New life for piece of Hillary history

Vanessa Beddoe and Claes Sandstrom with their children Oscar, 7, Jesper, 4, and Millie, 2. Photo / Natalie Slade

The new owners of a century-old villa that was cut in half and moved from Mt Eden to Warkworth last week plan to turn it into a family home.

Vanessa Beddoe, her husband Claes Sandstrom, and their three children will live on the 3000sq m property, and she plans to write a history about the people who lived in the house.

Local residents protested at the loss of the house in Herbert Rd, which was built for Sir Edmund Hillary's maternal grandmother, Harriet Clark, in 1908.

Ms Beddoe said Sir Edmund visited the house but did not live there, saying the link to the famous mountaineer was fairly tenuous.

She understood the feelings of residents about the loss of the house, but had been upset at some of the criticism levelled at her family.

The house, Ms Beddoe said, had survived the move to Warkworth with no damage to the stained glass windows and pressed tin ceilings.

The Herbert Rd property was bought by developer Victor Rao, who wanted to build three, three-storey townhouses on the site, which is outside the heritage controls of much of Mt Eden.