Abandoned fairytale castle lists for bargain price

You can buy this magical castle on ten acres of bushland for the same price as a small Aussie house.

For just $654,000, this long-forgotten castle in New Zealand could be yours. 

It was first built in the 1960s by a renowned Kiwi architect on a lush stretch of bushland in the Coromandel. 

The price is on par with a house in Wagga Wagga. 

Set on a gently-sloping site, the building has wide views over the blue waters of the South Pacific. 

The project was a collaboration between the late Frank Davis, a Wellington-born painter, and the late Sir Ian Athfield, a renowned architect who was awarded a knighthood for his services to design. 

The pair were close friends, and they decided to build a castle together on the ten-acre site Davis purchased on the Coromandel. 

Sadly, the castle was never completed. Work on the site was stopped after Davis’s death in 1983. 

However, the building remained a local landmark for everyone in the community. 

“It’s very affectionately known as the Castle all the way through Tuateawa,” agent Becks Greenhill tells OneRoof. 

“We’ve had so many phone calls from locals saying, ‘Oh, I see you’ve got the Castle on for sale, are you going to do any open homes up there? We’d love to come and be nosy’.” 

For Davis’s family, the castle is a deeply personal place. 

“They said, ‘Mum never wanted to go back, she couldn’t face it’,” agent Judy Rooney tells OneRoof. 

The agents say they have received interest from people who dream of restoring the castle to its former glory, but they acknowledge that whatever happens to the site is ultimately in the future owner’s hands. 

The castle is a whimsical, topsy-turvey structure built from timber and stone. A Rapunzel tower with a peaked tin roof adds a playful quality to the building’s silhouette. 

Inside, the building is in a bare-bones state with exposed ceilings and a plain concrete floor. It will take some work to get the house into a liveable condition. 

Offers start at $NZ720,000 ($AU654,000) for the ten-acre site.