Landmark ‘milk bottle’ house on market for the first time in 50 years

Saturday, 24 January 2026

Built in 1976, Roger Walker design Rhodes House is a reminder of a time when architects took big risks.

It’s been described as a castle, a milk bottle, and even an “abomination” by one unkind neighbour, but one word no one would use to describe 1976-built Rhodes House in Upper Hutt is boring.

Sitting at the top of a quiet Silverstream cul-de-sac overlooking the valley, the Roger Walker-designed home really does earn the castle comparison. The steep pitched roofs and a soaring turret are eye-catching.

The home also includes several of Walker’s trademark round windows – three are super-sized – and medieval-inspired timber criss-cross struts.

Rhodes House, in Silverstream, Upper Hutt, is on the market for the first time in 50 years.

It almost looks more like a mountainside village than a single-family dwelling.

“We had nuns come up because they thought it was a chapel,” says owner and artist Beverly Rhodes. “We had afternoon tea with the good china we’d got as wedding presents that we’d never used.”

Beverly and her husband, Dr Alister Rhodes, commissioned the home’s design from Walker in 1975 after a friend told them about a beautiful, tree-covered slice of land in Upper Hutt that might suit them.

“We absolutely fell in love with it,” says Beverly. “Alister’s father said he never wanted to set foot on it again, because it was so steep. He couldn’t imagine building on a slope like this. But when Roger came and saw it, he just said, ‘Look, you wouldn’t get a section like this in Wellington.’”

Roger Walker original vision for the property.

The property is surrounded by mature native trees, including an impressive stand of black beech which is on the Upper Hutt City Council register of protected trees. The couple sought to keep as many trees on the section as possible; one beech the couple insisted on protecting is now growing up through the balcony off the kitchen-diner.

The property also backs onto the Wi Tako Ngatata Scenic Reserve, so the wall of native forest that wraps around the house is protected too.

The downstairs living room is a cosy corner of the house, with an incredible view.

Walker was excited about the possibilities. He had already completed Park Mews in Hataitai (Rhodes House has a lot in common with that complex), as well as the Wellington Club on The Terrace, “which they tragically pulled down,” laments Alister. The couple felt they were in safe hands.

“He emphasised communal space,” Alister says. “We agreed with him on that.”

After the designs were complete, however, the couple approached several builders who turned the project down.

The sitting room, kitchen and dining room make up the heart of the home on the second floor.

“A lot of them couldn’t understand how they could build it. And even [builder] Paul Hembrow and his team said some of it only made sense when they actually started constructing it.”

The design was vertical, rather than horizontal, with the ground floor - an entrance, family room and snug - connected to the floors above by a spiral staircase in a turret. Bedrooms and bathrooms were on the second and third floors, off the sitting room, and above the kitchen.

This was once the third bedroom, but is now a sitting room/corridor to the extension.

Connection to the surrounds was a crucial part of the design.

“Every window is like a painting really,” says Beverly. But sometimes nature got a little too close.

Architect Roger Walker outside Park Mews, which shares many design elements with Rhodes House.

“He gave us a little snug room, which had a fireplace in it,” says Alister. “That was one of Roger’s experiments that didn’t work out because it had a flue which was about 10 or 11 metres, and all the heat from the fireplace whooshed up.”

Young birds would also perch on the opening and fall down, get “very frightened” and end up flying around the house, “pooping everywhere”.

Owners Beverly and Alister Rhodes at the home they commissioned in 1976 from architect Roger Walker.

That fireplace has since been removed, but there’s a larger, less experimental, wood burner in the main living room that heats much of the communal areas.

Other Walker experiments were much more successful, such as the huge round windows in the living space, and the efficient galley kitchen, which is still in its very well-kept original state.

Walker remembers the project warmly, due to a string of architectural houses on the street, which “set the standard” he felt he had to try to live up to, he says.

“They were lovely clients. They wanted a house that expressed its components, so you could get an idea of what was going on inside by the exterior.

The home is unique for many reasons, but chief among them is the condition the home has been kept in. The original bathrooms and kitchen are lived in, but in excellent condition - a rarity for homes from this period.

The house was an “assemblage of forms”, which gave the home its character, and meant it would “change appearance” at different times of the day with the changing light and shadows.

“It was a time when I was a bit frisky. And I like clients like that, that give you free rein.”

Involved at every step of the construction, the Rhodes’ found themselves cleaning the lime render off reclaimed bricks, painting the walls and staining the timber. They did so much painting, when their youngest son, Fergus, was asked in class what his father did for a living, he replied: “Painting”. All told, the build took 13 months.

The home has four bedrooms, including a second double bedroom that was designed by Walker and added in the 80s.

“This house created a lot of interest when it was being built,” says Alister. “Just about every weekend there were local people up here clambering all over the place.”

“With opinions,” says Beverly. “One woman said, ‘Your house is an abomination. I have to look at it from my kitchen window.’”

Still other’s called it “Noddy Land” and “Disneyland”. At one point it became known as “the milk bottle” due to the shape of the turret. Today, the home is still a bit of a local landmark.

“A person who moved down the road said, ‘You know, your house is great, because wherever I am I can see it. It gives me orientation,’” says Beverly.

Now in their 80s, the couple is reluctant to part with the home, but feel like it is the right time.

“We were in our 30s when we moved in here,” Beverly says. 'I've always said the buyer would be someone who absolutely loves Roger Walker homes, or things from 70s, because it's of its time.“

'Apart from the house, it's the location,' says Alister. It's in the bush, it's the all day sun, it's the marvellous views, it's the peace, and bird life. How often do you get those sort of things? Not very often.'

The Rhodes’ raised three children here and would like to see it filled with a family again.

The 203m² home which sits on a steep 862m² section at 74A Chatsworth Road, Silverstream, has a CV of $1,090,000. The home is for sale seeking buyer enquiry over $950,000.

The listing is with Jules Bailey-Rotman for Just Paterson. He is hosting an open home on Sunday, January 25, from 12.45pm to 1.15pm.