Mid-century treasure reappears - Neville Price home on market after more than 20 years

His buildings have been called “cool”, “popular” and “international” in flavour, but Neville Price’s residential homes seldom come on the market - least of all 60s-built homes like the one at 55 Hillcrest Avenue, in Hillcrest, on Auckland’s North Shore.

There are three Price homes built around the same time in the area. Owner Judith Thompson, who grew up locally, knew them well. Her sister’s best friend lived nearby and Thompson recalls admiring the funky, “moderne” front door and entrance to No. 55 as a teen.

It wasn’t until many years later, in 2003, when she and wife, artist Chiara Corbelletto, were in the area “by chance” and saw the home for sale that she got to peek inside.

“At that point in our life, it wasn't quite right for us to live there, but we thought it was a really unique house," says Thompson.

Both are interested in architecture - Corbelletto studied it at the University of Milan and practiced in Italy, and they imagined it would be the perfect home to end up in one day. So they bought the home, intending to renovate, and live in it, some time down the track.

In the mean time, they let the home out as a rental.

"We've had tenants who really appreciated the architecture of the house. The house is largely original."

They have recently renovated the kitchen and bathrooms, which are both new, but other features of the home are just as Price intended.

Best known for the iconic, award winning 1 Albert St, in Auckland, (formerly the West Plaza), which was designed and built between 1969 and 1974, Price’s signature is typically a organic, curvy style of architecture.

The house at Hillcrest, however, reflects his earlier style, with hints of Mies van der Rohe in the pavilion-style design.

With the main part of the home on one level, the only windows in the front of the house are on either side of the front door.

As you come inside, however, the house opens up. The rear wall of the home, is mostly glass that runs across the living room, kitchen, and two bedrooms, including the master. and the next bedroom, with French doors onto the “very private” garden.

“There's a lot of glass, that side of the house is very luminous,” says Thompson. “It's a beautiful, long, narrow structure with lovely clean lines.“

The home’s connection to the garden is so unique, we included the home in our piece about homes for gardeners.

In 2011, the couple heard that Price, who until his retirement in 2023, divided his career between here, Australia, the Pacific Islands and the US, was visiting New Zealand.

“We reached out and asked if he would like to re-visit the house, which he was keen to do.”

The couple have pictures of Price at the home, and one with Chiara.

"In 1950s, with new suburbs, they tended to just bulldoze down trees, whereas I think the development of Hillcrest, there was an effort made to really retain a lot of nature.

“Hillcrest, as a suburb, retained a lot of the native trees, so there's always lots of lovely bird song in the area."

Now, however, their plans for the future have changed. Thompson has gained Italian citizenship, so the couple plans to divide their time between Aotearoa and Italy. They have decided to pass the home on to its next custodian.

Although she doesn’t think the home meets the threshold for heritage protection “in any formal sense”, Thompson hopes the next owner will be someone who will protect and enhance the home. It’s one of three by Price in the Hillcrest area, and she would like to see them survive.

"Ideally, it would be a buyer who's really attracted to the house because of the architecture and have an appreciation for it being an architecturally designed house.“

There are currently two other properties on the market designed by Neville Price, an apartment in Price’s coveted Devon Park complex in Devonport, and a unit in Price's iconic 1970s masonry development in Takapuna. Neither are standalone homes, however, and both have been significantly renovated since they were built.

The three bed home, which sits on a 607m² section, is for sale price by negotiation. The CV is $1,600,000, which may not reflect the market value of the home.

The listing is with Craig Crosweller and Fleur Davis for Prestige.