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TODAY: The abandoned wreck of a house at 2 Chamberlain Ave, Amberley is in pieces following an unannounced demolition the same afternoon Stuff ran a story about the house.
Call it serendipity – within hours of Stuff posting a story on Tuesday afternoon about the derelict mystery house at Amberley Beach in North Canterbury, the demolition squad moved in and bowled it.
One local reader who contacted us during the afternoon after reading the story, said he believed demolition was imminent as a crew had been spotted recently walking around the site.
Neither Stuff nor the demolition crew knew what the other was planning – the house caught this reporter’s eye while on holiday in the area between Christmas and New Year. It was a photographer’s dream; a huge, wonky edifice on the bend in the road opposite the beach falling into disrepair amid the windswept grasses.
Colleen Hawkes/Stuff
YESTERDAY: Within the past 15 years, this two-storey house at Amberley Beach had deteriorated to the extent it would be unsafe to enter. Windows and doors were boarded up, and the house left to the weather.
And, thanks to several readers, we have more of an idea of the history of the house. It turns out it was built in 1986, as we worked out – by an American couple.
Cherie B commented on the story: “I lived in this house back in 2006-ish for a while even got married there! It was a very unsafe house back then the balconies were a no-go as rotting boards but the view was spectacular. Terrible to see it has deteriorated so badly but kinda like the marriage lol .
Colleen Hawkes/Stuff
A local agent who listed the property in 2006 says the various features, including the balconies, were not code compliant, and potential buyers could not secure a mortgage.
“It had 4 bedrooms with one we called the dungeon which had a bed set into what looked like a cave in the wall totally non-compliant but had its quirks. One of the upstairs rooms had a bath in it and a loft. Another had a loft as well.”
And another reader wrote: “My sister owned this house and sold it in approximately 2007. I believe it suffered damage from an internal fire with the subsequent owner, hence why it is now boarded up.
Was a great house in its day.”
But some of the best comments came from a local, who lived in the house as a teenager with his mother and brother. They were renting from 1988 to 1990.
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The house would have come down quickly.
After his mother moved out, he rented the house with three mates from 1990 to 1992.
“It was a great house. We were all surfers, and we had a ball there. We used to sit up on the roof with a few beers – you could get out through the windows. It was really nice when it was first done, but it was never fully finished inside – there were no carpets. You could sit up in bed and see the ocean.
“I still live in Amberley, and sadly, I have watched it deteriorate over the years. It was built using untreated timber. Also, the ground floor was flooded three times in the early 90s, before they built the bund. But that hasn’t happened since.”
Going further back, another reader says her mother and step-father owned the original two-bedroom cottage on the site, which they sold to a couple. “I think she was Canadian. He was local, and they did all the extensions.”
The couple had a V8 beach buggy they later sold with the house.
Another reader wrote in to say she grew up down the road from the house. She says she ventured inside a few times as a teen “curious to explore abandoned houses”.
GOOGLE MAPS
BEFORE: This is a Google Maps image from November 2009, showing a well-tended garden and a decorative low wall at the front of the property.
“What I know is the [last] family moved away after buying the home (it has never been structurally sound) and just left it to rot away. A few squatters have lived in there over the years, hence the boarded-up windows and doors. The owners do still check on the house but have little to do with it as it does need to be pulled down.”
The house had numerous additions and alterations. Early records show it had only two bedrooms, but that grew to four according to council records. And there were a couple of skylights in a more recent addition that were clearly modern, as was the roofing.
A local real estate agent Stuff spoke to, who listed the property in 2006, said too many features, including the balconies, were not code compliant, and buyers lost interest when banks refused a mortgage.
Colleen Hawkes/Stuff
What could replace the old house? The section is 594sqm.
Council records show there were a few sales from the end of 1986 through to May 31, 2007, exactly one month after a sale in April that year (for $27,000 more, at $330,000). In 2010, the property was sold in a deal that suggests the sale was within the family.
A title search shows the property is owned by Paul Ewen Callaghan and Sandra Gaye Walding. Title searches suggest the house is part of a much larger property portfolio.
It is not known what will happen to the site.
