Call to buy Sir Ed's house for the nation

Sir Edmund Hillary's Remuera home will be auctioned off in two weeks. Photos / Glenn Jeffrey, supplied

Remuera Heritage wants to buy the home of Sir Edmund Hillary and turn it into a museum.

The group is worried the legendary climber's modest home will be sold to a private buyer and demolished to make way for a multimillion-dollar mansion on the prime site on the northern slopes of Remuera.

The house, on a 1738sq m Remuera Rd section with views to Rangitoto, is valued at $1.93 million. Other homes in the area are worth up to $12 million.

With just two weeks until it goes to auction, Remuera Heritage president Terry Sutcliffe said the Auckland City Council, Auckland Regional Council, the Government and funding groups like the ASB Trust should devise a rescue package to pay for the purchase.

He said the house could become a museum and be used as a residency by people associated with Sir Edmund and his Himalayan Trust. Remuera Heritage could become the custodians and manage the home.

Sir Edmund's daughter Sarah said there could be value in retaining the house because her father had it built in 1956 and lived in it until his death last year.

It would be impractical to use it as a museum - it is down a private driveway - and a static museum would not fit her father's proactive approach towards people, she said.

"If someone decided they wanted to preserve the house, then I think the best thing would be to have it as a place where people could go and work on projects that would be helpful for other people."

Sarah Hillary said that there were many beneficiaries of her father's will and the family was not in a position to hand the house over to the nation.

Last night, Arts, Culture and Heritage Minister Chris Finlayson said financial help to buy the house "would not be a priority for this Government".