Roger Walker ‘Milkbottle’ house sells for more than $110k under CV

Wednesday, 11 March 2026

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

The Upper Hutt home that’s been described as a castle, a milk bottle, and even an “abomination”, has sold for little above the buyer enquiry over price of $950,000.

Just Paterson agent Jules Bailey-Rotman said the Roger Walker-designed home, which sits at the top of a quiet Silverstream cul-de-sac, drew a lot of interest, with almost 40 groups visiting the first open-home weekend.

'Only the one party ended up offering, despite so many people being very impressed with it,' he said. 'The actual practicalities of living in it didn't work for a lot of people, which was always likely to be the case.'

The buyer was an architect, and “extremely well suited” to owning such a unique piece of Kiwi architectural history.

'For [vendors] Alister and Beverley [Rhodes], handing over the baton, it was nice for them to know who it's going to but, on the flip side, it was nice for [the buyers] to meet the people who designed and lived in it, and hear their story as well.

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

“Alister and Beverley are really happy, but now we need to find them a new place.'

The Rhodes commissioned the home from Walker in 1975, just two years after he completed the iconic Park Mews complex in Wellington. The Rhodes house shares several of the legendary architect’s trademark features with park mews, such as round windows, medieval-inspired timber criss-cross struts, and the modular look of the building.

From the street, 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,” Beverley Rhodes told Stuff prior to the sale. “We had afternoon tea with the good china we’d got as wedding presents that we’d never used.”

Roger Walker’s original vision for the property.

Alister told Stuff that Walker’s design “emphasised communal space”, which they agreed with.

He was also enthusiastic about the location, which was steep and considered difficult to build on at the time.

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

“When Roger came and saw it [the section], he just said, ‘Look, you wouldn’t get a section like this in Wellington.’,” Beverley said.

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

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.

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

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

“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,” Alister said.

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.

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

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

“Every window is like a painting really,” Beverly said.

Speaking to Stuff prior to the sale, Walker remembered 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.

“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 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.

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

“With opinions,” Beverly said. “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,’” Beverly said.

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