Grand historic home a once-in-a-lifetime family opportunity

When Lady Freyberg House, in Pipitea, was built, Wellington was a very different city. Aotea Quay hadn’t been reclaimed, the shoreline came right up to Piptea and there would have only been a smattering of houses around the new home.

Completed some time in the early 1900s, it’s not clear who the house was originally built for. What is clear, however, is that 18 Moturoa St was built for someone of importance, with money to spend on a significant home.

The name, Lady Freyberg House didn’t come till almost 20 years later, after WWI, when the home was in the hands of the Lady Freyberg Trust which had converted it into a rest home for nurses returning from the war.

Today, the three metre wide hallway, large enough to manoeuvre a bath chair, or hospital bed through, is the only reminder of the home’s health-care past. The hall is so wide, in fact, previous owners used it as a dining room where they could seat 22 people at one extended table.

It has been remodelled, restored, and reconfigured several times in its history, most recently to become a cosy, welcoming family home."It was revamped in 2010, I believe, and at the time they wouldn't have spared any expense,“ says listing agent Mitch Agnew, of Lowe and Co, who is co-managing the listing with Craig Lowe.

That renovation was carried out by then owners, the Symonds family, who spoke to Stuff about the work they completed at the time.

“We find the house works very well and with the renovations we have done, the house has plenty of outdoor area, but also privacy, probably hard to find in the inner city," then owner Rachel Symonds said.

The family lived in the home for 12 years before beginning work on the property, to ensure they knew what they wanted. They took the walls back to the totara frames, revealing original goat hair and mud insulation.That was replaced with a more modern product.

With much taller buildings now surrounding the vintage home, rebuilding and reconfiguring was done with privacy in mind.

Paramount, however, was retaining the unique period features, such as the stained glass, the kauri front door, original ornate ceilings, native timber skirting boards and matai flooring.

The most modern alteration was the creation of the open-plan kitchen/living/dining area which makes the most of the original front bay window.

With four bedrooms, two bathrooms and two reception rooms - three, if you include the separate dining room, which could be used as a third sitting room or library - ranged over 228m² on a 885m² section, this substantial home is exceedingly rare to find in this part of the city.

The current owners have relocated overseas, and Agnew says they look forward to passing custodianship of such a special home to the next owner.

"Wellington has a lot older homes, but certainly not too many of this calibre,“ says Agnew. “Certainly not in that area. You're more likely to get a home like this in, say, Mount Victoria, or Roseneath.

"With the modern kitchen, living spaces, private courtyards. It's just got a lot going for it."

In September, The Post reported Wellington house prices were still on the slide, having sunk by 30% since the 2022 peak. QV national spokesperson Andrea Rush called it a slump, as even Spring hadn’t halted the continued slide.

Wellington’s median house sale price is $740,000. While a current median for Pipitea was not available at the time of writing, surrounded suburbs had seen an average price increase of 3.93% in the last three years.

While Lady Freyberg House is not heritage listed, its historic nature means it is unlikely to be as vulnerable to market fluctuations and the property cycle as other kinds of homes are.

With a CV of $2,910,000, 18 Moturoa St, Pipitea, is for sale by tender, which closes on October 23 and will not be sold prior.