This octagonal house in Auckland has a piece of aviation history in the stairwell

When the Vickers family decided to build a unique home in Titirangi, they had a bit of a false start.

Designed by Helen, current owner Anson Vickers’ mother, it was meant to look like an air traffic control tower because Helen’s husband, Colin, was a pilot.

It would be constructed from the favourite materials of the time (1974): concrete blocks, with an octagonal, timber-framed top floor, wrap-around balcony and central spiral staircase.

The first load of concrete blocks delivered to the building site, however, was promptly stolen in the middle of the night.

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Vickers, then a young man, decided to start sleeping on site to keep an eye on things.

“What had happened was [the delivery guy] was coming back in the early hours of the morning and loading the blocks up again,” says Vickers.

“We ordered a new lot. They were delivered – same guy – and again, at three in the morning he came back with the truck and started loading them all up.”

He didn’t reckon with the property having a new resident before it had even been built, however, and Vickers was able to block the truck in and call the police.

Concrete blocks rescued, construction could begin on this unique home, which went smoothly after that.

Ranged across three storeys, the middle level alone is 92sqm – the normal size of a three-bedroom 70s house.

That was the section Vickers lived in while he cared for Helen, who lived upstairs, at the end of her life. The ground floor is a separate studio flat, with its own shower room and kitchenette.

The top floor was Vickers’ parents home and is packed with 70s period features, including exposed beams, brass light fixtures and a tile and bras kitchen island.

The three storeys were originally one connected house, and Vickers says it would be easy to return it to that configuration, or just to connect the top two floors and keep the bottom as a rental, granny or teen’s flat.

The three floors are connected by two central spiral staircases, one of which also has an aviation history.

“The bones of the circular staircase that goes down to the bottom level came out of a Sunderland flying boat” says Vickers.

“Right up until the 60s, in the harbour there were half a dozen Sunderlands just at anchor. That’s how air travel was done up till the 50s.”

Colin Vickers was a volunteer on the project to scrap the planes, and was able to take a piece for use in the house.

“It’s a lovely place to live in. It’s different to live in because all the rooms interconnect several ways,” says Vickers.

“For instance, the main bedroom, you can approach that from the front deck, the north, the door in is from the west, and you can also get into it from the bathroom, because it’s ensuite as well.

“Talk about open plan, none of the walls go up to the ceiling, which has advantages and disadvantages.”

The home does need some TLC – the balcony railings need replacing, and some timber cladding is in need of sanding and restraining.

Inside, some cosmetic refreshing would help bring out the unique 70s features.

The flats below the top floor are move-in ready, however.

The home is surrounded by mature planting, and has a boundary on one side with the Parahiku Stream.

With three bedrooms, three bathrooms and three living areas, over 280sqm on 827sqm of land, it is hard to put a price on a one-of-a-kind property like this.

Homes.co.nz, however, estimates it to be worth between $1.75m to $2.2m.

“All the houses around it are worth a million to $1.3, but they’re ordinary three-bedroom houses. They’re not a three level house,” says Vickers.

The home is for sale by negotiation, and the listing is with Fiona Ryan-Larsen and Scott Larsen for Harcourts.