- A historic 19th-century cob homestead near Livingstone is on the market for more than $495,000.
- No council records exist, and the property is being sold as is, where is.
- Built in 1872, it features a wood-fired range, food forest, workshops and historic gold-mining connections.
A 19th-century homestead with deep ties to New Zealand’s gold-mining legends and a reputation that outweighs its paper trail has hit the market.
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The hand-built, three-bedroom cob house at 14 McKenzie Road, in Livingstone, Waitaki, is looking for a buyer with over $495,000 to spend, and despite being one of the district’s best-known historic homes, it is being sold “as is, where is”.
“Everybody knows about it,” One Agency listing agent Kitty Culp told OneRoof. “I mentioned it to my partner, and he’s like, ‘Oh, yeah, I used to drop a German fellow off there [decades ago] and pick him up when we worked at some farm’.”
Remarkably, there are no council records for the house. Officially, it doesn’t exist, although the two titles covering the 6245sqm property are on file.
The property dates back to 1872 and is described by agent Kitty Culp as feeling like a big warm hug. Photo / Supplied
The home and outbuildings sit on 1.5ha of land over two titles. Photo / Supplied
One of the titles includes a long list of the historic rights to any minerals, petroleum, coal and geothermal resources found on the land. “The Government gets it if you find any gold,” Culp said.
There is also plenty of historic gossip in Livingstone for those cold Otago nights, though. “One of the old timers told me that they never found much gold [at Maerewhenua] but the brothels and the beer parlours did well,” Culp said.
Her phone has been running hot since the listing went live earlier this month, noting that potential buyers love the “good life” aspect of the home, which has a wood-fired range as its centrepiece, and a flourishing food forest capable of keeping a family supplied with fresh produce for much of the year.
And while, the lack of a council file might be an issue for those needing bank financing, the house was “quite affordable”.
“Cob and straw bale houses feel so different than any other home that you go into. It feels like a big warm hug,” she said.
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“It’s a beautiful, warm, wood, old-fashioned kitchen dining area with a wood-fired stove and baskets hanging from the roof for vegetables and fruits.”
In addition to the main home, the property boasts a wood workshop, garden sheds, a bunkhouse, a summer kitchen, a music/entertainment area, and a gravel caravan/bus pad for visitors, projects, or alternative accommodation.
Newspaper articles suggest a local miner, John Frater, built the home in 1872. Frater was one of the many early settlers drawn to Livingstone to make their fortune in the gold-mining town.
He is believed to have died at the Maerewhenua mine in 1883, leaving his wife Amy and 10 children destitute. According to local lore, locals raised money to buy the home for the family when the bank tried to seize it.
The wood-fired stove installed by German immigrants is the centrepiece of the home. Photo / Supplied
The well-stocked pantry is partly supplied by a food forest which has some trees dating back well beyond living memory. Photo / Supplied
The Frater family continued to live at The Moorings until 1913, after which it passed through multiple hands until Waitaki Boys High School teacher Percy Hargreaves bought it as a holiday home in 1946, keeping it until 1974.
In the early 1980s, German immigrants Peter and Teresa Wutz bought the home in a derelict state and restored it to the standards of the day. They sold it to the current owners for $70,000 in 1997 and went on to set up the Lone Hill Vineyard, one of the first in the Waitaki Valley, growing Pinot Gris, Riesling and Pinot Noir.
Culp said her clients had built on the Wutzes’ work and created an organic paradise.
- 14 McKenzie Road, Duntroon, Livingstone, Waitaki, is seeking enquiries over $495,000
