Best house in the street! ALBERTON'S STAR QUALITY

Over the years, the Auckland address has opened its doors to celebrity

Alberton House, A in the Auckland suburb of Mt Albert, has a special celebration this month. The Victorian mansion, built in 1863, was bequeathed to the Historic Places Trust in 1972.

The following year, the doors to the vast residence which had been home to the wealthy Kerr Taylor family for the previous 100 years were opened to the public for the first time. December 8 marks the 50th anniversary of Alberton's public debut.

In the past half-century, the stately manor house has welcomed thousands of curious day-trippers and played host to myriad weddings, birthday parties and funerals, in addition to providing a location for many magazine, television, film and music video shoots. Word has it, it even harbours ghosts!

We talked to Alberton's visitor services coordinator Rendell McIntosh about some of the interesting projects the address has seen in the past 50 years and they're a far cry from the original owners' preference for society balls, hunts and garden parties!

The day David Bowie visited