When European actors Nick Wilder and Christine Mayn were asked about the best features of their Helena-area luxury estate that was recently listed for sale, both gestured toward the floor-to-ceiling vaulted windows overlooking Hauser Reservoir.
“The view is amazing,” Mayn said. “It’s 15 minutes away from the Helena airport. We have an amazing neighborhood here.”
Listed for $4,850,000, the 40-acre property at 5275 Riverview Drive about 13 miles northeast of Helena includes a 3,650-square-foot main dwelling and 3,760-square-foot guest villa joined by a breezeway designed to represent an Italian country estate.
The main home has the master suite with a large spa-inspired bath, two additional bedrooms, a theater room and a private library. The guest home has two master king suites with spa-inspired baths and its own gourmet kitchen, dining and living area, laundry and office.
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Outside, you’ll find an infinity waterfall, a stainless steel outdoor swimming pool, a pool house, a covered outdoor fire pit, a Tiki bar and a white sandy beach area. The property also has two outdoor showers, a six-person hot tub, a steam sauna, a Finnish sauna, a full-service gym, a seven-hole putting green, a horseshoe track and a full-size Boccia court.
Wilder and Mayn dubbed the property as the “Ting,” which is a word from the Celtic tradition that refers to the thin places between the earthly and divine worlds.
“This is our Ting place,” Wilder said.
For the last several years, the property has been used as the venue for the Helena Symphony’s annual benefit concert.
“Nick Wilder and Christine Mayn have been close friends with the Helena Symphony for many years and have made a significant impact on our organization,” the symphony said in an email. “The Benefit Concert at Montana Ting has truly changed the Helena Symphony over the last 4 years, increasing our annual revenue by $300,000. In 2023 the Helena Symphony will continue the annual Benefit Concert in a nearby soon to be announced location and will be rebranded in a new and exciting way, while honoring the impact Nick and Christine have made on the Helena Symphony.”
The son of a German farmer, Wilder is a former world-champion windsurfer who went on to open windsurfing shops in Denmark and Fort Lauderdale, Florida before launching his acting career. While visiting a friend in Bozeman in the 1990s, he was looking through a real estate magazine and found a listing for what he described as his “childhood dream” property near Helena.
“I saw every episode of ‘Bonanza,’ and I thought ‘Bonanza’ was filmed in Montana,” he said with a smile.
Although he had never heard of Helena before, Wilder arranged a showing and fell in love with the property as the sun was setting over the city and the moon was rising over the lake.
“We came over the hill, I went like ‘Oh my God,’” he said.
Wilder said he purchased the property in 1996 and helped build the home in 1998. He studied wood engineering at the University of Hamburg and continues to do much of the home’s maintenance himself, which is one of the reasons he and his wife decided it’s time to sell.
“Once this is sold, we can go to Italy in August if we want to,” he said. “With a property like this, you have to be here.”
Since 2010, Wilder has starred as Dr. Wolf Sander in the German soap opera “Das Traumschiff,” which is similar to the American TV series “The Love Boat.” He said he met the show’s producer through Mayn, who has also appeared in several episodes over the years.
“It’s comedy, love, drama, and people just love it,” Wilder said.
Because the show is filmed all over the globe, he said, Helena is closer than Germany to some of the filming locations.
“We flew around the world from all different places because it’s not a studio film. It’s a film on a real ship, and it’s filmed on real locations,” he said.
Wilder has also appeared in several American films and TV shows including “The Bourne Supremacy,” "Stargate” and “Pensacola: Wings of Gold.” Mayne, who is from Italy, is best known for her roles in “The Last Son,” “Medicopter 117 - Jedes Leben zählt” and “Fieber: Ärzte für das Leben,” according to her biography on the Internet Movie Database (www.imdb.com).
Wilder is also a musician who occasionally plays harmonica at Lakeside on Hauser and The Highlander. He and Mayn enjoy dining at On Broadway and other restaurants around town, they said.
“When we came here 25 years ago it was really quiet -- a sleepy town,” Mayn said. “The old town and everything, it’s waking up with a lot of wonderful restaurants and bars and cafes and little shops.”
Although Wilder and Mayn hope to move into a smaller home that requires less maintenance, they have no plans to leave the area after the Ting is sold.
Wilder said he doesn’t mind when he is approached by people who recognize him from TV, which happens more frequently in Europe. But he enjoys being in Helena where he is “just a regular guy.”
“It was very pleasant to live here, because after the fact they find out that we’re actors,” he said. “When they see you on TV and then they meet you, it’s a different thing than if they find out afterwards.”
The estate is listed for sale with Buy Sell Montana. For information about the property, call Patrick Pacheco at 406-459-3088 or Brock Bouma at 406-590-3883.