Barfoot sons put $2.4m family home up for sale

Garth (L) and Chris Barfoot look over their old family home, owned from the 1950s by their late parents. Photo / Paul Estcourt

The Glendowie waterfront home of the founder of real estate firm Barfoot & Thompson is on the market for the first time since 1958.

A secluded sandy beach at the foot of the property attracted Valentine and Christine Barfoot - who swam daily to keep fit - to the home.

"Val" worked in the firm he started in 1923 until he was 75 and in his half-acre of garden for a decade more.

"They loved the sea and they got this thing about swimming before breakfast, which was unusual for the time," said one of their four sons, Garth, who at 74 is a director of the firm and competes in triathlons.

They also enjoyed clear northeast-facing views over bush to Rangitoto, other Hauraki Gulf islands and the Tamaki River.

"I have never taken anyone to the property who has not gasped as they came down the drive and saw that view opening up before them.

"My father was a keen tennis player and bowler but as his sight deteriorated it became his passion to repair and plant over the wounds of a land-slip."

He took advice from Professor Neil Mowbray, of Auckland University's engineering school, on how to reinforce the cliff after the 1965 slip in the garden.

Investment into the business was a priority and the family's home in Peacock St appears modest by today's waterfront mansion standards - single level, clad in weatherboards and with only two bedrooms.

It was small when the four boys were living at home and was supplemented by a caravan.

But it was built on solid foundations and the design by leading post-war architects Thorpe, Cutter, Pickmere and Douglas offered views and sunlight for every room.

"It was a good home for them until mother died in 1981 and father in 1987," said another of the sons, Chris, 80, who is a retired director of the firm.

"It's sheltered from the cold south-westerly wind and is a lot warmer than most of Auckland. It gets hot - the garden has subtropical varieties like banana and pawpaw."

Their elder brother, Tim, also worked in the firm and lived in the parents' home until his death three years ago, aged 80.

The property passed on to the three surviving sons - the other is Nick, a civil engineer, who has lived in Canada for 50 years.

"None of us, or our children, will buy it so we have put it on the market," said Chris, who lives further up the Tamaki River near the Tahuna-Torea Nature Reserve, which he helped to save from becoming a council dump.

Garth who lives at Beach Haven, said he and his brother bought houses when they married and still live in them. "We both bought properties through the company - we are good advertisements for satisfied purchasers," he said.

The property is for sale by tender, which closes on April 20.

Auckland Council has the capital value at $2.4 million for local body rating purposes.

Market value is hard to gauge.

The agents said they would leave that to the tender process, because such property is tightly held and nothing similar has sold recently.

- staff reporter