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When antiques dealer John McClenaghan bought an Auckland kauri mansion for a paltry $40,000, he wouldn't have known that, six years later, he would be selling it - for about $4 million.
That extraordinary appreciation is testament to a great deal of work and money spent, and also to the grand vision McClenaghan had when he first saw the former retirement home in St Vincent Ave, Remuera.
"I just walked into the stairwell and I had to have it," he says. "It was an impulse buy."
The magnificent two-storey home, nearly a century old but now upgraded to near new condition, was formerly known as St Elizabeth House.
McClenaghan rechristened it The Grey House - although the Jigsaw House would be equally apposite.
He bought the 668sq m mansion on a whirlwind trip back to New Zealand from London, where he had lived for 18 years. The building was then chopped into 10 pieces ready to be transported by truck north to the shores of Mahurangi Harbour.
For the next 18 months the 10 large pieces were stored in a Henderson yard before McClenaghan returned four years ago with his wife and daughter to see the "jigsaw" reconstructed at Scotts Landing.
The first segment failed to arrive on time after the truck's hydraulics collapsed, signalling the start of a long and fraught process.
McClenaghan says: "It seems funny now, but it took two or three months.
"There's quite an art to it, swinging those pieces around."
It cost $125,000 to move - "And then you open the cheque book," he laughs. "There is so much to do. I lost track of how much I spent on it."
Over the next two years he project-managed the rebuilding, which included a new roof and new wiring, plumbing, piling and insulation. "You are looking at a new house really."
The Grey House features sweeping wooden stairs, a rimu-panelled inglenook with gas fire, a drawing room, library-study, butler's kitchen, all around verandahs and a roof terrace with an open fire.
It is furnished with antiques McClenaghan has collected from around the world.
It was to have been the family's permanent home, but itchy feet have intervened. "We want to spend more time away. And we have a house in the south of France," says the proud owner. "But we are looking for another place in Scotts Landing."
Despite figures released showing property sales volumes have slumped 44.3 per cent compared to the same period last year, he is confident of attracting offers of about $4m.
