Property: Family farewell Piha stronghold Utopiha

Utopiha, at 49 Garden Rd, occupies an entire ridgeline and is the largest Piha property still in private ownership.

Sprawling ridgetop property with two houses and extensive coastal views for public sale after about 75 years.

It sits on nearly 14ha of sprawling ridgetop land commanding dramatic views over Piha's sentinel Lion Rock and the churning Tasman Sea.

Steeped in rich history, this windswept property has been owned by the Murray family for generations but is for public sale for the first time since the 1940s.

Utopiha, at 49 Garden Rd, occupies an entire ridgeline and is the largest Piha property still in private ownership. The unique land parcel has a CV of $1.625 million but is expected to fetch several million dollars. It comes with two homes, one dating from 1916 and a larger three-bedroom 288sq m homestead built in 1978 perched higher on the ridge and nestled in native bush.

The Garden Rd property has sweeping views up and down the coast, over Lion Rock and Piha village and out to sea.

"The long views from all points at Utopiha are spellbinding - of the beach, the entire town and Lion Rock itself," said Michael Pleciak of Legacy Partners who is marketing the property with Jim Rohrstaff. "But what's truly unique is the way this property hovers in an intimate way above the community and the beach."

Just 45 minutes from Auckland, Utopiha was bought in the 1940s by Tom and Eileen Murray. From 1950 to 1958, they ran the Piha Post Office Store, which was home to the local telephone exchange.

On May 29, 1953, the Murrays opened after-hours so Sir Edmund Hillary's wife Louise - who was staying with family at Anawhata - could receive a historic telegram that Sir Ed had successfully scaled Mt Everest. The charge was 2 shillings (20c).

In the 1970s, the ageing Murrays decided to sell. To prevent the property being lost from the family, it was bought by Mr Murray's son Bruce and his wife Janet.

Bruce died three years ago and Mrs Murray, 75, is now reluctantly moving on, meaning it will pass out of family ownership for the first time in about 75 years.

"It's going to be hard to leave, it's my life. It's a lot of history."

Mrs Murray said her late husband's boyhood dream was to build a house on top of the ridge. A planning change months after the house was consented meant a dwelling could no longer be built at the same breathtaking vantage point.

When they moved in, Piha was a small village and Mrs Murray knew every light glimmering below the property.

"Now it's like a glowworm cave at night," she said.

She was unsure where she would live but is contemplating an international cruise.

The property has the potential to be subdivided and is being sold by tender. Another property owned by the Byers family and known as The Gap was sold to Auckland Council last year for just over $3 million.

Piha paradise

•14ha Piha property occupying an entire ridgeline.

• For public sale for the first time since the 1940s.

• Has two houses and dramatic views of Lion Rock, West Auckland coast and Tasman Sea.

• Is the largest Piha property still in family ownership.

• Has a CV of $1,625,000 but is expected to fetch several million dollars.