Heraldhomes editor Estelle Sarney looks back on properties for sale that have fascinated readers and made news.
Seeby Woodhouse saw the white bridge house on the Milford clifftop when he was developing the firm that brought him to public prominence.
"It became a motivational thing - I wanted to earn enough money that I could buy it one day."
That day came when he sold internet service provider Orcon for nearly $25 million two years ago.
He even found a way to add his own stamp to this polished piece of Richard Priest architecture. "I thought I'd get out of computers and become a landscaper," he says. "I quickly got over that idea but I've enjoyed having the landscaping redone."
Woodhouse created a lush, tropical series of gardens filled with palms, agaves and bromeliads.
The pool area is one of the home's arresting features. Paving slopes to the water's edge, and a glass wall at one end signals a long aquarium that separates two rooms indoors. Off to one side are a spa and fire pit, with a view clear across the Hauraki Gulf.
Floor-to-ceiling glass, clean lines and white walls define the house and its living areas, which include a games room, library, media room and gym.
Each wing has three bedrooms, including a master suite. The suite in the north wing is something else - a circular bed rests under a dark ceiling studded with star-like lights, and the en suite is open to the sitting area, so anyone reclining in the egg-shaped bath can still enjoy the view.
Woodhouse put this house on the market in October, the last of the three top-end properties he bought after selling Orcon and the one in which he has spent the most time since. He says he is selling the houses to raise capital for new business ventures, including investing in commercial property.
His next home will be an apartment, but while he waited for this house to sell, he put it to work.
He leased it to the makers of the NZ version of the TV reality show Master Chef, and the 12 contestants lived there during November and December, with the men in one wing and the women in the other. Practical as well as unique.
Still on the market. Price indication: $8.8 million.
