This is my former home of the last sixteen years. You too could live here if you have a lazy $900k+…..
We’ve already established that I have a thing about old things. Buildings, cars, clothes, and furniture are all things that I prefer to buy / occupy in a pre-loved state. My last residence was the same – it’s polished floorboards and hand-drawn glass window panes were some of the things I loved about it. The wind whistling up through the gaps in the floorboards in winter? Not so much.
The property has an interesting history. It was originally built around 1895 according to the Quotable Value website. The historic Thomas Ward maps shows three sections making up what is now Hobson Crescent, with only one of those sections having a building on it by 1892. That building appears to have been demolished to make way for the new road.
A fire broke out in a closet under the stairs in the afternoon of 27 May 1901. Mr James Marchbanks owned the eight-roomed house which was severely damaged by smoke and water. He was the Managing Engineer of the Manawatu Railway Company. The only occupant at the time was a “servant girl”.
Mr Marchbanks must have recently purchased the property as his address for the 1900 election was given as 91A Tinakori Road. For the 1904-05 election his address is given as 2 Hobson Crescent. This difference in address from what it is known as now may be because the properties would have been re-numbered as the sections were sub-divided.
Mr Marchbanks made application for a building permit in 1901 to reinstate the fire-damaged dwelling. It’s not clear if he was still the owner of the property in 1911 when a ‘J W Marchbank’ applied for a permit to make additions to the dwelling. The 1911 census have him and his wife May Constance Marchbanks still living there.
Electoral rolls show James and his wife still living there in 1928. In 1935 the couple and their son Donald were living in Heretaunga. By 1936 it was owned by ‘J C Marchbanks’ when it was converted into three flats. The ground floor was the largest, with two smaller flats upstairs.
The Marchbanks had two sons (Donald and James) and four daughters (Mary, Olive, Katherine and Barbara) by 1908, so ‘J C Marchbanks’ may have been their youngest son James Charles Ross who was born in 1903. He’s listed as living there in 1935 and 1938 with his wife. They had moved to Lower Hutt by 1946.
A widow Edith Millie Boyes was the owner in 1946 (until 1965 approx.) when the garage was added. My former neighbours who now own the garage had to buy a car that would fit it’s narrow 1940’s proportions! It was owned by a schoolteacher Mrs Brenda Margaret Narbey between 1969-72. In April 1990 application was made to convert the three flats into two dwellings. The building was sold to the current owner for $285,000 in October 1990.
Last October I learned that the owner wanted to sell said home to diversify his property portfolio. Too many properties in one earthquake-prone (i.e. Wellington) basket you might say. Liking the property, it’s location, and not wanting to move, I decided that I would try and buy the property. Ever the eternal optimist me.
Long story short. I put in an offer, it was accepted, and I withdrew it because I couldn’t get finance. The owner was going to put the sale on hold for 12 months, but I decided that I couldn’t realistically afford to buy it and renovate the church at the same time. Reluctantly I decided to move out and put the rent towards financing the renovations.
So here we are. The property is for sale but probably not for long. Ironically, another Thorndon property I lived in is also on the market. It’s been flashed up quite a bit since I lived there 20 years ago! Now I’m staying in a 1986 spec house with my brother that is 2/3 the size of my previous residence. He’s been very accommodating of me, my stuff, and my two cats. Necessity is the mother of invention.
Next time: The search for a builder begins
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