A 100-year-old kauri charmer

Paykel house, 42 St Stephens Ave, Parnell. Photo / Christine Cornege

There's unlikely to be a New Zealander unfamiliar with the name Paykel, thanks to the company founded in 1934 by Maurice Paykel and Sir Woolf Fisher.

In 1910, Max Paykel, a relative of Maurice, built the two-storey heart-kauri Edwardian home known as Paykel House for his wife, Ida, and their six children. It is reported to have cost £2500.

By the 1930s, five of the children had left home and the house was shut for a time before being converted into four apartments.

In 1981, it was sold by Max's grandchildren. In the mid-1990s, Pat and Tanya McMahon bought it and worked with architect Glyn Bilkey on a complete restoration.

They opened McMahon's Villa Hotel in May 2000. It included six large bedrooms with en suites, a master suite with its own living room, and dining, library and entertaining areas that opened on to verandas and gardens.

Paykel House was in the news in 2004, when new owners earmarked it for demolition or removal to make way for apartments. The Auckland City Council proposed Category B heritage status in June 2005 and ratified it in August last year.

For two years, the present owners have used it as a family home. Jamie says that when his mother, Carol, viewed the house, she looked up at the ornate plaster ceilings and proclaimed, "This is my home".

Walking into the house, you are struck by its grand entry hall, which has carved Corinthian columns and archways framing the staircase and an impressive stained-glass window.

Downstairs, there are two bedrooms, two bathrooms, an office, living room, formal dining room, a formal reception room and a new kitchen. Upstairs, there are five bedrooms, each with an en suite.

The master suite, still with its private sitting room, flows to a wraparound veranda. Throughout, the almost 100-year-old home's craftsmanship is still immaculate.

Still on the market, CV $4.42m.