Final summer for surfer flats of Sumner as demolition looms

Saturday, 21 December 2024

The Sumner party house about to be demolished.

The house on the corner is held together with tarpaulins and a patchwork of plywood. Cardboard fills the window frames. Rain drips through the kitchen ceiling into a half-filled saucepan.

Despite its ramshackle appearance - and questionable water tightness - the 1920s bungalow and its neighbour have been sought-after by hundreds of tenants since the 1990s thanks to their location on a prime Sumner street, just metres from the ocean.

Surfing, sun and endless parties have attracted tenants or couch surfers, open to anyone looking to crash for a night.

Do you know these homes? Share your memories in the comments section below.

The two Sumner homes are just metres from the sea, appealing to surfers, swimmers, and those who like to party.

But the houses will soon disappear from the upmarket suburb.

Owner Denis Harwood says the party is over and in June both houses will be demolished.

“People are speculating that this is the best undeveloped spot in the South Island and it is long overdue that we do something with the land,” he said.

The boys of dog town. Living it up in the Sumner flats has been part of the work hard, play hard lifestyle.

Harwood bought both 52 Esplanade and the adjacent 58 Marriner Street for an undisclosed amount in March 1993 and, despite their run-down appearance, the properties currently have a combined value of $3.72 million.

As landlord, he left the “young ones” to have a good time, turning a blind eye to tenants who started an ad hoc backpackers at the house in 2017. Often there would be tents and campervans spilling out across the lawns.

Denis Harwood back in 2015, when he opposed council plans to build a skate park in front of his two esplanade properties.

“The young ones really loved it, they were right on the beach. I have not got in the way of their fun, until a couch appeared on the roof, and then I had to have words with them,” Harwood said.

“Both of the houses are tenanted, but they are looking to move on. They know it is due to be developed,” Harwood said.

Harwood had planned to build 20 five-star serviced apartments in February 2016 but the plans were never realised. Just a year earlier he had vehemently opposed a council plan to build a skate park across the road from his properties.

Wetsuits, surfboards and pirate flags outside 52 Esplanade and 58 Marriner Street.

It is unclear why Harwood took another decade to get construction back on track.

While details of the planned development are hard to come by, the current tenants told The Press they understood work would begin in June to construct multi-storey apartments with hospitality businesses on the ground floor.

Sumner community representatives fear that replacing the young surfer flats with expensive apartments could affect the sense of community, but Christchurch City Council is backing Harwood’s plan for a multi-use development on the site.

At one time the tenants, who called themselves the “Pirates of Sumner”, offered accommodation including tent, campervan sites and bunk beds.

A Sumner master plan from 2013 indicated the council worked with the landowner to consider how a mixed-use development on the site could connect Sumner Village and the beach.

Sumner residents’ association representative Andrea Davis said the community would lose out when the houses went.

Tenant Yannik Turner, 21, has lived in Sumner’s surf flats for the last two years.

“The houses are our last young surfer flats on the Esplanade. It is a shame for all of us who enjoy a diverse community of all ages,” she said.

The new seafront apartments were likely to go to older, wealthier people, said Davis.

Charlie Brown, 29, has lived in the Marriner St house for four years, with rent for the property staying consistently at around $800 per week. Despite the landlord not maintaining it, he loved being close to the surf and the home’s party vibe.

He assumed Harwood was not motivated to make home improvements, like fixing the leaky roof, when demolition was on the cards.

Flatmate Yannik Turner, 21, had partied at the house and jumped at the chance to join the tenancy when a room became available two years ago.

Both Turner and Brown are gutted the era of the place they call “dog town” will come to an end.

Passers-by have regularly chatted over the fence, sharing memories of attending parties at the house.

Despite the run-down appearance of the homes and their reputation for parties, there have been no complaints to the city council other than one made in 2022 about graffiti on a fence.

“We have never had a noise complaint, we really love our neighbours. We’re gutted to think what a big development might do to them,” Turner said.