Chicken coop that once housed a family of 10 hits the market

It might look like a chicken coop well beyond saving, but this weathered structure was once a bustling family home to 10.

Listed for just NZ$250,000 ($205,000), the run-down building at 1 Black Street, in Tokoiti, Clutha in New Zealand is a far cry from what it once was.

Today, it’s being offered as a blank canvas on a 3,035-square-metre block complete with a new portable cabin, an old well, a 10,000-litre water tank and the shell of a home that’s survived more than a century.

Inside the chicken coop, there are no internal walls, – just a fireplace and the remnants of built-in cupboards that hint at what was once a much-loved family home.

“When you get in it, you can see the layout [of the house],” Harcourts real estate agent Irene McKechnie told Stuff. 

“It had a long drop at one stage, which has been removed, thank goodness. So it was pre-plumbing.”

Built in 1910, the home’s earliest history is unclear, but 90-year-old Ian Carr is the last surviving member of the family to have lived there.

He grew up in the house alongside five brothers and two sisters after his parents bought the property from local landowner Jimmy Shanks while they were still in their 20s.

Sadly, there are no photographs from their time in the home.

“They didn’t bother so much back then with photos,” Carr told Stuff. “It was their home and they just got on with living.”

After Carr’s parents passed away, his older brother took over the property, ultimately converting the site into a chicken farm in 1965.

The Carr family kept the property until selling it in 2021.

Its current owner has since added a 7.3-metre by 3-metre portable cabin to the block, along with a newly installed septic tank.

While the property isn’t connected to the town water supply, it features an old well and a 10,000-litre water tank. Mains power was previously connected before recent storm damage affected the lines.

Despite its rural feel, the property is only a three-minute drive from nearby Milton, about 20 minutes from Balclutha and 45 minutes from Dunedin.

McKechnie said Tokoiti was seeing new homes built nearby, making the property a peaceful retreat rather than an isolated one.

“At three-quarters of an acre, it’s not really a lifestyle block, but it’s enough to have your chickens and a couple of pet sheep.”

The neighbouring block is also for sale, offering buyers the chance to expand if they dream of creating a larger property.