Lone Pine Estate's Artem Zhigarev and Anna Ksenofontova.
Lone Pine Estate's Artem Zhigarev and Anna Ksenofontova.
A young Auckland couple have created a dream Italian villa in Riverhead — and launched it to admiring A-listers.
The lavish party at the 15ha estate was originally planned to cater to 1000 guests, but hosts Artem Zhigarev and Anna Ksenofontova had to scale back to 100 VIPs due toCovid rules.
The black-tie, gala-style event included equal dashes celebrity, influencers and people around town, to get the word out about Auckland's newest — and possibly flashest — venue for hire.
Among the attendees were Coast Breakfast host Toni Street, rich-lister Seeby Woodhouse, former Real Housewife Anne Batley Burton, BossBabes' Edna Swart and Lyia Liu, and Rhythm and Vines co-founder Hamish Pinkham.
The impressive grounds of the Lone Pine Estate in Riverhead.
The palatial home features a grand entrance leading to the marble hall, a large ballroom/dining room, where guests enjoyed the formal dinner part of the evening with an array of Murano glass chandeliers above.
Over the next six months the couple, who live with their young child in the seven-bedroom, nine-bathroom estate, tell Spy they will explore options for visitors to be able to stay at the estate, with a second guest wing under construction.
Zhigarev was born in Russia and has lived in New Zealand since he was 2. He works in software and trading, and is now proudly front-of-house at the estate. Ksenofontova runs the estate events and has a love for fashion too, self-designing the two couture-style dresses she wore for their opening.
Lone Pine Estate in Riverhead.
They met when Ksenofontova was visiting Godzone from Russia for a language course. After she left, the romance continued virtually, until they reunited in France and travelled Europe together.
The house is a love letter to that trip and to the couple's heritage. In particular Zhigarev's ancestor who had a castle in Italy, although the castle no longer exists, the vision for Lone Pine was taken from a small photograph.
"We have chosen aspects of different times and styles, essentially what we loved and worked best together from Europe, Russia and France feature with a focus on Italy," they tell Spy.
"The estate was initially planned as a family home, the concept of our friend and architect Nicolay Pronin, when he was travelling New Zealand as a visitor. It sits atop a hill as a castle would be, overlooking Riverhead and on to SkyCity."
A function room in the Lone Pine Estate.
The Lone Pine grounds boast huge hand-forged gates opening to a driveway lined with Italian pines, winding up to a medieval-style fortress with two watchtowers and a 20m rotunda.
Numerous marble water features, fountains and ponds are below and beyond with handcrafted Florentine mosaics. There is a Grecian-style amphitheatre and luxurious terraces that look out to lavender fields and a vineyard, which produces Albarino grapes, making 350 bottles a year.
All the handmade ironwork is Russian, the various marbles are Italian, the interior furnishings are also Italian along with the stained-glass windows.
There is also a pool, a 3km path that weaves inside the bush/forest, with a small waterfall, and the couple are in the process of training horses and a pony for riding. The estate also has an olive grove and there are plans to produce honey, macadamia, almonds and pine nuts.
The couple are targeting both the local and international luxury markets, from businessmen and women to athletes, performers, as well as the wedding and celebration market.
They can offer hospitality for a small table of guests to a massive event such as the planned 1000-guest opening party. The onsite chef will create bespoke menus.
“Nothing is too big or small,” the couple says. Transport can be included whether it be luxury limousine, buses for larger parties or — of course — helicopter to the estate’s landing pad.
