked hard over the years to keep the garden in good condition. “Richard Nanson was an expert gardener. He planted quite a lot of interesting plants, and he had a very good vegetable garden.” Nanson also extended the original home and built the eye-catching turret.
Work on the Kelburn cable car – technically a funicular railway – began in the late 1890s, with the line opening on February 22, 1902, shortly before the cottage at Rawhiti Terrace was built. It was an instant success and carried over 425,000 passengers in its first year, far exceeding expectations.
The home, which is a minute’s walk to the Kelburn stop, has views over Kelburn Park, right down to the white sands of Oriental Bay. Behind it, and immediately across the road, is the Wellington Botanic Garden.
