It’s the ratings-winner showcase of New Zealand homes but which architects designed those incredible places? Property editor Anne Gibson swings back to Te Kāhui Waihanga NZ Institute of Architects’ awards where featured homes won.
A popular TVNZ 1 weekly series concluding next weekend features architects - and even one Auckland homeowner - showing off their places.
New Zealand’s Best Homes with Phil Spencer....a hit with viewers, who often must have wondered who owned the homes they saw in the show produced by Perpetual Entertainment for Channel 4 and TVNZ 1.
It airs in the prime 7.30pm Sunday slot, drawing hundreds of thousands of viewers, with the catchcry: “These are the homes of your dreams, these are New Zealand’s best homes”.
The first episode had an average overnight audience of 490,000 people and it was filmed during our last hot summer with Spencer telling the Herald last month: “I am the window, for want of a better word, on some of the world-class design and architecture that’s going on here.
“I really see it as a privilege to come over to New Zealand and have incredible houses and incredible architects open their doors and allow me in. It’s special, and I don’t take that lightly. That wouldn’t happen in other places. So I’m getting very privileged access to some very, very cool houses and people,” he said in June.
A TVNZ spokeswoman cited Nielsen and other data on its popularity. During its first four episodes, the series has had an average audience of 510,000 and average share of 44%, she said. To date, it reached 1.42 million New Zealanders or 28.8% of the population aged five years-plus.
Spencer is of British television’s Location, Location, Location and Love It Or List It which he fronts with Kirsty Allsopp.
Best Homes concludes next Sunday at the luxury golfing resort of Te Arai, with one Cheltenham, Devonport Japanese-style stunner called Volcano House and an Aotea Great Barrier Island knockout.
Auckland’s Andrew Patterson features in episodes two and four, showing off the flair that has propelled Pattersons of Parnell to win so many awards. Britain’s Thames & Hudson commissioned him to write the 252-page hardback full-colour Patterson: Houses of Aotearoa, a tribute to his work.
Architects who designed the featured homes won Te Kāhui Waihanga NZ Institute of Architects awards. Names given to the homes were those that the architects gave the places when they entered them into the NZIA awards. Owners were not disclosed in those entries, nor in the show.
But Guy Tarrant is one owner who fronted up with his Pt Chevalier red brick home, showing how he designed Courtyard House as a compact residence on a difficult-shaped corner site on Pt Chevalier Rd.
“We were amazed by the interest in our house,” Tarrant said after that episode aired.
He says of this home: “An urban courtyard house occupying a tough public site, this home was designed for my own family. The plan is a response to the corner site’s wedge shape and northerly aspect, as well as the positive experience of living in a previous home with a courtyard arrangement. Discretionary planning permission allowed the house to be massed close to both street boundaries, increasing the courtyard area.”
EPISODE 1
“A country barn like you have never seen before and see what type of home can stand up to New Zealand’s rugged coastline,” TVNZ 1 said.
Interviews with Francis Whitaker, John Irving and Daniel Marshall.
EPISODE 2
“Phil gets a taste of the country life right in the middle of the city, meets an architect whose passion project for her family was 12 years in the making, before venturing to Queenstown to experience a modern masterpiece.”
Interviews with Andrew Patterson, Jo Craddock and Anne-Marie Chin.
EPISODE 3
“Phil tours a clifftop masterpiece with breathtaking harbour views, and visits a Queenstown mountain retreat with an edge.”
Interviews with Pete Bossley and Finn Scott, Paul Clarke and Richard Naish.
EPISODE 4
“Phil makes his way to an island paradise to visit a unique beachside home and travels to Queenstown for the breathtaking views from a home made of copper.”
Interviews with Andrew Patterson, Guy Tarrant and Anna-Marie Chin.
EPISODE 5
“Phil visits a coastal farm with sculptures that need to be seen to be believed and tours a high-tech, high spec home on Auckland’s waterfront,” TVNZ 1 said.
Interviews with Dave Strachan, Noel Lane and Marc Lithgow.
EPISODE 6
“Phil heads off the grid to an island paradise and visits a home in the shadow of one of Auckland’s oldest volcanoes.”
Interviews with Jeremy Chapman, Tom Rowe and Paul Clarke.
So, the series concludes next Sunday.
If you missed it, catch it all on TVNZ OnDemand.
“There’s nothing like taking a nosey around some beautiful houses,” as one person with an association with the show concluded.
Anne Gibson has been the Herald’s property editor for 24 years, written books and covered property extensively here and overseas.
'Some people can’t remember anyone in their family owning a home.'