Tiny shed with no kitchen or bathroom sells for $300K

Described as a tiny brick shed barely bigger than an outhouse, it wasn’t just the 9sqm property’s former role as the Governor Brick Pumphouse that secured its price, but the land beneath it.

The old building, which was once owned by the Auckland Gas Company, now sits on prime real estate in the inner-city suburb of Grey Lynn.

The 33sqm parcel of land, which sits on Tuarangi Road, has been deemed by Auckland Council to have historical value.

The new buyer said he’d always dreamed of purchasing a slice of the past.

“I wanted some connection with the heritage,” Kchitji Tiwari told One Roof.

The local lawyer and his wife are planning to turn the property, which includes a small patch of land out front, into a family home for them and their four year old son.

According to the publication, the sale included consented plans to retain the facade and walls of the original shed but merge it with a modern three-storey home with a roof deck.

Under that proposal, dreamed up by the sellers, the plans would keep the historically valuable pumphouse preserved on the ground floor.

The Ray White agents branded the design ‘work-around’ as spectacular, according to the New Zealand Herald, insisting that it would create “a building that elevates this humble relic into an art piece worthy of its own gallery to be observed and enjoyed by all.”

The agents added that a massive viewing platform would take in sweeping views towards the city to the east and Waitakere to the west.

The new buyers now hope to spend a year working on the design of their new property but they’re already keen on plans drawn up by Hamish Stirrat of Fabricate Architecture.

“We don’t want to look at a corner and say, ‘I saved $10,000 on that’,” Mr Tiwari said.