Demolition for $15m squatters mansion as Herne Bay's 'Circus McGurkus' closes for good

The house at 81 Sarsfield St has a rich past, but recently has been good only for squatters and taggers. Photo / Jason Oxenham

Ghosts, squatters and telly ads - it's the end of a colourful era for an odd Herne Bay mansion with a past as impressive as its waterfront view.

After years of sitting empty and run-down in New Zealand's most expensive suburb, the multi-million dollar home at the corner of Sarsfield St and Sentinel Rd is to be torn down by its new owners this summer.

In its place will come a luxury home that could have a price tag of $15 million when it hits the market next year.

Over the past two years, the property has been neglected, without services, its garden overgrowing and a hedge bursting through a cracked concrete fence.

Neighbours, who call it an eyesore, have had to pay for painters to cover graffiti and phoned police when squatters and dope-smokers broke in.

Despite a soar in Herne Bay property values, the house's capital value had fallen from $5.2 million in 2011 to $4.4 million last year.

"It's been divided into four flats and it's just been like a party house for the past five years," said Graeme Murphy, whose company Appleby Holdings has bought one of two sections that formerly comprised a larger property.

"It's been added to over the years, and it's had three or four alterations made to it."

By December next year, the house and its eye-catching turret would be gone, replaced by a new home. Mr Murphy said his company was working through concepts.

One long-time neighbour told the Herald how the property had changed hands and form many times over the past few decades.

He'd been told that, long before he moved into the neighbourhood, a flood had caused a building on the site to slide down to the beach below. In the mid to late 1990s, it was used as headquarters for the now defunct ad-maker Silverscreen Productions.

"My son used to call it Circus McGurkus because it looked like something out of a Dr Seuss book," said Roimata Macgregor, who worked there as a senior producer.

Between 10 and 15 staff were based there, producing classic ads for such clients as the NZ Transport Agency and drug company Xenical.

Many characters of Auckland's TV and ad world would have passed through its doors: "Being in a creative industry, we got all sorts of interesting and amusing people," she said.

Her workmates thought the house was haunted.

"It was a very spooky building and strange things would happen - like light bulbs jumping out of their sockets and landing in people's glasses - nobody ever wanted to be in that building alone at night."

She felt the property would be better redeveloped than left in its sorry state.

"I drove past it the other day and just found it really sad."