- Phil Brass is selling his restored Roger Walker-designed home in Wadestown after moving to Kāpiti.
- Brass spent 12 years upgrading the 1980s home, including new cladding and flooring.
- The home, with a CV of $710,000, is listed for over $845,000 due to extensive renovations.
A carefully restored Roger Walker-designed home has hit the market for sale in Wellington after its owner found love, up the coast.
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Homeowner Phil Brass has spent 12 years and a lot of money bringing the iconic home at 214 Barnard Street, in Wadestown, into the modern era, but following a decision to move to an eco-village in Kāpiti, he’s selling up.
Brass was living in Nelson when he first spotted the 1980s Walker home. He knew he had to buy it. “It was an easy decision when it came up. I didn’t want a cookie-cutter house and it’s great architecture,” he told OneRoof.
The vendor spent 12 years modernising what was a dated home. Photo / Supplied
The house is designed to capture the light. Photo / Supplied
The house is also a suntrap – it faces north and looks across Khandallah, capturing the sun all year round, with the 2.73m-high windows making the most of the light. “That gave it a really interesting perspective in the evenings,” Brass said.
He also adored the angled kitchen and bathroom and the “classic Roger Walker move with the portholes”.
However, the house was dated and needed work when he picked it up for $375,000. “It was like a time-warp to the mid-1980s,” Brass said, explaining that it has taken him more than a decade to bring it up to standard.
The upgrades included replacing the cedar cladding with Fijian mahogany, which is resistant to insect infestation.
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“I got rid of all the Formica benchtops and 80s blue bathrooms and so forth. One big thing was the flooring. It was worn-out carpet. So I resurfaced the floors with West Coast blackwood.”
Brass installed new plumbing and replaced the window fittings with a modern, hardier curved polycarbonate. The scaffolding needed during the upgrade was “a nightmare”, Brass said, adding: “It was a bloody big job”.
The property is accessed by cable car, which has also benefitted from a $140,000 upgrade.
Brass will be sad to leave the home but is moving into an eco-community with his new partner. “It’s not a commune. It’s a community of titles with similar values. It’s a wrench, however, because I love this place and it’s not something I’d part with easily. But it’s a change in life.”
The agent selling the property says it is unlike any other Roger Walker home he’s sold or appraised. Photo / Supplied
Listing agent Billy Bell, from Tommy’s, has sold and appraised several Roger Walker-designed homes over the years. What makes 214 Barnard Street stand out is its X factor renovation and restoration.
“I’ve been in real estate 10 years and I’ve seen a lot of Roger Walkers, but I’ve never seen something like this. It’s awesome. It has all the Roger Walker touches but Phil’s added a little bit of X factor,” Bell told OneRoof.
“It’s one of a kind, you know. You’re not going to drive down the road and find one of these again.”
When asked who might buy the property, Bell said he thought it would be a “very modern kind of person”.
“Your classic Wellingtonian,” he told OneRoof. “The vendor said it’ll be someone who has an e-bike and likes Wellington for what it is.”
The home, which has a CV of $710,000, is looking for a buyer with more than $845,000 to spend. Bell said the CV did not reflect Brass’s upgrades. “The thing with this property is the council doesn’t know much about the work that was done, which didn’t require consent, so the RV is incorrect.”
- 214 Barnard Street, in Wadestown, Wellington, is for sale, enquiries over $845,000
