A LANDMARK home just off Beaumont Street in Hamilton has hit the market for the first time in more than two decades.
The two-storey double-brick Edwardian mansion at 65 Lindsay Street will go to auction on December 9 with listing agent Katie Kepner of Presence Real Estate.
Ms Kepner said the property was expected to fetch a significant figure, however, a price guide was not yet available.
The home was last sold in 2001 for $760,000, according to CoreLogic.
"If you have ever been to Hamilton, you would know this house.
"It just has such a presence and such an impact when you walk past it."
The five-bedroom, two-bathroom home, known as Fettercairn, hit the market on Wednesday.
Set on a 1033 square metre block, the house was constructed in 1903 for the Gow family who operated Gow & Co Drapers and Milliners on nearby Beaumont Street.
According to its owner, Newcastle barrister Christian Hart, the home was built as a statement of the family's success and prosperity.
The home was eventually sold and served as a private hospital with 17 midwifery beds for 50 years before becoming a private residence and doctors surgery.
The stately building later became an art gallery before it was returned back to a private residence.
For the past two decades, Fettercairn has been held by Mr Hart who is moving on after raising his family in the home over the past 22 years.
"It's a home full of love because I have raised six children here but now I'm am empty nester," Mr Hart said,
"It has a spirit and it's so grand and the features in it, you just couldn't built it today."
Original features include six working marble fireplaces, stained glass windows, pressed metal ceilings, 10 inch redwood architraves and kauri timber floorboards.
Both front verandahs have the original ornate wrought-iron lacework.
Mr Hart said he had admired the home for many years before he bought it.
"I was working on Beaumont Street as a lawyer when the home was being restored after the earthquake by Philip Gordon who turned it into the Lindsay Street Gallery," he said
"So I had admired it for years and years."
Ms Kepner said the previous owner Mr Gordon had undertaken an extensive 18-month restoration of the building which included structural repairs.
Mr Hart has since done further restoration work and renovations designed maintain the home's character, such as the decorative William Morris wallpaper in the the formal living and dining rooms.
Nordic Carpentry recently restored the timberwork on the front of the home and Swansea-based Nigel Golding oversaw the painting of the facade and decorating.
Each of the bedrooms are grand in size and scale, including the master which has a fireplace and enough space for a sitting area.
The home includes an eat-in kitchen with a top-of-the-line Falcon stove and two updated bathrooms, including the main with a claw foot bath.
Mr Hart said it was not uncommon for him to sit on the balcony and have passers by tell him about their connection with the home.
"I've had people walk past and say, 'I was born in this house' or 'I had my tonsils out here when it was a hospital'," he said.
"Also, because the Gow family was very prominent, every now and then I get a Gow family member pop past and say hello."
In addition to the grand scale of the house, the backyard is also much larger than those typically found in the suburb of Hamilton.
The yard has a chicken coop and an enormous avocado tree that fruits twice a year and, according to the owner, produces 120 boxes each year.
"The block size is more than 1000 square and you would not expect that this huge backyard is behind the house," the agent said.
"In its condition now it is beautiful but there is still a bit of room for someone to make it their own, they could put a bit more of a modern twist on it and so it's a really nice canvas to work with."
The record price for a residential home in Hamilton is $3.1 million which was set following the sale of a renovated early 1900s-era five-bedroom, five-bathroom home at 113 Everton Street in November 2021.
The median house price in Hamilton is $1.04 million.
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