Devonport matriarch, 93, selling her beloved beach villa with $8m RV after nearly 60 years

Dorothy Chignell and her late husband Jack bought 36 and 36A Oxford Terrace in 1967 for £20,000 – a big sum back then. They held on to the villa at number 36, and it is this home that’s up for grabs.

Daughter Fleur told OneRoof that the purchase was significant, given that Devonport homes typically sold for around £6000 in the mid-1960s. “It was a lot in those days. It was quite a big risk, really.”

The family’s connection to Devonport dates back to the turn of the 20th century, she said.

Her great-grandparents, Percy and Blanche Grahame, made a name for themselves building houses in the suburb. Percy did the building, while Blanche sourced the mortgages. “The Grahames, they had five children and Dad’s mother Gloria was one of them,” Fleur said.

“Dad was brought up in No.8 Grahame Street, which is the big two‑storey house on the corner where [rock star] Tim Finn once lived.”

Jack trained as a pilot during World War II, but the war ended before he was in danger. On his return to civilian life, he set up a law practice in Panmure, and met Dorothy, who was working as a law clerk.

They soon got married and moved to Northcote, but Jack couldn’t shake his desire to return to his roots. “Dad always wanted to come back to Devonport,” Fleur said. “They looked at various houses on the beach, and they just really liked this one.”

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The villa was one of the most desirable on the Shore, and Dorothy and Jack made it a loving family home for them and their children.

The younger Chignells played bowls in the hall, bashed table tennis balls against walls and played softball and badminton on the lawn. “There were lots of broken windows,” Fleur said, adding that the beach was their playground. “There used to be lots of cockles, and if you walked out on the mudflats or [went out] on the skim boards, you’d cut your feet.”

She said she and her siblings spent long hours exploring North Head’s labyrinth of tunnels, which have long since been sealed. “We’d crawl under the gates. You could go through a tunnel, and then suddenly there’d be a big drop, a big shaft that you could actually fall down, but you didn’t. It’s all blocked off now.”

There were plenty more adventures in and around the house, the beach and the nearby reserve. “We used to play tennis in the street and softball on the Balmain Reserve with the neighbours’ kids,” said Fleur. “It was just great. And you’d swim a lot, around things like little model boats and buoys and markers. We built big sandcastles like spaceships, and we had small boats, and we all learned to sail.”

Dorothy, a keen golfer and swimmer, made the pages of the New Zealand Herald twice with her cats. A Herald photographer caught Dorothy and Bon Bon in the water together in 1991. Another Herald snapper caught Dorothy out with Mopsy in 1998, with the photo making the front page.

She continued to swim at Cheltenham Beach until last year, Fleur said, but has now moved into care at Ryman’s Williams Sanders Village, in Devonport.

Dorothy’s four-bedroom home sits on 1234sqm of beachfront land and is listed with Bayleys agent Linda Simmons. She said the house was modernised in 2000 and was the “perfect blank canvas” for buyers to make their own.

“36 Oxford Terrace has been a forever home for Dorothy and three generations of her family. If you have wandered along Cheltenham beach, you will certainly know it,” she said in her marketing.

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