Mountain of interest in Hillary home
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Mountain of interest in Hillary home
By EMMA PAGE – Sunday, 01 March 2009
The modestweatherboard house of modest national hero Sir Edmund Hillary will go under the hammer on March 18, just over a year after his death.
The winning bidder will walk away with a slice of history and a block of land on the coveted "golden mile" of real estate in the wealthy Auckland suburb of Remuera.
Sitting at the bottom of a sloping shared right-of-way, the rectangular wood and brick three-bedroom house that Hillary built in 1956, three years after conquering Everest, is flanked on both sides by stately homes.
Hillary's unofficial biographer, Pat Booth, says the simplicity of the house reflected its owner.
Prospective buyers can walk unimpeded down a brick path to the front door of Hillary's house, and press a small black-and-white doorbell to be let in. Unpretentious, efficient, but not leaping out at people saying 'I'm Ed Hillary's house'. "It was Ed really. .
The house, which sits on a 1773m2 section sloping down to cricket nets at prestigious Kings School and has just enough elevation for glimpses of the harbour, has a capital value of nearly $2 million."
Bayleys agent David Rainbow is expecting sightseers to mix with the serious buyers at today's charity open home – visitors are asked for a gold coin donation which will go the Himalayan Trust that Hillary founded.
Some people were tickled by the idea of owning the home where Hillary lived for 50 years. Rainbow says there has been a steady stream of interest since the house, designed by architecture firm Gummer Ford, was advertised last week.
Booth says the house was full of items that told the story of the man who represented New Zealand to the world. Others were keen to snap up one of the last sections left for development on a desirable stretch of road – a factor likely to push up the price as much as the fame of its previous owner.
"The house itself breathed Ed and it breathed the Himalayas.
"The house itself breathed Ed and it breathed the Himalayas.
* To view the property and for auction details go to www."
Hillary's widow Lady June could not be contacted last week, but the Sunday Star-Times understands the house was vacated at Christmas time and that she has moved into a smaller townhouse nearby.co.bayleys.
.nz and enter the property code #360901