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The Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron is selling Lidgard House on Kawau Island.
The six title estate spans about 3.3 hectares in and around Smelting House Bay, in Bon Accord Harbour, and has been owned by the squadron for nearly 40 years.
Commodore David Blakey described the property as one of the most iconic in the Hauraki Gulf. The property includes a three-bedroom house, established waterfront infrastructure such as a jetty and wharf, and a mix of park-like spaces, open land and native bush along the shoreline.
“A lot of members of the squadron, including myself, have had a long attachment to the property so deciding to sell wasn’t an easy decision,” Blakey said.
“The principal reason was that it costs a lot to maintain such an historic property and this had to be balanced against supporting the facilities at Westhaven and the sport of sailing, in general.”
The squadron holds an annual weekend sail from Auckland to Kawau in late summer, and also uses the facilities as a base for youth training once a year.
Blakey said there had been a lot of interest from a range of people, with a range of ideas on how the property could be used. He did not rule out squadron involvement in the future, but said this would depend on the buyer.
According to Warkworth historian Lyn Wade, Irene and Roy Lidgard offered land to a newly-formed Kawau Island Yacht Club at a peppercorn rental in 1951.
The first of many regattas was held, and funds were raised to build clubrooms, which were opened in Bon Accord Harbour in 1954.
New Year’s Day regattas were always a highlight with many visiting boats. For several years an old, Navy Fairmile Ngaroma would bring the P class sailors up from Auckland to race, with their boats stacked on deck.
In 1968, tragedy struck the Lidgards when three generations of the family were lost at sea on their way to New Caledonia, resulting in a mortgagee sale. The Auckland Motor Yacht Club bought the freehold land, allowing the yacht club to continue with its cheap rental. Later, the motor yacht club gifted it all to the Royal NZ Yacht Squadron who, for many years, used the yacht club and the old Lidgard House for sailing events.
In 2014, the squadron wanted to sell the yacht club and club members made an offer of purchase. This resulted in it becoming the Kawau Boating Club, while the squadron retained the iconic Lidgard House.
The property is being marketed by Barfoot & Thompson with tenders closing on May 20.
