Denise and Greg Powell have listed their unique hand-crafted residence on Otago Peninsula for sale by negotiation. The couple spent 30 years building the three-bedroom, three-bathroom home using thousands of recycled bricks across a 13-hectare hillside site. Notable architectural details include salvaged three-metre-high church doors, battlements, turrets, and an outdoor tree hut set among established gardens. After a family tragedy temporarily paused an earlier listing in 2024, the owners have returned the property to the market as they prepare to downsize.
Key points
The property is on the market by negotiation as the owners look to downsize.: The property is on the market by negotiation as the owners look to downsize.
Unique features include recycled bricks, battlements, turrets, and a basement storage spa…: Unique features include recycled bricks, battlements, turrets, and a basement storage space accessed via a trapdoor.
An initial 2024 sale campaign was temporarily paused due to a family tragedy before being…: An initial 2024 sale campaign was temporarily paused due to a family tragedy before being relisted.
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A New Zealand couple who bought a hillside property for NZ$122,500 more than 30 years ago are now selling the unusual recycled-brick castle they spent three decades building and improving. Denise and Greg Powell bought the 13-hectare property at 785 Portobello Road in Broad Bay, on New Zealand's Otago Peninsula, in 1992. What began as a plan for a standard American-style house eventually became a 310-square-metre home inspired by medieval castles. It features turrets, battlements, historic building materials, and a hidden trapdoor in a hallway that leads to a basement "dungeon". The property is currently being sold by negotiation through real estate agency LJ Hooker Dunedin, according to property website OneRoof.
Origins of the medieval vision
The Powells first became interested in the land after seeing it from the window of their previous home in Broad Bay. "I could look out my window and see these beautiful paddocks," Denise Powell told OneRoof. "When it came up for sale, my husband went, 'I want that.' We hadn't even walked the boundaries." The couple had already built a kit-set house and wanted…
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