New Zealand's most famous public toilets have an unlikely residential cousin.
A Warkworth property that has just hit the market boasts a Hundertwasser-inspired bathroom, along with winding pathways, colourful patios and rammed-earth features that look as though they could have been designed by the celebrated Austrian artist himself.
Friedensreich Hundertwasser spent the last 25 years of his life near Kawakawa and created the town's world-famous public toilets, now one of Northland's biggest tourist attractions.
The influence of the eccentric artist can be seen throughout 49 Matthew Road, a unique family compound designed by architect Graeme North, often described as the "father of earth building in New Zealand".
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North, who crossed paths with Hundertwasser several times over the years, said he was even due to work with him on the Hundertwasser Art Centre in Whangārei before delays to the project and the artist's death brought those plans to an end.
The Matthew Road property began life as an 1860s farmhouse. After buying it as his family home, North gradually transformed it, restoring the original dwelling, adding a rammed-earth minor dwelling and reshaping the wider property over nearly three decades.
North says he was inspired by Friedensreich Hundertwasser, but notes the house is very much his creation. Photo / Jason Oxenham
The Hundertwasser public toilets in Kawakawa are celebrated worldwide as a work of art. Photo / Supplied
The colourful toilets at 49 Matthew Road are also eye-catching. Photo / Supplied
Austrian artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser in Vienna in 1985. Photo / Getty Images
Despite the obvious comparisons with Hundertwasser, North insists the home is very much his own creation.
"I'd rather call it my own work, really," North told OneRoof.
The property evolved over the 29 years North, his wife Denise and their children lived there.
"I wanted to do a house that performed very well, suited the site, suited our lifestyle, used natural and non-toxic materials, passive solar design, permaculture. There's a host of stuff that went on in my head," North said.
"It took a big chunk of my life."
His career has earned widespread recognition for pioneering work in rammed-earth construction and natural building methods. North became a Fellow of the New Zealand Institute of Architects, received an NZIA research award for helping develop New Zealand's Earth Building Standards, won an Enduring Architecture Award in 2017 for the Thomson House at Whangārei Heads, and was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit.
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Leaving Matthew Road was not an easy decision.
"I had built the right house in the wrong place, and I seriously thought about how I might be able to transport the house [to the Tasman region]. Take it to bits and rebuild the earthen parts down here. It was possible, but] I'm too old for that game."
The property's current owner, Nancy King, has a story almost as colourful as the home itself.
King is the daughter of Les Harvey, the developer widely credited with transforming Auckland's Parnell from a neglected inner-city suburb into the thriving village precinct it is today. Known as the "patriarch of Parnell", Harvey spent the 1970s buying, restoring and redeveloping rundown buildings along Parnell Road.
King, an artist and natural therapist with a longstanding interest in earth building, moved from Parnell to Warkworth in 2021 to be closer to her daughter Vanessa. Knowing North through shared interests, she approached him about buying the property, only to discover he and Denise were already preparing to sell.
Over the years, King has established several self-described community centres, including Earthskin Muriwai, the Waygood Foundation in Piha and, more recently, the Matthew Rd property.
At the heart of the property is the original three-bedroom farmhouse. Photo / Supplied
The house sits on a lush 7187sqm section. Photo / Supplied
Since taking ownership, she has restored the gardens and established a centre for Permaculture Education, Ecological Design and Creative Artist Residencies.
"It is a place where heritage, architecture, regenerative land stewardship, and creative possibility exist in harmony," King said.
The grounds feature a heritage fruit orchard, a productive food forest that supports biodiversity, and rainwater harvesting systems.
King sees herself as a custodian of the property.
"I put my heart and soul into taking something precious, and that is like such sacred land, and caring for it to the next level of its energetics."
She also converted the barn into a teaching and artist-residency space used for permaculture courses and ecological creative residencies.
North's rammed earth design is warm and wondrous. Photo / Supplied
"We have built on the gardens, and they're thriving. The old barn became a teaching project for earth building."
The clay used in the project was sourced from what has since become the property's duck pond.
King said her biggest challenge was creating a stronger connection between the original farmhouse and North's rammed-earth minor dwelling.
"Basically what I've done is synchronise the two pieces. So there is a flow. I've had quite a famous artist, who has done a big mural on [one] wall. And we've re-plastered, because it was quite dark."
The four-bedroom, three-bathroom property sits on 7187sqm and is being marketed by NZ Sotheby's International Realty agent Kersna Claxton.
In marketing material for the home, Claxton describes the property as a place where the original farmhouse "connects seamlessly to the architectural masterpiece originally designed and created by the natural building architect Graeme North and Deniece, his wife, as their home of not just design excellence but prepared and relevant to our times with its planet-saving purpose".
- 49 Matthew Road, Warkworth, Auckland, is for sale by negotiation
